Ikkyu Quotes

• “Like vanishing dew,
  a passing apparition
  or the sudden flash
  of lightning -- already gone --
  thus should one regard one's self.”

  Ikkyu

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• “Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.”

  Ikkyu

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• “Look at the cherry blossoms!
  Their color and scent fall with them,
  Are gone forever,
  Yet mindless
  The spring comes again.”

  Ikkyu

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• “Having no destination,
  I am never lost.”

  Ikkyu

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• “Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind.
  A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure.
  Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of the clouds;
  Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs night after night.”

  Ikkyu

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• “sick of it whatever it's called sick of the names
  I dedicate every pore to what's here”

  Ikkyu

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• “that stone Buddha deserves all the
  birdshit it gets
  I wave my skinny arms like a tall
  flower in the wind”

  Ikkyu

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• “it isn't that we're alone or not alone
  whose voice do you want mine? yours?”

  Ikkyu

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• “I'd love to give you something
  but what would help?”

  Ikkyu

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• “we're lost where the mind can't find us
  utterly lost”

  Ikkyu

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• “fucking flattery, success, money.
  I just sit back and suck my thumb.”

  Ikkyu

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• “don't wait for the man standing in the
  snow
  to cut off his arm help him now”

  Ikkyu

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• “clouds very high look
  not one word helped them get up there”

  Ikkyu

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• “Hearing a crow with no mouth
  Cry in the deep
  Darkness of the night,
  I feel a longing for
  My father before he was born.”

  Ikkyu

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• “don't hesitate get laid that's wisdom
  sitting around chanting what crap”

  Ikkyu

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• “born born everything is always born
  thinking about it try not to”

  Ikkyu

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• “why is it all so beautiful this fake dream
  this craziness why?”

  Ikkyu

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• “I've burnt all the holy pages I used to carry
  but poems flare in my heart”

  Ikkyu

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• “pleasure pain are equal in a clear heart
  no mountain hides the moon”

  Ikkyu

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• “the wise know nothing at all
  well maybe one song”

  Ikkyu

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• “flowers are silent silence is silent the mind
  is a silent flower the silent flower of the world opens”

  Ikkyu

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• “this boat is and is not
  when it sinks both disappear”

  Ikkyu

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• “don’t worry please please how many times do I have to say it
  there’s no way not to be who you are and where.”

  Ikkyu

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• “I can see clouds a thousand miles away, hear ancient music in the pines.”

  Ikkyu

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• “even before trees rocks I was nothing
  when I'm dead nowhere I'll be nothing”

  Ikkyu

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