Zen Quotes
Quotes related primarily to Zen and Mindfulness.
We don’t have to be followers of the Zen practice to learn something from the study. These quotes are primarily related to Zen and the practice of mindfulness.
Nothing happens next, this is it
No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.
The object of your desire is not an object
The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering.
Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions.
The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
When you catch yourself slipping into a pool of negativity, notice how it derives from nothing other than resistance to the current situation.”
It’s not about approving or liking, but just being able to allow the world to be the way it is without resenting, hating, or judging it
Joy is being willing for things to be as they are.
Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.
Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.
Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Let all things take their course.
Think with your whole body.
Zen has no business with ideas.
In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.
Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future; live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.
Still water has no mind to receive the image of the migrating geese.
To follow the path, look to the master, follow the master, walk with the master, see through the master, become the master.
Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
In today’s rush, we all think too much — seek too much — want too much — and forget about the joy of just being.
Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream.
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.
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.”
Each morning we are born again, what we do today matters most.
All the things that truly matter, beauty, love, creativity, joy and inner peace arise from beyond the mind.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
To understand everything is to forgive everything.
If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?
The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.
In the stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am – unbound.