A collection of koans in Toki Pona, offering words of questionable wisdom from the Toki Ponist perspective.

These brief, paradoxical statements are designed to provoke thought, doubt, and perhaps enlightenment — or at least a chuckle.

Note: Because of their rough archeological finger dip-in nature, they will contain grammatical irregularities.

toki nasin nasa ~ koans

ike lili li kama e pakala suli tawa jan lili.

For a child, any small problem can become a trauma.

ilo kipisi li wile ala kipisi e ona.

A knife does not need to cut itself. The self does not need to notice itself.

ilo open li pona la, sina sona ala e ni: ilo li open e seme.

A key is more interesting when you do not know what it opens.

jan li pakala e noka ona la, lawa ona li tawa ala kin.

When someone breaks a foot, also his head no longer travels.

jan pi jo ala en jan pi jo ale li ken lon pona.

He who has everything and he who has nothing can live in the present. The middle class lives to gain and fears to lose.

kala pona kin li tawa lon telo jaki pi kala ante.

Even good fish have to swim in the dirty water of others.

lape li pona la, moli li monsuta tan seme?

If sleeping is nice, why is dying then so scary? Sleeping without end is not a problem for your sleeping self.

lon lawa ala la, pilin anpa li ike lon kulupu.

Depression is not in your head, but a problem of and within society.

lon li ike sama lon.

The truth is as ugly as it is.

lon li lon pona. anu pona li lon ala lon lon.

There is truth is in simplicity, but simplicity does not exists in existence. Truth can be found in simple things, but truth is not in itself simple.

lon li pakala pona e tenpo.

Existence is the best way to waste time.

mi sona e ma pi lon ken.

I think about a possible world. I experience the probable world/existence. I want a desired world.

ni li jan ale li pona: jan li toki wan li pali ante.

Everyone is a hypocrite and that is fine.

ni li ken ala: nanpa li sewi.

Numbers can not be sacred or holy. Ratio of numbers pave the road of information and patterns.

nimi pi ijo wawa li pakala e wawa pi ijo ni.

Strong words destroy the strength of the object.

nimi telo li ken ala telo.

The word for water cannot wash anything.

ona li kipisi e pan suwi la, ona li jo ala e pan e suwi.

If you cut a cake, you don't end up with flower and sugar.

ona li toki e toki la, ni li pona taso tan ni: ona li sona ala e ijo.

Telling a story only serves well to make clear you do not understand something.

sina ken toki kepeken uta wan taso.

You can only speak with one mouth.

sina ken toki tawa jan lili kepeken pilin awen la, sina wile toki tawa jan suli kin.

The patience with which adults can speak to children with, you should use with other adults.

sina li tawa ala e sina. kon li tawa e sina.

You don't move yourself. The air moves you.

sina pana e nimi pi jan sona suli tawa jan la, sina weka sona.

Once you start calling someone a genius, you have stopped understanding what they are saying.

sina suli e kasi la sina ken pali e lipu.

If you grow a tree, you can create a book. But the knowledge of the tree is not in the book.

sina wile ala musi e musi wile la, sina musi e musi ante sewi.

If you refuse to play a forced game, you play a higher game instead.

sina wile pali tawa pona.

You have to earn simplicity.

soweli li pona ala tan mu ona.

A dog's quality is not defined by barking. A person's quality is not determined by its talking.

taso telo awen li ken lukin pona sama sike sewi.

Only still water reflects the heavens perfectly. But all water reflects the heavens.

tenpo ni la mi pilin ike.

In the present I feel pain. About the past I feel suffering. About the future I feel fear.

toki ike li ike ala e ona la, jan sona li sama jan nasa.

The guru is like the fool in that he is unmoved by criticism.

toki li kiwen la, o toki ko!

If talking is hard, speak softly.

toki ni li nasa: mi ijo seme?

It is senseless to ask what you are.