Thoughts of Zen Quotes in English Proverbs Quotation

Thoughts of Zen Quotes in English Proverbs Quotation

In our fast-paced and often chaotic world, finding moments of peace and clarity can be a challenging endeavor. This is where the wisdom of Zen quotes and English proverbs comes in, offering timeless insights that can guide us towards a more balanced and harmonious way of life.

One of the most revered aspects of Zen philosophy is its emphasis on mindfulness and being present in the moment. This is beautifully encapsulated in the quote, "When walking, walk. When eating, eat." This simple yet profound guidance reminds us of the importance of being fully engaged in whatever we are doing, allowing us to appreciate the richness of each experience.

Similarly, English proverbs also offer nuggets of wisdom that resonate with the principles of Zen. The proverb "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" aligns closely with the concept of taking small, deliberate actions in the present moment to achieve larger goals. It encourages us to focus on the process rather than being overwhelmed by the enormity of the task at hand.

Another Zen quote that strikes a chord is, "Let go or be dragged." This succinct phrase speaks volumes about the power of releasing attachments and surrendering to the natural flow of life. It serves as a gentle reminder to relinquish our grip on the things that weigh us down, freeing us to embrace new possibilities and experiences.

English proverbs often capture the essence of resilience and perseverance, such as the saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." This timeless piece of wisdom emphasizes the value of fortitude and determination in the face of adversity, echoing the resolute spirit advocated in Zen teachings.

Incorporating these Zen quotes and English proverbs into our daily lives can act as a source of inspiration and guidance, helping us navigate the complexities of modern existence with a sense of grace and inner peace. By reflecting on these profound words, we can cultivate a deeper understanding of ourselves and our interconnectedness with the world around us.

Let us embrace the timeless wisdom encapsulated in these quotes and proverbs, allowing them to illuminate our paths and enrich our journey towards a more mindful and fulfilling life.

What are your favorite Zen quotes or English proverbs? How have they impacted your life? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Remember, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Find Your Calm: Inspiring Zen Quotes to Light Your Path

Zen quotes are like little sparks of insight. They have the power to uplift and guide us through our daily lives. With wisdom rooted in simplicity, these quotes remind us to embrace the present moment and find peace within ourselves. Let’s explore some thought-provoking Zen quotes that can inspire a little serenity in your day.

The Power of Now: Embracing the Present

“Be where you are, not where you think you should be.” This simple idea invites us to focus on the present. Think about it: how often do we get lost in distractions or worries about the future? Staying rooted in the now is where true happiness lies. Just like a tree stands tall in its spot, we, too, can find strength and clarity when we truly embrace our current surroundings.

Letting Go: The Art of Release

“Let go or be dragged.” This quote packs a punch. It reminds us that holding onto unnecessary burdens can weigh us down. Imagine trying to carry a heavy backpack filled with rocks. It’s exhausting, right? By letting go of negativity and emotional baggage, we free ourselves. This act of release opens up space for positivity and new experiences, paving the way for personal growth.

Mindfulness: The Beauty of Awareness

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” This saying is a gentle nudge towards mindfulness. It encourages us to engage fully in our activities and interactions. When we approach life with intention, we discover hidden beauty in even the simplest moments. Think of it as pouring your heart into a favorite hobby or spending quality time with loved ones. Those moments become richer and more fulfilling.

Acceptance: Finding Peace in Imperfections

“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” This quote speaks volumes about acceptance. People will act in ways that may frustrate or upset us. Instead of letting their actions dictate our emotions, we can choose to maintain our calm. Imagine a serene pond, reflecting the sky above, undisturbed by the wind. By focusing on our tranquility, we create a peaceful space that’s unaffected by outside chaos.

Change: Embracing Life’s Flow

“Nothing is permanent except change.” This Zen wisdom reminds us that life is constantly evolving. Like a river flowing smoothly around rocks, we must learn to adapt to life’s changes. Holding onto the past can create resistance. Instead, embracing transformation allows us to grow and thrive. Consider how seasons change; each one brings its own beauty and lessons.

Connection: The Importance of Togetherness

“The whole universe is contained within a single drop of dew.” This poetic image illustrates our connections to everything around us. Each drop of dew holds the essence of the world from which it comes. It’s a reminder that we are all part of a bigger picture. Nurturing our relationships fosters a sense of belonging and community, making life richer and more meaningful.

Conclusion: Find Your Zen in Everyday Life

Zen quotes serve as gentle reminders to bring clarity, peace, and joy into our hectic lives. They invite us to reflect, embrace the present, and connect deeply with ourselves and others. Next time you feel overwhelmed, turn to these powerful words. Just like a whisper of wind through the trees, they might guide you back to your own Zen. Embrace the wisdom, let it wash over you, and find your calm amidst the chaos.

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 Download or Share Images

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.

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Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar.

- Jim Butcher Download or Share Images

Life is a balance between rest and movement.

- Rajneesh Download or Share Images

Life is a second-by-second miracle.

- Joko Beck Download or Share Images

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.

- Rumi Download or Share Images

Your mind wants control. Life wants change.

- Maxime Lagace Download or Share Images

The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.

- Anais Nin Download or Share Images

Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be.

- Eckhart Tolle Download or Share Images

Life is more or less a lie, but then again, that’s exactly the way we want it to be.

- Bob Dylan Download or Share Images

Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.

- Phil Jackson Download or Share Images

Better to sit all night than to go to bed with a dragon.

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When you reach the top, keep climbing.

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The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.

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The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.

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Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

- Lao Tzu Download or Share Images

Better to struggle with a sick jackass than carry the wood by yourself.

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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.

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Who you are is always right.

Ming-Dao Deng Download or Share Images

Zen is nothing to get excited about.

Shunryu Suzuki Download or Share Images

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.

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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 Download or Share Images

Love is the absence of judgment.

14th Dalai Lama Download or Share Images

Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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When walking, walk. When eating, eat.

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Sleep is the best meditation.

14th Dalai Lama Download or Share Images

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

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Those who seek the easy way do not seek the true way.

Dogen Download or Share Images

Move and the way will open.

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What was never lost can never be found.

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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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