19 Quotes from Narrow Road To The Interior on Solitude, Travel, and Poetry

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Excerpt: These quotes from Narrow Road To The Interior capture a beauty in what’s seemingly plain that’ll elevate your perspective for better living.

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Introduction: A Small Moment Reminder

While I was walking my dog, I stepped right into the heavenly scent of backyard cookout for the first time this season and was lifted.

It was one of those “small moments” that had me utterly present and, at least for that short time, made me feel like nothing else mattered.

I’m sure you can think of a time when you were similarly swept off your feet by the majesty of a moment—that place where all of your “matters” seemed to briefly fade away.

Well, here’s the thing: there’s no shortage of “small moments.” And there’s certainly no shortage of things that could captivate your senses.

What we’re actually short on is attention. And what we’re missing is the ongoing opportunity that’s available right in front of us—now, and again, and again…

Narrow Road To The Interior was a book unlike any book I’ve read before. Not because I haven’t read any poetry books before, but because I haven’t read zen haiku poetry before. At first glance, the poems seem plain; bland; ordinary.

But, after reading deeper into the art of zen haiku as explained in the book by Sam Hamill—there’s an elegance; grace; beauty in its plainness. There’s a remarkability in its quiet presentation. There’s a presence of something greater in how the bare, few words read.

It reminds me of the rare few moments when I’m going about my life and all-of-a-sudden I’m struck with a complete moment of presence. Not for any particular reason and not as a result of anything grandiose—but, simply struck with a wholesome, complete, profound moment of plainness.

This is what Narrow Road To The Interior brought to the forefront of the mind for me. To find beauty in the simple. To find gratitude in what’s otherwise overlooked. To not wish for something better, but to find the better in what’s in the now.

Below, I’ve collected some of my favorite insights and poems from the book for you to sit with and digest for yourself. I encourage you to read these slowly. They were written over the course of a lifetime of patient practice. It wouldn’t feel right if you read these quick. Enjoy.

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The List: 19 Quotes from Narrow Road To The Interior on Solitude, Travel, and Poetry

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“Despite his ability to attract students, he seems to have spent much of his time in a state of perpetual despondency, loneliness everywhere crowding in on him. No doubt this state of mind was compounded by chronically poor health, but Bashō was also engaging true sabishi, a spiritual loneliness that served haikai culture in much the same way mu or ‘nothingness’ served Zen.”

Sam Hamill, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page XXXI)

“His journey is a pilgrimage; it is a journey into the interior of the self as much as a travelogue, a vision quest that concludes in insight. But there is no conclusion. The journey itself is home. The means is the end, just as it is the beginning. Each step is the first step, each step the last.”

Sam Hamill, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page XXIII)

“Only the one who attains perfect sincerity under heaven may discover one’s ‘true nature.’”

Confucius, via Narrow Road To The Interior (Page XXXVII)

“Nothing’s worth noting that is not seen with fresh eyes. You will find in my notebook random observations from along the road, experiences and images that linger in heart and mind—a secluded house in the mountains, a lonely inn on a moor.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 67)

“The attitude is paradoxical: the Zen poet believes the real experience of poetry lies somewhere beyond the words themselves but, like a good Confucian, believes simultaneously that only the perfect word perfectly placed has the power to reveal the authentic experience of the poem.”

Sam Hamill, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page XVIII)

“Abide by rules, then throw them out!—only then may you achieve true freedom.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page XXIII)

Long conversations
beside blooming irises—
joys of life on the road

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 138)

“The silence was profound. I sat, feeling my heart begin to open.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 26)

All along this road
not a single soul—only
autumn evening

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 168)

Lonely stillness—
a single cicada’s cry
sinking into stone

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 155)

“With every pilgrimage one encounters the temporality of life. To die along the road is destiny. Or so I told myself.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 14)

Sick on my journey,
only my dreams will wander
these desolate moors

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 179)

“The Kiso road was dangerous, winding over several steep mountain passes. Much as we tried to help one another, our inexperience showed. There were many mistakes. Nervous and worried, we made mistakes, but learning to laugh at them gave us courage to continue.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 89)

“Each twist in the road brought new sights, each dawn renewed my inspiration. Wherever I met another person with even the least appreciation for artistic excellence, I was overcome with joy. Even those I’d expected to be stubbornly old-fashioned often proved to be good companions. People often say that the greatest pleasures of traveling are finding a sage hidden behind weeds or treasures hidden in trash, gold among discarded pottery. Whenever I encountered someone of genius, I wrote about it in order to tell my friends.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 81)

“[Bashō] believed that poetry should arise naturally from close observation, revealing itself in the careful use of ordinary language.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 187)

“[Bashō’s] fundamental teaching remained his conviction that in composing a poem, ‘There are two ways: one is entirely natural, in which the poem is born from within itself; the other way is to make it through the mastery of technique.’ His notion of the poem being ‘born within itself’ should under no circumstances be confused with its being self-originating. A fundamental tenet of Buddhism runs exactly to the contrary: nothing is self-originating.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 190)

“I tried to give up the Way of Elegance and stop writing poems, but something always stirred my heart and mind—such is its magic.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 185)

“[Bashō] prized sincerity and clarity [in poetry] and instructed, ‘Follow nature, return to nature, be nature.’ He had learned to meet each day with fresh eyes. ‘Yesterday’s self is already worn out!’”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 191)

“In the end, without skill or talent, I’ve given myself over entirely to poetry. Po Chü-i labored at it until he nearly burst. Tu Fu starved rather than abandon it. Neither my intelligence nor my writing is comparable to such men. Nevertheless, in the end, we all live in phantom huts.”

Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 182)

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If you enjoyed these quotes from Narrow Road To The Interior, you should read the book in full. It comes warmly recommended:

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