Quote by Ryokan: “Oh, that my monk's robe were wide enough to gather up all the suffering in the world.”

This is a prayer born from the desire to absorb all human pain into oneself — to spare others from it. It's an image of compassion so complete it becomes almost physical. The narrowness of the robe makes the wish bigger, not smaller.

Ryokan lived through a period of social tension in Edo-period Japan, during which rigid Confucian social hierarchies coexisted with widespread poverty and natural disasters. His poetry consistently rejected institutional religion and political ambition in favor of radical simplicity and compassion, making him a beloved but marginal figure during his own lifetime.

Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, renowned for his simple lifestyle, love of children, and deeply personal calligraphy and verse. He lived alone in a mountain hut for much of his life, refusing temple appointments and administrative roles in favor of wandering, writing, and play. His poems are among the most beloved in Japanese literary tradition.