http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_049
I dunno if anyone else has posted this, but here goes.
Sound of one hand clap
Is not so hard to figure
Fap fap fap fap fap
Oh, by the way, the Haiku in the article isn’t a haiku. It’s only 16 syllables, not 17.
What haiku? 
Do you mean the translated quote from Zen Master Hakuin?
Or would it be best if just say “Mu”…?
-mok
A common misconception, but there is no requirement at all on the number of syllables in a haiku. A haiku is defined based on the subject matter, not on the technical form.
Not so.
Technically, the Haiku is indeed defined by the subject matter (it should have some kind of reference to one of the seasons). But that is its definition with respect to the Hokku, of which it is a kind. And a Hokku is a verse of three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables (not simply 17 syllables). English hates Haiku; syllables, like April ice, melt and flow away.
Well, no matter, it should add to be 17 syllables.
A Haiku or Hokku should have three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. But the passage in question is neither a Haiku nor a Hokku (indeed, the Haiku, invented in 1892, didn’t even exist in Hakuin’s lifetime); it’s two sentences of prose. Pity Hakuin; by phonetic happenstance, name confused with verse.
Indeed, it’s two sentences of translated prose. Syllable counts don’t usually survive across translations anyway without a lot of poetic license.
Amplifying on John’s earlier Haiku comment – English hates Haiku; syllables, like April ice, melt and flow away (love that, by the way, John) – consider that Japanese and English don’t have the same kinds of syllables anyway. Indeed, what are considered “syllables” in Japanese (morae) have no equivalent in English and vice versa. For example, the Japanese word “haiku” has three morae, but only two syllables. In haiku, it would count for three of the 17 slots. In English, it would only count for two.
There is a lot of debate on whether it is possible to truly capture haiku in English at all. Linguists get off on this kind of stuff; see for example http://www.iyume.com/metrics/total2.html
-mok