Ikkyu Quotes

#1. The tree is stripped,
All color, fragrance gone,
Yet already on the bough,
Uncaring spring!

Ikkyu

#2. the wise know nothing at all
well maybe one song

Ikkyu

#3. Become a Buddha? The mind can't do it. The body can't do it. Only what can't become a Buddha becomes a Buddha.

Ikkyu

#4. Watching my four year old daughter dance
I cannot break free of her.

Ikkyu

#5. ten dumb years I wanted things to be different furious proud I still feel it

Ikkyu

#6. I've burnt all the holy pages I used to carry
but poems flare in my heart

Ikkyu

#7. You do this, you do that You argue left, you argue right You come down, you go up This person says no, you say yes Back and forth You are happy You are really happy

Ikkyu

#8. this boat is and is not
when it sinks both disappear

Ikkyu

#9. here I am simply trying to get into your head
you think you were born you die what a pity

Ikkyu

#10. Eight inches strong, it is my favourite thing;
If I'm alone at night, I embrace it fully -
A beautiful woman hasn't touched it for ages.
Within my fundoshi there is an entire universe!

Ikkyu

#11. We're lost where the mind can't find us
utterly lost

Ikkyu

#12. Break open the cherry tree: where are the blossoms? Just wait for spring time to see how they bloom.

Ikkyu

#13. We must become what we were
Before we were born

Ikkyu

#14. That stone Buddha deserves all the
birdshit it gets
I wave my skinny arms like a tall
flower in the wind

Ikkyu

#15. I'd love to give you something
but what would help?

Ikkyu

#16. 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

#17. Clouds very high look
not one word helped them get up there

Ikkyu

#18. It isn't that we're alone or not alone
whose voice do you want mine? yours?

Ikkyu

#19. Break open
A cherry tree
And there are no flowers;
But the spring breeze
Brings forth myriad blossoms.

Ikkyu

#20. Learn how to read the love letters sent by the wind and rain, the snow and moon.

Ikkyu

#21. My real dwelling
Has no pillars
And no roof either
So rain cannot soak it
And wind cannot blow
it down.

Ikkyu

#22. I and other humans no difference.

Ikkyu

#23. 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

#24. Fucking flattery, success, money.
I just sit back and suck my thumb.

Ikkyu

#25. From the world of passions returning to the world of passions:
There is a moment's pause.
If it rains, let it rain, if the wind blows, let it blow.

Ikkyu

#26. pleasure pain are equal in a clear heart
no mountain hides the moon

Ikkyu

#27. Born born everything is always born
thinking about it try not to

Ikkyu

#28. Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.

Ikkyu

#29. I can see clouds a thousand miles away, hear ancient music in the pines.

Ikkyu

#30. Don't hesitate get laid that's wisdom
sitting around chanting what crap

Ikkyu

#31. I was like an old leafless tree until we met green buds burst and blossom

now that I have you I'll never forget what I owe you

Ikkyu

#32. Don't read the sutras - practice meditation. Don't take up the broom - practice meditation. Don't plant tea seeds - practice meditation.

Ikkyu

#33. 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

#34. Sick of it whatever it's called sick of the names
I dedicate every pore to what's here

Ikkyu

#35. Having no destination,
I am never lost.

Ikkyu

#36. Like vanishing dew,
a passing apparition
or the sudden flash
of lightning
already gone
thus should one regard one's self.

Ikkyu

#37. even before trees rocks I was nothing
when I'm dead nowhere I'll be nothing

Ikkyu

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

Ikkyu

#39. Don't wait for the man standing in the
snow
to cut off his arm help him now

Ikkyu

#40. father when I was a boy you left us now I forgive you

Ikkyu