Seek not the paths of the ancients; Seek that which the ancients sought.
MATSUO BASHOHarvest moon: around the pond I wander and the night is gone.
More Matsuo Basho Quotes
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There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.
MATSUO BASHO -
Friends part forever wild geese lost in cloud.
MATSUO BASHO -
Breaking the silence Of an ancient pond, A frog jumped into water – A deep resonance.
MATSUO BASHO -
Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine, or to the bamboo if you want to learn about the bamboo. And in doing so, you must leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself. Otherwise you impose yourself on the object and you do not learn.
MATSUO BASHO -
He who creates three to five haiku poems during a lifetime is a haiku poet. He who attains to completes ten is a master.
MATSUO BASHO -
For this lovely bowl let us arrange these flowers since there is no rice.
MATSUO BASHO -
Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
MATSUO BASHO -
The fact that Saigyo composed a poem that begins, “I shall be unhappy without loneliness,” shows that he made loneliness his master.
MATSUO BASHO -
Year by year, the monkey’s mask reveals the monkey.
MATSUO BASHO -
Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.
MATSUO BASHO -
Go to the object. Leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself. Do not impose yourself on the object. Become one with the object. Plunge deep enough into the object to see something like a hidden glimmering there.
MATSUO BASHO -
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself.
MATSUO BASHO -
Spring rain leaking through the roof dripping from the wasps’ nest.
MATSUO BASHO -
Collecting all The rains of May The swift Mogami River.
MATSUO BASHO -
From all these trees, in the salads, the soup, everywhere, cherry blossoms fall.
MATSUO BASHO






