Thoughts of Zen Quotes in English Proverbs Quotation
Daily Zen Quotes of the Day in English
People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something – always, in a word, seeking.
- Bodhidharma
Zen is a liberation from time. For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality. - Alan Watts |
When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness. What benefit can be derived from distinctions and separations? - Sengcan |
Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious. - D.T. Suzuki |
One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection. To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind. - Sengcan |
Craziness is good. Crazy people are happy, free, they have no hindrance. But since you have many attachment, you are only a little crazy. This is not crazy enough. You must become completely crazy. Then you will understand. - Seungsahn Quotation |
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. - Bruce Lee |
Since we desire the true happiness that is brought about by a calm mind, and such peace of mind arises only from having a compassionate attitude, we need to make a concerted effort to develop compassion. - 14th Dalai Lama |
It is a wretched thing that the young men of today are so contriving and so proud of their material possessions. Men with contriving hearts are lacking in duty. Lacking in duty, they will have no self-respect. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo |
When asked “Who I Am’, the only answer possible is: I am the infinite, the vastness that is the substance of all things. I am no one and everyone, nothing and everything – just as you are. - Suzanne Segal |
Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate. - Huang Po |
Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child. - A Quotation From Soyen Shaku |
Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink. - Shunryu Suzuki Download or Share Images |
Life begins where fear ends. |
Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar. - Jim Butcher |
Life is a balance between rest and movement. - Rajneesh |
Life is a second-by-second miracle. - Joko Beck |
Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. - Rumi |
Your mind wants control. Life wants change. - Maxime Lagace |
The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself. - Anais Nin |
Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be. - Eckhart Tolle |
Life is more or less a lie, but then again, that’s exactly the way we want it to be. - Bob Dylan |
Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength. - Phil Jackson |
Better to sit all night than to go to bed with a dragon. |
When you reach the top, keep climbing. |
The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. |
The tighter you squeeze, the less you have. |
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao Tzu |
Better to struggle with a sick jackass than carry the wood by yourself. |
When the pupil is ready to learn, a teacher will appear. |
Sit, walk, or run, but don't wobble. |
Better to see the face than to hear the name. |
It takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes, but an even wiser man to learn from others. |
The infinite is in the finite of every instant. |
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. |
Everything the same; everything distinct. |
Sitting peacefully doing nothing Spring comes and the grass grows all by itself. |
If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? - Dogen Zenji |
Those who are awake, live in a state of constant amazement. - Buddha |
Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace. - Dalai Lama |
Smile, breathe and go slowly. - Thích Nhất Hạnh |
It is easy to believe we are each waves and forget we are also the ocean. - Jon J. Muth |
Only the hand that erases can write the true thing. - Meister Eckhart |
Body and mind dropped off. - Dogen |
Zen is not an art, it’s not a religion. It’s a realisation. - Gene Clark |
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him? - Zhuangzi |
A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad. - Bodhidharma |
The trouble is, you think you have time. - Buddha |
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet. - Thich Nhat Hanh |
Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be. - Eckhart Tolle |
Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes, it obstructs your vision. - Hsi-Tang |
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Lao Tzu |
Wise men don’t judge – they seek to understand. - Wei Wu Wei |
Learning Zen is a phenomenon of gold and dung. Before you understand it, it's like gold; after you understand it, it's like dung. |
Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment. Dogen |
Knock on the sky and Listen to the sound. |
To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss. Bodhidharma Download or Share Images |
When you reach the top of the mountain, keep climbing. |
Who you are is always right. Ming-Dao Deng Download or Share Images |
Zen is nothing to get excited about. Shunryu Suzuki |
No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place. |
I live by letting things happen. Dogen Download or Share Images |
To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short. Confucius Download or Share Images |
A zen master’s life is one continuous mistake. Dogen |
Love is the absence of judgment. 14th Dalai Lama Download or Share Images |
Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind. |
If you chase two rabbits, you catch none. - Confucius Download or Share Images |
To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. - Chuang Tzu Download or Share Images |
Roads were made for journeys not destinations. - Confucius Download or Share Images |
