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Sengai Quotes

Sengai Gibon was a Japanese monk of the Rinzai school . He was known for his controversial teachings and writings, as well as for his lighthearted sumi-e paintings. After spending half of his life in Nagata near Yokohama, he secluded himself in Shōfukuji , the first Zen temple in Japan, where he spent the rest of his life.

Though the Rinzai sect is particularly known for its hard-to-understand teachings, Sengai tried to make them accessible to the public.

One of his famous paintings shows a circle, a square and a triangle. Sengai left the painting without a title or inscription ; the painting is often called "The Universe" when referred to in English.



"My play with brush and ink is not calligraphy nor painting; yet unknowing people mistakenly think: this is calligraphy, this is painting." — Sengai Gibon

✵ 1750 – 1837
Sengai photo
Sengai: 3   quotes 0   likes

Famous Sengai Quotes

“He who comes knows only his coming,
He who goes knows only his end.
To be saved from the chasm,
Why cling to the cliff?
Clouds floating low
Never know where the breezes will blow them.”

Sengai

Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6

“If you say, 'Come back later',
He will speedily come to snatch you away.
Say rather, 'I shall not be in till I'm ninety-nine'.”

Sengai

Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6

“Young brid
Be alive till they say to you
Die! Die!”

Sengai

Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6

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