Thursday, December 22, 2011

In a lonely place

 
In a lonely place,
I encountered a sage
Who sat, all still,
Regarding a newspaper.
He accosted me:
"Sir, what is this?"
Then I saw that I was greater,
Aye, greater than this sage.
I answered him at once,
"Old, old man, it is the wisdom of the age."
The sage looked upon me with admiration.

- Stephen Crane

My Unattainable


"Warm light rain falls, trickled down by tear-drops on my window and? 
I long for you, my unattainable."

Saturday, December 17, 2011

花鳥風月


花鳥風月 (Kachou Fuugetsu)

Literally: Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon

This means: Experience the beauties of nature, and in doing so learn about yourself.
 

門前の小僧習わぬ経を読む。


門前の小僧習わぬ経を読む。 (Mon zen no kozō narawanu kyō wo yomu) 
 
Literally: An apprentice near a temple will recite the scriptures untaught.

This means: The environment makes our characters.

Kobayashi Issa


"New Year's Day-- everything is in blossom! I feel about average."


"What a strange thing! To be alive beneath cherry blossoms."


"No doubt about it, the mountain cuckoo is a crybaby."


 "In this world, we walk on the roof of hell, gazing at flowers."


"Asked how old he was, the boy in the new kimono stretched out all five fingers."


"At my daughter's grave, thirty days after her death:

Windy fall-- these are the scarlet flowers she liked to pick."

- Kobayashi Issa

Matsuo Basho


"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought."
 
 
"A field of cotton-- as if the moon had flowered."
 

"The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers."

- Matsuo Basho

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Wisdom of a Mustache



"Men always talk about the most important things to perfect strangers.
In the perfect stranger we perceive man himself; the image of a Godis not
disguised by resemblances to an uncle or doubts of wisdom of a mustache."
 
- Gilbert K. Chesterton