When you seek it, you cannot find it. |
What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others. - Confucius Download or Share Images |
Those who worship don’t know, and those who know don’t worship. - Bodhidharma Download or Share Images |
There is only the one reality, neither to be realized nor attained. - Huang Po Download or Share Images |
Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark. |
Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. - Buddha Download or Share Images |
Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else. - Shunryu Suzuki Download or Share Images |
Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom. - Bodhidharma Download or Share Images |
The purpose of our lives is to be happy. - Dalai Lama Download or Share Images |
For the beginner, practice without effort is not true practice. Shunryu Suzuki Download or Share Images |
If you realize you have enough, you are truly rich. Lao Tzu Download or Share Images |
The obstacle is the path. |
When walking, walk. When eating, eat. |
Sleep is the best meditation. 14th Dalai Lama Download or Share Images |
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. |
Those who seek the easy way do not seek the true way. Dogen Download or Share Images |
Move and the way will open. |
What was never lost can never be found. |
Don’t curse the darkness, light a candle. By Confucius Download or Share Image |
Those who seek the easy way do not seek the true way. Dogen Download or Share Image |
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. - Sengcan Download or Share Image |
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. - Pema Chodron Download or Share Image |
Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions. - Seng-ts’an Download or Share Image |
Happiness is here, and now. - Thich Nhat Hanh Download or Share Image |
Let go, or be dragged. |
In Zen we have no gurus. - Zen Thought in English by Frederick Lenz |
Do not be too interested in Zen. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Zen is a quiet thing. It listens. - Howard Fast |
The essence of the Way is detachment. - Bodhidharma |
Act without expectation. - Lao Tzu |
Enlightenment is intimacy with all things. - Dogen |
Doubt everything. Find your own light. - Buddha |
All know the way, but few actually walk it. - Bodhidharma |
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. - Dalai Lama |
Rest and be kind, you don’t have to prove anything. - Jack Kerouac |
To understand everything is to forgive everything. - Buddha |
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu |
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love. - Buddha |
Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. - Tilopa |
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. - Dogen |
An Awakened person is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad. - Bodhidharma |
It is when your practice is rather greedy that you become discouraged with it. - Shunryu Suzuki |
When thoughts arise, then do all things arise. When thoughts vanish, then do all things vanish. - Huang Po |
In the study of Zen, the power of an all-illuminating insight must go hand in hand with a deep sense of humility and meekness of heart. - D.T. Suzuki |
Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. - Buddha |
The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion. -Bodhidharma |
The noble-minded are calm and steady. Little people are forever fussing and fretting. - Confucius |
All that we are, is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become. - Buddha |
We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves. - Shunryu Suzuki |
The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth. - Thích Nhat Hanh |
A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms. - Zen Shin |
When we discover that the truth is already in us, we are all at once our original selves. - Dogen |
If you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it. - Lao Tzu |
If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? - Dogen |
I follow four dictates: face it, accept it, deal with it, then let it go. - Sheng-yen |
To receive everything, one must open one’s hands and give. - Taisen Deshimaru |
In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light. - Dogen Zenji |
One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world. - Dogen |
Do not follow the idea of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. - Dōgen Zenji |
When walking, walk. When eating, eat. |
One who conquers himself is greater than another who conquers a thousand times a thousand on the battlefield. - Buddha |
Watch what you say, and whatever you say, practice it. - Soyen Shaku |
Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. - Buddha |
To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is to forget ourselves. - Dogen |
Why seek a doctrine? As soon as you have a doctrine, you fall into dualistic thought. - Huang Po |
You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself. - Buddha |
Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. - Buddha |
The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method? - Confucius |
You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger. - Buddha |
He who is self-conceited has no superiority allowed to him. - Lao Tzu |
Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again. - Buddha |
It isn’t that we’re alone or not alone. Whose voice do you want? Mine? Yours? - Ikkyu |
Nothing ever exists entirely alone. Everything is in relation to everything else. - Buddha |
Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. - Confucius |
Don’t wait for the man standing in the snow to cut off his arm. Help him now. - Ikkyu |
