Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Ikkyu

Quote by Ikkyu

Work

Ikkyu and the Crazy Cloud Anthology: A Zen Poet of Medieval Japan (UNESCO Collection of Representative Works. Japanese Series)

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Ikkyu

Ikkyu, a Japanese Zen monk, was born on February 1, 1394, and died on December 12, 1481. He is renowned for his unique Zen thoughts and poetry, making him an important figure in the history of Japanese culture. more

You May Also Like

“We can create some information about Buffalo, milk and its nutritional values. We can exchange that information with each other for money, appreciation etc. A monk living alone in jungle doesn't know words such as Buffalo, milk or nutrition. He just wonders, "Green grass enters into this big black thing and a white liquid comes out of it. How!" He can't exchange this wonder with anyone but it transports him to eternity.”

WisdomSpiritualityWonderBuddhismEternityZenNo Thought
Author:Shunya
Create image

“We don't usually see that there's a third possible logical term equal to yes and no, which is capable of explaining our understanding in an unrecognized direction. We don't even have a term for it, so I'll have to use the Japanese "Mu." Mu means no thing, like quality, it points outside the process of dualistic discrimination. Mu simply says, no class, not one, not zero, not yes, not no. It states that the context of the question is such that a yes or no answer is an error and should not be given. Un-ask the question is what it says. Mu becomes appropriate when the context of the question becomes too small for the truth of the answer.”

PhilosophyZenBuddha NatureNo ThingBinary ThinkingMu
Author:Robert Prisig
Create image