"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the masters of old; seek what they sought."
Today's Question
Think of one way of working you copy from someone out of habit. What was that person really trying to achieve with it?
Is Not Imitating Your Teacher the Highest Respect?
Matsuo Bashō was the Edo-period poet who raised haikai from wordplay entertainment into a profound art. Even after he became famous, he refused to settle, constantly seeking the essence poetry aims at rather than its fixed forms.
His name 'Bashō' comes from the banana plant a disciple planted at his hut. In 1689 he walked about 2,400 km over some 150 days through northern Japan with one companion, and the record of that journey, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, became a classic of Japanese travel writing.