When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself from it. - Dogen |
If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito. - 14th Dalai Lama |
When I’m riding my bicycle I feel like a Buddhist who is happy just to enjoy his mundane existence. - Robin Williams |
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few. - Shunryu Suzuki |
A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others. - Confucius |
Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe. - Dogen |
Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely. - Buddha |
In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity. - Sun Tzu |
The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long. - Lao Tzu |
A Buddha is an idle person. He doesn’t run around after fortune and fame. - Bodhidharma |
Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace. - Confucius |
Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst. - Lin Yutang |
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. - Buddha |
To set up what you like against what you dislike - this is the disease of the mind. - Seng-T’San |
To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. - Chuang Tzu |
Truth makes you rise to new heights, no matter where you are. - Kamal Ravikant |
The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. - Shunryu Suzuki |
If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. - Sun Tzu |
For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them. - Thich Nhat Hanh |
To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. - Confucius |
When there is no desire, all things are at peace. - Lao Tzu |
To be a man of knowledge one needs to be light and fluid. - Yaqui Mystic |
But as long as you think you are practicing zazen for the sake of something, that is not true practice. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Not creating delusions is enlightenment. - Bodhidharma |
Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own. - Bruce Lee |
The true purpose is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. - Shunryu Suzuki |
We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. - Lao Tzu |
Keep it simple and focus on what matters. Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed. - Confucius |
When you bow, you should just bow; when you sit, you should just sit; when you eat, you should just eat. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Prefer to be defeated in the presence of the wise than to excel among fools. - Dogen |
More important than any stage which you will attain is your sincerity, your right effort. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen. - Bodhidharma |
Countless words count less than the silent balance between yin and yang. - Lao Tzu |
A man is great not because he hasn’t failed; a man is great because failure hasn’t stopped him. - Confucius |
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine. - Shunryu Suzuki |
The ultimate Truth is beyond words. Doctrines are words. They’re not the Way. - Bodhidharma |
He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know. - Lao Tzu |
To escape from the world means that one’s mind is not concerned with the opinions of the world. - Dogen |
The farther away you are from the truth, the more the hateful and pleasurable states will arise. - Bodhidharma |
When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. - Confucius |
Reality has no inside, outside, or middle part. - Bodhidharma |
Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them. - Bruce Lee |
He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn child. Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak, but its grip is powerful. - Lao Tzu |
A mind full of preconceived ideas, subjective intentions, or habits is not open to things as they are. - Shunryu Suzuki |
The Truth is realized in an instant; the Act is practiced step by step. - Seungsahn |
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. - Dogen |
My daily affairs are quite ordinary; but I’m in total harmony with them. - Layman Pang |
Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self. - Buddha |
We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness. - Thich Nhat Hanh |
It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable. - Seneca |
The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth. - Lao Tzu |
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. - Dalai Lama |
Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else. - Shunryu Suzuki |
When we have our body and mind in order, everything else will exist in the right place, in the right way. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Buddha means awareness, the awareness of body and mind that prevents evil from arising in either. - Bodhidharma |
Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate. - Zhuangzi |
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Relax. Nothing is under control. - Adi Da |
In Zen we have no gurus. - Frederick Lenz |
The more we value things, the less we value ourselves. - Bruce Lee |
Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home. - Zhuangzi |
The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness. - Eric Hoffer |
Zen is an effort to become alert and awake. - Osho |
Zen practice is to open up our small mind. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Think with your whole body. - Taisen Deshimaru |
The first and the best victory is to conquer self. - Plato |
A true Zen saying: “Nothing is what I want”. - Frank Zappa |
The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Have good trust in yourself, not in the One that you think you should be, but in the One that you are. - Taizan Maezumi |
