der ewige Streit
wer Recht hat wer gut ist
nichts als Gequake

Ikkyū Sōjun (1394-1481):

[In the midst of happiness there is trouble in Ikkyū’s school.]
Each frog fighting for respect at the bottom of the well;
Day and night busy thinking about the details of the scriptures;
Right and wrong, self and other, fussing away a whole life.

[樂中有若一休門]
個個蛙爭井底尊
昼夜在心元字腳
是非人我一生喧

Arntzen, Sonja: Ikkyū Sōjun. A Zen Monk an his Poetry. Occasional Paper No. 4. Program in East Asian Studies. Western Washington State College. Washington 1973. 98f.

die Tempelfliegen
verdrehen die Pfötchen wie
Rosenkranzbeter

Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827):

The flies in the temple
imitate the hands
of the people with prayer beads.

The Essential Haiku. Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa. Edited and with Verse Translations by Robert Hass. New York: HarperCollins 1994. 188.

Chrysanthemenzüchter
werden schließlich zu Sklaven
der Chrysanthemen

Yosa Buson (1716-1783)

when you grow chrysanthemums
you become a servant
of chrysanthemums

Collected Haiku of Yosa Buson. Translated by W.S. Merwin & Takako Lento. Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press 2013. 169.

Chrysanthemum growers –
you are the slaves
of chrysanthemums!

The Essential Haiku. Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa. Edited and with Verse Translations by Robert Hass. New York: HarperCollins 1994. 100.