“Because of the finger you can point to the moon. Because of the moon you can understand the finger. The moon and the finger are neither different nor the same… Once you’e really seen things as they are, there’s no more moon, no more finger.”

Chapters: 64. Ordinary Mind

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“Buddha is a conception of your mind, The Way isn’t anything that is made… If to reach the south you point your cart north, when can you ever hope to arrive?”

Chapters: 38. Fruit Over Flowers

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“Delusion and enlightenment produce one another… You get rid of this, then grab hold of that. Don’t you see how stupid it is!”

Chapters: 19. All Methods Become Obstacles

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“I’ve never bothered about getting ahead… What use is there in fame and fortune? In my hut, I listen to the evening rain and stretch my legs without a care in the world.”

Chapters: 44. Fame and Fortune

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“The more they talk, the more wrong they go. It’s like pouring on oil to put out a fire - just foolishness and nothing else.”

Chapters: 56. One with the Dust

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“Those who laugh together become like the waves of the sea… They are no more separate than are two waves.”

Chapters: 42. Children of the Way

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“When a thief came to rob Ryokan, there was nothing to steel so Royokan offered him his clothes. When the thief slunk away, Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. ‘Poor fellow,’ he mused, ‘I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.’”

from Shasekishū (Sand and Pebbles)

Chapters: 50. Claws and Swords

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“When you understand that my poems aren’t really poems, then we can talk poetry together.”

Chapters: 2. The Wordless Teachings

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“Wherever I happen to be is home.”

Chapters: 47. Effortless Success

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“In all ten directions of the universe, there is only one truth. When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.”

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“What can ever be lost? What can be attained? If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time. If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us.”

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“Time is forgotten, the hours fly. People passing by point at me and laugh: 'Why are you acting like such a fool?' Do you want to know what's in my heart? From the beginning of time: just this! just this!”

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“You can't prevent time passing. When something has passed, why do thoughts still loiter?”

Chapters: 5. Christmas Trees

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“Unfettered like a wafting mist, I give myself up to where the wind wants be to be.”

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“In this dream world
We doze
And talk of dreams—
Dream, dream on,
As much as you wish.”

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“You must rise above
The gloomy clouds
Covering the mountaintop
Otherwise, how will you
Ever see the brightness?”

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“I live peacefully in a grass hut, kistening to the birds for music.
Clouds are my best neighbors.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

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“I watch people in the world throw away tehir lives lusting after things... such people are like monkeys frantically grasping for the moon in the water and then falling into a whirlpool.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Lear

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“Chanting old poems,
Together in the fields—
Two people, one heart.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Lear

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“The breeze is fresh, the moon so bright—
Together
Let's dance until dawn
As a farewell to my old age.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Lear

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“The flower invites the butterfly with no-mind; The butterfly visits the flower with no-mind... By not-knowing we follow nature's course.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

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“Stretched out, tipsy, under the vast sky:
Splendid dreams beneath the cherry blossoms.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

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“Leave off your mad rush for gold and jewels—
I've got something far more precious for you:
A bright pearl that sparkles more brilliantly than the sun and moon.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

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“Lose it and you'll wallow in a sea of pain;
Find it and you'll safely reach the other shore.
I'd freely present this treasure to anyone
But hardly anyone asks for it.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

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“Gold and silver, status and power, all return to heaven and earth.
Profit and loss, having and lacking, are all essentially empty.
Afistocrats and peasants, saints and sinners, end up the same.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

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“If you really want to understand this tragedy, look deep inside rather than helplessly bemoan your cruel fate.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

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“Full of self-conceit, they cheated each other, creating an endless, filthy mess and only thought of themselves. The world was rife with madness.”

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

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