Takuan Soho Quotes

The Buddha and all sentient beings are not two.

Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won't see the tree.
Preoccupied with a single tree, you'll miss the entire forest.

Zen is to have the heart and soul of a little child.

One may explain water, but the mouth will not become wet. One may expound fully on the nature of fire, but the mouth will not become hot.

One is not likely to achieve understanding from the explanation of another.

It is the very mind itself that leads the mind astray - of the mind, do not be mindless

If you follow the present-day world, you will turn your back on the Way; if you would not turn your back on the Way, do not follow the world.

Completely forget about the mind and you will do all things well

When you look at a tree, se it for its leafs, its branches, its trunk and the roots, then and only then will you see the tree

Sever the edge between before and after.