立石寺

***
The passage of the Rittsushaku-ji Temple
is all stillness and serenity from the beginning to
the end or until it reaches this haiku.

Titsushayaku-ji Temple

In the Yamagata Province a mountain temple called
Rittsushaku-ji Temple is located. It was founded by
the great priest Jikaku慈覚大師 and it is a placce of
distinct serenity and tranquility. They told us to visit it;
we went back to Ohanazawa and it was bout 2800
meters to the temple. There was still some time before
the night fell. We booked a room of an inn at the foot
of the mountain before we started climbing up the
mountain to reach its top and the main hall. It looked
like they had built the temple on a mountain by putting
crags after crags onto the rock; the pines have aged,
the foundation stones got old with mosses smooth over
them. Temples on the rock have all their doors closed
and no sound is heard. Walking on the edge around
the temples, crawling on the rocks to worship the temples;
we are in such beautiful sceenery and stillness that we
feel nothing but our mind getting all clear.

閑かさや岩にしみ入る蝉の声

The original text: http://bashouan.com/psBashouYD.htm

According to the original text, the stillness prevades from
the beginning to almost to the end, except the cicada song
at the very end. What is the point of the stillness?
Not only the quietitude and serenity of the temples
on the top of the mountain but also the physical stillness
is there for Basho abnd Sora. Supposing cicadas are singing
when they reach the top, it is NOT tranquil and serene.
If one has cicadas singing, it must mean they start singing
for the haijin and his travel companion, must it not?
If there had been cicadas singing altogether, they might not
have felt their mind getting clear. All the doors of the temples
closed, they had to rely on their mind's serenity only, didn't they?
Before the cicada's last song seeps in the air, it has been all
tranquil and serene, as the original text says.