And when they played they really played. And when they worked they really worked. - Dr. Seuss |
Be present above all else. - Naval Ravikant |
Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen. - Bodhidharma |
One loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them. - Masanobu Fukuoka |
Love all. Serve all. Help ever. Hurt never. - Sathya Sai Baba |
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. - Chinese Proverb |
Learn to be comfortable in adversity but most importantly, learn to be comfortable when you’re bored. - Maxime Lagacé |
Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points. - D.T. Suzuki |
It’s beautiful to be alone. To be alone does not mean to be lonely. It means the mind is not influenced and contaminated by society. Jiddu Krishnamurti |
Relax. Nothing’s missing. - Maxime Lagace |
To be truly ignorant, be content with your own knowledge. - Zhuangzi |
The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something. - Koun Yamada |
Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock, don’t demand – relax. - Osho |
Become comfortable with not knowing. - Eckhart Tolle |
The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there. - Robert M. Pirsig |
We just let it happen… and that’s the beauty of this technique. - Bob Ross |
Wherever you are, be there totally. - Eckhart Tolle |
One has not understood until one has forgotten it. - D.T. Suzuki |
I don’t hold on to anything, don’t reject anything; nowhere an obstacle or conflict. - Layman Pang |
Confuse them with your silence and amaze them with your actions. - Unknown |
The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands. - Robert M. Pirsig |
Everything that happens to you is a form of instruction if you pay attention. - Robert Greene |
I don’t mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom. - Jiddu Krishnamurti |
Zen has no business with ideas. - D.T. Suzuki |
If you forget yourself, you become the universe. - Hakuin Ekaku |
Truth makes you rise to new heights, no matter where you are. - Kamal Ravikant |
You can have the mind or you can have the moment. - Naval Ravikant |
The less you try to impress, the more peaceful you can be. - Maxime Lagace |
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. - Bruce Lee |
Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world. - Miyamoto Musashi |
The more you know, the less you need. - Yvon Chouinard |
Movement is evil. Being still is good. - Ben Caesar |
Accept everything just the way it is. - Miyamoto Musashi |
Think of patience as an act of being open to whatever comes your way. - Lodro Rinzler |
These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb. - Najwa Zebian |
Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun. - Alan Watts |
Do not be trapped by the need to achieve anything. This way, you achieve everything. - Frank Herbert |
The more I expect things to be a certain way, the more I reject reality, the more I risk being disappointed. - Maxime Lagace |
Little people reject reality which brings confusion. Zen people accept reality which brings understanding. - Maxime Lagacé |
If you use your mind to study reality, you won’t understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you’ll understand both. - Bodhidharma |
Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface. Confucius |
The greatest effort is not concerned with results. - Atisa |
Unhappiness and rain just drift by and are gone, they are visitors. - John Aske |
Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose. - Lyndon B. Johnson |
Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone. - Alan Watts |
This will never come again. - Steve Hagen |
The world is afflicted by death and decay. But the wise do not grieve, having realized the nature of the world. - Buddha |
Every experience is a lesson. Every loss is a gain. - Sathya Sai Baba |
Zen is not an art, it’s not a religion. It’s a realisation. - Gene Clark |
Little people overwhelmed by emotions. Zen people are calm and detached. - Maxime Lagace |
Now I know what success is: living your truth, sharing it. - Kamal Ravikant |
Don’t try to steer the river. - Deepak Chopra |
Single mindedness is all-powerful. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo |
All things are difficult before they are easy. - Thomas Fuller |
The menu is not the meal. - Alan Watts |
Don’t be afraid to just sit and watch. - Anthony Bourdain |
There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. - Leonard Cohen |
Your treasure house is in yourself, it contains all you need. - Hui Hai |
The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence. - Jiddu Krishnamurti |
In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo |
Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child. - Soyen Shaku |
Detachment is necessary for peace, and peace is necessary for happiness. - Naval Ravikant |
When there is no gaining idea in what you do, then you do something. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo |
I have lived with several Zen masters – all of them cats. - Eckhart Tolle |
Wherever you are, it’s the place you need to be. - Maxime Lagacé |
The thief left it behind: the moon at my window. - Ryokan |
If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. - Bruce Lee |
Let go. Let Be. See through everything and be free, complete, luminous, at home — at ease. - Lama Surya Das |
The phrase that I use the most to myself in my head is one word: accept. - Naval Ravikant |
Children are natural Zen masters; their world is brand new in each and every moment. - John Bradshaw |
To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfections. - Dogen |
Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. - Bruce Lee |
