"My child, the splendid Buddha was quite right to sternly exclude art. Who feels more acutely than I it is this ill-fated art which eternally throws me back into the torment of Life and all the contradictions of existence? If this wonderful gift, this strong domination of creative imagination were not with me, then I could, according to my clear insight and urging of my heart, become - a saint; and as a saint I would be in a position to tell you: come, abandon everything that bogs you down, smash the bonds of nature: that's the price you have to pay for me to show you the open path to salvation! - Then we would be free: Ananda and Savitri! But this is not the case. Look: this knowledge too, and this clear insight - it keeps turning me back into being the poet, into the artist that I am"
Letter to Mathilde Wasendonck. Cited and translated: Urs App. Richard Wagner and Buddhism