The desire to break the silence with constant human noise is, I believe, precisely an avoidance of the sacred terror of that divine encounter.
MATSUO BASHOThe desire to break the silence with constant human noise is, I believe, precisely an avoidance of the sacred terror of that divine encounter.
MATSUO BASHOAwakened at midnight by the sound of the water jar cracking from the ice.
MATSUO BASHOSeek not the paths of the ancients; Seek that which the ancients sought.
MATSUO BASHOSummer grasses — all that remains of great soldiers’ imperial dreams.
MATSUO BASHOI am one who eats breakfast gazing at morning glories.
MATSUO BASHODon’t imitate me / we are not two halves / of a muskmelon.
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 BASHOWinter garden, the moon thinned to a thread, insects singing.
MATSUO BASHOPlunge Deep enough in order to see something that is hidden and glimmering.
MATSUO BASHOClapping my hands with the echoes the summer moon begins to dawn.
MATSUO BASHOSadly, I part from you; Like a clam torn from its shell, I go, and autumn too.
MATSUO BASHOYear by year, the monkey’s mask reveals the monkey.
MATSUO BASHOWhy so scrawny, cat? Starving for fat fish or mice… Or backyard love?
MATSUO BASHOHow I long to see among dawn flowers, the face of God.
MATSUO BASHOFirst snow-falling-on the half-finished bridge.
MATSUO BASHOI hope to have gathered To repay your kindness The willow leaves Scattered in the garden.
MATSUO BASHO