The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included. - Bodhidharma |
If you want something then you lose everything. If you don’t want anything then you already have everything. - Seungsahn |
To set up what you like against what you dislike, this is the disease of the mind. - Sengcan |
See and realize that this world is not permanent. Neither late nor early flowers will remain. - Ryokan |
A wise man speaks because he has something to say; a fool because he has to say something. - Plato |
It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them. - Epictetus |
If moment by moment you can keep your mind clear then nothing will confuse you. - Sheng-yen |
Roads were made for journeys not destinations. - Confucius |
I don’t want to die without any scars. - Chuck Palahniuk |
When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Every day passes whether you participate or not. - Ming Dao Deng |
To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss. - Bodhidharma |
We’re lost where the mind can’t find us utterly lost. - Ikkyu |
So if you do something, you should be observant, and careful, and alert. - Shunryu Suzuki |
When reading, only read. When eating, only eat. When thinking, only think. - Seungsahn |
Just let things be in their own way and there will be neither coming nor going. - Sengcan |
Our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away. - Zhuangzi |
Here it is – right now. Start thinking about it and you miss it. - Huang Po |
To see things for what they are is to see with the eyes of the vastness itself. - Suzanne Segal |
Do not become caught in the teaching. You must be able to let it go. - Thich Nhat Hanh |
What pleases our mind is not dangerous enough. - Kazuaki Tanahashi |
It is easy to believe we are each waves and forget we are also the ocean. - Jon J. Muth |
I am not devaluing thoughts. Just do not mix up what we think with what actually is. - Taizan Maezumi |
Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and undisturbed. - Sengcan |
The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind. - Sengcan |
There is one thing in life that you can always rely on: life being as it is. - Joko Beck |
Live the life in front of you, be the life you are, and see what you find out for yourself. - Karen Maezen Miller |
It is only with total humility, and in absolute stillness of mind that we can know what indeed we are. - Wei Wu Wei |
It is a timeless spiritual truth: release attachment to outcomes, deep inside yourself, you’ll feel good no matter what. - Jiddu Krishnamurti |
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. - 14th Dalai Lama |
The foolish reject what they see, not what they think; the wise reject what they think, not what they see. - Huang Po |
Mirth is the sweet wine of human life. It should be offered sparkling with zestful life unto God. - Henry Ward Beecher |
Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed, do not squander your life. - Dogen |
Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life. - Elbert Hubbard |
Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life – after that you cannot be deceived. |
This dew like life fades away; time speeds swiftly. In this short life of ours, avoid involvement in superfluous things and just study the Way. - Dogen Zenji |
Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. - Dalai Lama |
If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious! - Thich Nhat Hanh |
To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance. - Buddha |
If a warrior is not unattached to life and death, he will be of no use whatsoever. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo |
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else. - Confucius |
Where you stand, where you are, that’s what your life is right there, regardless of how painful it is or how enjoyable it is. That’s what it is. Taizan Maezumi |
If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars. - Rabindranath Tagore |
Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed, do not squander your life. - Dogen Zenji |
Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma see no Dharma in everyday actions. They have not yet discovered that there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma. – - Dogen Zenji |
When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways, either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength. Thanks to the teachings of Buddha, I have been able to take this second way. - Dalai Lama |
This dew like life fades away; time speeds swiftly. In this short life of ours, avoid involvement in superfluous things and just study the Way. - Dogen Zenji |
When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways – either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength. Thanks to the teachings of Buddha, I have been able to take this second way. - Dalai Lama |
Drop the craving for self, for permanence, for particular circumstances, and go straight ahead with the movement of life. - Alan Watts |
Throughout this life, you can never be certain of living long enough to take another breath. - Huang Po |
Your mind is a mad monkey trying to understand life which is unfair and crazy. Get used to it. - Maxime Lagacé |
Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it. - Ray Bradbury |
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle. - Albert Einstein |
If we are always demanding something out of life, then we will never be content. But if we accept life as it is, then we will know contentment. - Thich Thien-An |
There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man’s whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo |
