Do not resemble me-Never be like a musk melon Cut in two identical halves. Matsuo Basho More Quotes by Matsuo Basho More Quotes From Matsuo Basho The moon is brighter since the barn burned. Matsuo Basho burnedbarnsmoon The haiku that reveals seventy to eighty percent of its subject is good. Those that reveal fifty to sixty percent, we never tire of. Matsuo Basho haikutirefifty Seek not the paths of the ancients; Matsuo Basho path Learn the rules, and then forget them. Matsuo Basho forget 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 preoccupationenoughaction the universe and its beings are a complementarity of empty infinity, intimate interrelationships, and total uniqueness of each and every being. Matsuo Basho emptyemptinessinfinity The basis of art is change in the universe. Matsuo Basho art-isbasesart When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy. Matsuo Basho positivityhairwriting Every moment of life is the last, every poem is a death poem. Matsuo Basho lastsmomentslife-is With every gust of wind, the butterfly changes its place on the willow. Matsuo Basho butterflywind When 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 Basho lakeswindwater My body, now close to fifty years of age, has become an old tree that bears bitter peaches, a snail which has lost its shell, a bagworm separated from its bag; it drifts with the winds and clouds that know no destination. Morning and night I have eaten traveler's fare, and have held out for alms a pilgrim's wallet. Matsuo Basho cloudsmorningnight The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers. Matsuo Basho bellsflowersound Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself. Matsuo Basho springpositiveinspirational Year by year, the monkey's mask reveals the monkey Matsuo Basho monkeysmaskyears A weathered skeleton Matsuo Basho skeletonsknivesmemories Come, see the true flowers of this pained world. Matsuo Basho flowerworld The journey itself is my home. Matsuo Basho homeadventuretravel How I long to see among dawn flowers, the face of God. Matsuo Basho flowerdawnlong April's air stirs in Willow-leaves...a butterfly Floats and balances Matsuo Basho butterflyairspring
