Daitokuji Ikkyu Quotes

for us no difference between reading eating singing
making love not one thing or the other ~ Ikkyu

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

Watching my four year old daughter dance
I cannot break free of her. ~ Ikkyu

here I am simply trying to get into your head
you think you were born you die what a pity ~ Ikkyu

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

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

It isn't that we're alone or not alone
whose voice do you want mine? yours? ~ Ikkyu

ten dumb years I wanted things to be different furious proud I still feel it ~ Ikkyu

We're lost where the mind can't find us
utterly lost ~ Ikkyu

pleasure pain are equal in a clear heart
no mountain hides the moon ~ Ikkyu

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

flowers are silent silence is silent the mind
is a silent flower the silent flower of the world opens ~ Ikkyu

all the bad things I do will go up in smoke
and so will I ~ Ikkyu

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

I've burnt all the holy pages I used to carry
but poems flare in my heart ~ Ikkyu

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

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

I and other humans no difference. ~ Ikkyu

Fucking flattery, success, money.
I just sit back and suck my thumb. ~ Ikkyu

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

why is it all so beautiful this fake dream
this craziness why? ~ Ikkyu

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

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

Sick of it whatever it's called sick of the names
I dedicate every pore to what's here ~ Ikkyu

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

One day a man of the people said to Zen Master Ikkyu: "Master, will you please write for me some maxims of the highest wisdom?" Ikkyu immediately took his brush and wrote the word "Attention." "Is that all?" asked the man. "Will you not add something more?" Ikkyu then wrote twice running: "Attention. Attention." "Well," remarked the man rather irritably, "I really don't see much depth or subtlety in what you have just written." Then Ikkyu wrote the same word three times running: "Attention. Attention. Attention." Half angered, the man demanded: "What does that word 'Attention' mean anyway?" And Ikkyu answered gently: "Attention means attention."11 ~ Roshi P. Kapleau

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

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

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

I slipped it into your papers to see if you would notice. The Zen master Ikkyu was once asked to write a distillation of the highest wisdom. He wrote only one word: Attention. ~ Jenny Offill

I'd love to give you something
but what would help? ~ Ikkyu