Zen is a path of liberation. It liberates you. It is freedom from the first step to the last. You are not required to follow any rules; you are required to find out your own rules and your own life in the light of awareness. - Osho |
Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life. - Confucius |
Your life is your practice. Your spiritual practice does not occur someplace other than in your life right now, and your life is nowhere other than where you are. - Karen Maezen Miller |
If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are. |
The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say We did it ourselves. |
When you try to stay on the surface of the water, you sink; but when you try to sink, you float. |
Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life, after that you cannot be deceived. |
Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life - after that you cannot be deceived. |
When walking, walk. When eating, eat. |
You should sit and meditate for 20 minutes, unless you’re too busy, then you should sit and meditate or an hour. |
Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong. |
The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher. |
Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind. |
What was never lost can never be found. |
From the withered tree, a flower blooms. |
To follow the path, look to the master, follow the master, walk with the master, see through the master, become the master. |
Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind. |
Do not permit the events of your daily life to bind you, but never withdraw yourself from them. |
To know and not do is not yet to know. |
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself. |
A beautiful woman who is pleasing to men is good only for frightening fish when she falls into the water. |
Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life, after that you cannot be deceived. |
If you want a certain thing, you must first be a certain person. Once you are that certain person, obtaining that certain thing will no longer be a concern of yours. |
One day a student asked Taiga, "What is the most difficult part of painting?" Taiga answered, "The part of the paper where nothing is painted is the most difficult." |
The ultimate Path is without difficulty. Just avoid picking and choosing. - Seng-Ts’an |
No thought, no reflection, no analysis, no cultivation, no intention; let it settle itself. - Tilopa Sayings |
Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Wherever he goes, you also go. He will not be alone. - Jiddu Krishnamurti |
Zen is not a religion. There is no room for a cult. There is no dependence on a teacher. There is only learning how to use your own mind and making it strong. - Frederick Lenz * |
When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you. - Lao Tzu |
When you pass through, no one can pin you down, no one can call you back. - Ying-An |
It will take quite a long time before you find your calm, serene mind in your practice. - Shunryu Suzuki |
The saint is a man who disciplines his ego. The sage is a man who rids himself of his ego. - Wei Wu Wei |
The mind that does not understand is the Buddha. There is no other. - Ma-Tsu |
In studying the way, realizing it is hard; once you have realized it, preserving it is hard. When you can preserve it, putting it into practice is hard. |
Learning Zen is a phenomenon of gold and dung. Before you understand it, it’s like gold; after you understand it, it’s like dung. |
Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes. Alan W. Watts |
You cannot describe it or draw it. You cannot praise it enough or perceive it. No place can be found in which to put the Original Face; it will not disappear even when the universe is destroyed. - Mumon |
Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. - Buddha |
There is no beginning to practice nor end to enlightenment; There is no beginning to enlightenment nor end to practice. - Dogen |
Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear? - Lao Tzu |
Once you stop clinging and let things be, you’ll be free, even of birth and death. You’ll transform everything. - Bodhidharma |
Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion. - Buddha |
Matters of great concern should be treated lightly. Matters of small concern should be treated seriously. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo |
A mind that worries about the past is distracted, and a mind that worries about the future is delusional. - Cheng Yen |
People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something – always, in a word, seeking. - Bodhidharma * |
You have to learn how to sit without fighting. If you know how to sit like that, sitting is very pleasant. - Thich Nhat Hanh |
Our way is not to sit to acquire something; it is to express our true nature. That is our practice. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words, and following after speech. - Dogen |
Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others. - Confucius |
A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it. - Dogen Zenji |
Like vanishing dew, a passing apparition or the sudden flash of lightning, already gone, thus should one regard one’s self. - Ikkyu |
Your body and mind are the field. Suffering is the seed, wisdom the sprout, and buddhahood the grain. - Bodhidharma |
He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened. - Tao Te Ching |
You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child. - Dogen Zenji |
The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka |
In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. - Buddha |
A finger points at the moon, but the moon is not at the tip of the finger. Words points at the truth, but the truth is not in words. - Huineng |
