"If there is beauty, there must be ugliness; If there is ri… - Ryōkan

"If there is beauty, there must be ugliness;
If there is right, there must be wrong.
Wisdom and ignorance are complementary,
And illusion and enlightenment cannot be separated.
This is an old truth, don't think it was discovered recently.
"I want this, I want that"
Is nothing but foolishness.
I'll tell you a secret -
"All things are impermanent!

Ryōkan

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About Ryōkan

Ryōkan (1758–1831) was an eccentric Sōtō Zen Buddhist monk who lived in Echigo, Japan, as a hermit, most famous for his poetry and calligraphy.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Ryokan • Ryoukan

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Originators like Ryōkan:

Mary Oliver Robert Frost Rabindranath Tagore William Butler Yeats William Stafford

Additional quotes by Ryōkan

The flower invites the butterfly with no-mind;
The butterfly visits the flower with no-mind.
The flower opens, the butterfly comes;
The butterfly comes, the flower opens.
I don't know others,
Others don't know me.
By not-knowing we follow nature's course

This world A fading Mountain echo Void and Unreal

Who says my poems are poems? My poems are not poems. When you know that my poems are not poems, Then we can speak of poetry.

"If there is beauty, there must be ugliness; If there is right, there must be wrong. Wisdom and ignorance are complementary, And illusion and enlight… - Ryōkan

About Ryōkan

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