Takuan Soho Quotes & Sayings

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

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

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. — Takuan Soho

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

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. — Takuan Soho

When one practices discipline and moves from the beginner's territory to immovable wisdom, one makes a return and falls back to the level of the beginner. — Takuan Soho

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

When this No-Mind has been well developed, the mind does not stop with one thing nor does it lack any one thing. It appears appropriately when facing a time of need. — Takuan Soho

When a person does not think, "Where shall I put it?" the mind will extend throughout the entire body and move to any place at all ... The effort not to stop the mind in just one place - this is discipline. Not stopping the mind is object and essence. Put it nowhere and it will be everywhere. Even in moving the mind outside the body, if it is sent in one direction, it will be lacking in nine others. If the mind is not restricted to just one direction, it will be in all ten. — Takuan Soho

One does not divine this by impressions or knowledge. What this means is that no matter how much you try to figure or calculate by means of impressions or knowledge, it will not prove the least bit useful. Therefore, separate yourself from the discrimination of figuring things out. — Takuan Soho

Sever the edge between before and after. — Takuan Soho

When facing a single tree, if you look at a single one of its red leaves, you will not see all the others. When the eye is not set on one leaf, and you face the tree with nothing at all in mind, any number of leaves are visible to the eye without limit. But if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there. — Takuan Soho

Presumably, as a Martial artist, I do not fight for gain or loss, am not concerned with strength or weakness, and neither advance a step nor retreat a step. The enemy does not see me. I do not see the enemy. Penetrating to a place where heaven and earth have not yet divided, where yin and yang have not yet arrived, I quickly and necessarily gain effect. — Takuan Soho

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

The Buddha and all sentient beings are not two. — Takuan Soho

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 — Takuan Soho

Shonin: I have composed a poem. Kokushi: Let's hear it. Shonin: When I chant, Both Buddha and self Cease to exist. There is only the voice that says, Namu Amida Butsu. Kokushi: Something's wrong with the last couple of lines, don't you think? (after a lapse of time) Shonin: This is how I've written it: When I chant, Both Buddha and self Cease to exist. Namu Amida Butsu. Kokushi: There! You got it! — Takuan Soho

Consider the core of the mind to be a wagon, with will-power to be carried about in it. Push it to a place where there can be failure, and there will be failure. Push it to a place where there can be success, and there will be success. But whether there is success or failure, if one entrusts himself to the straightness of this wagon of the core of the mind, he will attain right-mindedness in either case. Severing oneself from desire and being like a rock or tree, nothing will ever be achieved. Not departing from desire, but realizing a desireless right-mindedness - this is the Way. — Takuan Soho