Zen Buddhism Quotes

Zen Buddhism Quote of the day

Zen Buddhism is a discipline where belief isn't necessary.

To practice Zen Buddhism is to train oneself to eliminate hatred, anger and selfishness and to develop loving-kindness towards all.

The object of Zen is not to kill all feelings and become anesthetized to pain and fear. The object of Zen is to free us to scream loudly and fully when it is time to scream.

Zen Buddhism does not preach. Sermons remain words. It waits until people feel stifled and insecure, driven by a secret longing.

When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised.

In Zen Buddhism an action is considered good when it brings happiness and well-being to oneself and others, evil when it brings suffering and harm to oneself and others.

There are things that I value now that I didn't when I first went over there, like Zen Buddhism, which has become part of my life over the last couple years.

The light is already there. In Zen Buddhism there's a little speck of dust on the mirror, and that's us.

Do not lose yourself in the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. Do not get caught in your anger, worries, or fears. Come back to the present moment, and touch life deeply. This is mindfulness.

Meditation is to be aware of what is going on: in your body, in your feelings, in your mind, and in the world.

So, without telling any of my Zen-snob buddies, I liked to pretend everything was the Pure Land, that my life was already perfect as it was.

[E]ven in getting the wonderful things we long for, we tend to live in want of something more[.]

We have all sorts of stories about heaven and hell, about oblivion and nothingness, about 'coming back, ' and so on. But they are all stories.

Belief may serve as a useful stopgap measure in the absence of actual experience, but once you see … [it] becomes unnecessary.

There's nothing you can find - … nothing you can even imagine – that doesn't originate, develop, or exist in relation to other things.

We imagine that things come into existence, endure for a while, and then pass out of existence

To forget the self is to remember that we don't exist alone, but in relation to other people, to other creatures, to the planet, and to the universe.

[F]ocus not on ourselves as a force in charge of the manipulation of others, but on how our lives interpenetrate those of others – and … all creatures of a dynamic universe.

It is both dangerous and absurd for our world to be a group of communions mutually excommunicate.

Can you allow yourself to be impaled on the present moment?

Good and bad aren't absolutes. They are beliefs, judgements, ideas based on limited knowledge as well as on the inclinations of our minds.

At the moment of giving birth to a child, is the mother separate from the child? You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child.

The true tragedy in most people’s lives is that they are far better than they imagine themselves to be and, as a result, end up being much less than they might be.

In zazen, leave your front door and your back door open. Let thoughts come and go. Just don't serve them tea.

Perfection itself is not the ultimate goalbut the ultimate condition of life.

The only 'elephant' left in the room is love.

Zen is the period of time during which a person has true clarity of vision.

When we attach to a problem, we make the problem worse. When we attach to a solution, we make the problem worse.

A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"Suzuki Roshi replied, "No reason.

You will bring yourself the suffering you need to bring yourself so that you may awaken.

Life's Journeys Inward seeking moves towards being-time Outward seeking journies among life's ornaments

[T]here is really nothing 'out there' to get because, already, within this moment, everything is whole and complete.

The impossibility of arriving at Truth by giving up your own authority and following the lights of others. Such a path will only lead to an opinion.

[I]mpermanence [is] the very thing that makes [life] vibrant, wonderful, and alive.

Question everything, even the question mark, that shepherd's crook floating in the air above that small round rockIf you - stubbornly - still wish to be unhappy, maybe you can grasp it.

Life gives you exactly what you need to awaken.

Render unto meditation the things that are meditation’s, and unto medication the things that are medication’s.

How much does he lack himself who must have many things?

Careful! Even moonlit dewdrops, If you’re lured to watch, Are a wall before the Truth. — Sogyo

Zen probably won’t solve a single one of our problems. What it might do is help us relate differently to what we consider problems.

Good times come and go. And bad times do the same.

[A] book is not merely a book, it is the sun as well.

There's no rule in the end, but only the situation and the inclination of your mind

[H]ow can something cease to exist that has no solid existence in the first place?

The only way we can be free in each moment is to become what each moment is.

How can a hard and fast view of a world that is never hard and fast possibly be accurate?

Truth is not … something to believe or disbelieve. The things we believe are always less than Truth[.]

[A] view of the world is nothing more than a set of beliefs, a way to freeze the world in our mind. … [T]his can never match Reality, … because the world isn't frozen.

We can only be here. We can't leave. We are always here.

If your idea of good opposes something else, you can be sure that [it] is not absolute or certain.