However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them? - Buddha |
Don’t fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail. - Bruce Lee |
Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend, or a meaningful day. - Dalai Lama |
When you think everything is someone else fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy. - Dalai Lama |
Harmonizing opposites by going back to their source is the distinctive quality of the Zen attitude, the Middle Way: embracing contradictions, making a synthesis of them, achieving balance. - Taisen Deshimaru |
I come to realize that mind is no other than mountains and rivers and the great wide earth, the sun and the moon and stars. - Dogen Zenji |
If we do not know how to take care of ourselves and to love ourselves, we cannot take care of the people we love. Loving oneself is the foundation for loving another person. - Thích Nhat Hạnh |
No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change. - Thích Nhat Hanh |
Those who don’t know how to suffer are the worst off. There are times when the only correct thing we can do is to bear out troubles until a better day. - Ming-Dao Deng |
To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. - Thích Nhat Hanh |
If you have a glass full of liquid you can discourse forever on its qualities, discuss whether it is cold, warm, whether it is really and truly composed of H-2-O, or even mineral water, or sake. Meditation is Drinking it. - Taisen Deshimaru |
Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day. - Dalai Lama |
When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. - Shunryu Suzuki |
When you’ve understood this scripture, throw it away. If you can’t understand this scripture, throw it away. I insist on your freedom. - Jack Kerouac |
True depth of understanding is wide and steady. Shallow understanding is lazy and wandering. - Zhuangzi |
All I can guarantee you is that as long as you are searching for happiness, you will remain unhappy. - U.G. Krishnamurti |
To say one is revolutionary is a little like saying one is a Zen Buddhist – if you say you are, you probably aren’t. - Lawrence Ferlinghetti |
Why do you so earnestly seek the truth in distant places? Look for delusion and truth in the bottom of your own heart. - Ryokan |
As a bee gathering nectar does not harm or disturb the color and fragrance of the flower; so do the wise move through the world. - Buddha |
Letting go is the lesson. Letting go is always the lesson. Have you ever noticed how much of our agony is all tied up with craving and loss? - Susan Gordon Lydon |
If you want to travel the Way of Buddhas and Zen masters, then expect nothing, seek nothing, and grasp nothing. - Dogen |
Little people seek lasting happiness in the material world. Zen people seek understanding first and then find lasting peace. - Maxime Lagace |
Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities. - D.T. Suzuki |
Pursue not the outer entanglements; dwell not in the inner void; be serene in the oneness of things; and dualism vanishes by itself. - Sengcan |
They call it ‘peace of mind’ but maybe it should be called ‘peace from mind’. - Naval Ravikant |
When you catch yourself slipping into a pool of negativity, notice how it derives from nothing other than resistance to the current situation. - Donna Quesada |
Little people try to control everything. Thus, they control nothing. Wise people focus on one thing, the most important, and let go of the rest. - Maxime Lagace |
The true purpose is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. - Shunryu Suzuki |
Zen teaches that if we can open up to the inevitability of our demise, we can begin to transform and lighten up about it. - Allen Klein |
All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no mind, from inner stillness. - Eckhart Tolle |
Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free. - Thich Nhat Hanh |
Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate. - Huang Po |
There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. - 14th Dalai Lama |
Letting go takes a lot of courage sometimes. But once you let go, happiness comes very quickly. You won’t have to go around search for it. - Thich Nhat Hanh |
Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain. - Kabir |
Lose yourself in nothing to become everything; Relax into an infinite deep sea of coherent energy; Keep unfolding deeper and deeper into oneness; Continuously let go of control; Feel greater and greater degrees of wholeness. - Joe Dispenza |
Happiness only comes when you let go of who you think you are. If you think you’re wealthy and powerful and noble and truthful or horrible and demonic, whatever it may be, it’s all a waste of time. - Frederick Lenz |
Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo |
The three elements of creativity are thus: loving, knowing, and doing – or heart, mind, and hands - or, as Zen Buddhist teaching has it; great faith, great question, and great courage. - Eric Maisel |
If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present. - Lao Tzu |
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. - Lao Tzu |
When we start to feel anxious or depressed, instead of asking, “What do I need to get to be happy?” The question becomes, “What am I doing to disturb the inner peace that I already have?”. - D.T. Suzuki |
You look at where you’re going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you’ve been and a pattern seems to emerge. - English by Robert M. Pirsig |
Zen is not a religion. There is no room for a cult. There is no dependence on a teacher. There is only learning how to use your own mind and making it strong. - Frederick Lenz |
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