Learn the rules, and then forget them.
MATSUO BASHOLearn the rules, and then forget them.
MATSUO BASHOFarewell, my old fan. / Having scribbled on it, / What could I do but tear it / At the end of summer?
MATSUO BASHOWhen I speak My lips feel cold – The autumn wind.
MATSUO BASHOWhen your consciousness has become ripe in true zazen-pure like clear water, like a serene mountain lake, not moved by any wind-then anything may serve as a medium for realization.
MATSUO BASHOThe temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.
MATSUO BASHOAn autumn night – don’t think your life didn’t matter.
MATSUO BASHOThe universe and its beings are a complementarity of empty infinity, intimate interrelationships, and total uniqueness of each and every being.
MATSUO BASHOSadly, I part from you; Like a clam torn from its shell, I go, and autumn too.
MATSUO BASHOOn a bare branch a crow is perched – autumn evening.
MATSUO BASHOWinter garden, the moon thinned to a thread, insects singing.
MATSUO BASHOOld dark sleepy pool… Quick unexpected frog Goes plop! Watersplash!
MATSUO BASHOOld pond, frog jumps in – plop.
MATSUO BASHOHow I long to see among dawn flowers, the face of God.
MATSUO BASHOGo 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 BASHOEvery day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
MATSUO BASHOGo 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