Friday, January 04, 2008

Becoming and Realising




"There is no such thing
as becoming one with God;
there is the realisation that the mystic
is already one with God.
This is why we speak of 'realisation'
and not transformation,
though external transformation occurs."


- Ikkyu, Japanese Zen master.


Ikkyū (一休宗純, Ikkyū Sōjun?, 1394-1481) was an eccentric, iconic Japanese Zen Buddhist priest and poet. He was also one of the creators of the formal Japanese tea ceremony. Ikkyu was born in 1394 in a small suburb of Kyoto. He was the illegitimate son of Emperor Go-Komatsu.

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