Daily Zen Quote - September 30, 2015

“Does one really have to fret
About enlightenment?
No matter what road I travel,
I’m going home.”
~ Shinsho

Daily Zen Quote - September 29, 2015

“If you don’t practice presence, you never learn how to have busyness facilitate accomplishment.”
~ Darrell Calkins

Daily Zen Quote - September 28, 2015

“Sharpen your sword daily , and let it serve your true master: YOU. You and the Master are one”
~ Vernon Kitabu Turner

Daily Zen Quote - September 27, 2015

“It is not enough to believe in yourself alone; there will come a day when you will fail yourself. That is why we must also believe in a supportive power beyond our control - a safety net, a super intelligence - or there is no hope for the moment when all our strength is gone.”
~ Vernon Kitabu Turner from Soul Sword, 2nd Edition: The Way and Mind of a Zen Warrior

Daily Zen Quote - September 26, 2015

“It is not enough to believe in yourself alone; there will come a day when you will fail yourself. That is why we must also believe in a supportive power beyond our control - a safety net, a super intelligence - or there is no hope for the moment when all our strength is gone.”
― Vernon Kitabu Turner from Soul Sword, 2nd Edition: The Way and Mind of a Zen Warrior

Daily Zen Quote - September 25, 2015

“In Zen, there is an old saying: The obstacle is the path. Know that a whole and happy life is not free of obstacles. Quite the contrary, a whole and happy life is riddled with obstacles-they simply become the very stepping-stones that help lift us to a new perspective. It is not what happens to us in this life that shapes us, it is how we choose to respond to what happens to us.”
― Dennis Merritt Jones from The Art of Being: 101 Ways to Practice Purpose in Your Life

Daily Zen Quote - September 24, 2015

“As a soul, you have the freedom – and earned responsibility – to transpose your personal process of evolution, to manifest your greatest talents and vision, into the work that matters to you most as a means to personal redemption.”
― Darrell Calkins

Daily Zen Quote - September 23, 2015

“All you do is think. Because all you do is think, you've constructed two separate worlds—one inside your head and one outside. Just the fact that you tolerate this enormous dissonance—why, that's a great intangible failure already.”
― Natsume Sōseki from And Then

Daily Zen Quote - September 22, 2015

“To think, or not to think...This is the true question.”
― Bert McCoy

Daily Zen Quote - September 21, 2015

“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.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh

Daily Zen Quote - September 20, 2015

“The eternity of "anytime" shines in this moment "now" while the unlimitedness of "anyplace" is manifested in the limits of "here." When the universality of "anyone" dances out in the individual "I," for the first time you have the world of Zen.”
― Omori Sogen from An Introduction to Zen Training

Daily Zen Quote - September 19, 2015

“Once Seung Sahn Soen-sa and a student of his attended a talk at a Zen center in California. The Dharma teacher spoke about Bodhidharma. After the talk, someone asked him "What's the difference between Bodhidharma's sitting in Sorim for nine years and your sitting here now?"

The Dharma teacher said, "About five thousand miles."
The questioner said, "Is that all?"
The Dharma teacher said, "Give or take a few miles."

Later on, Soen-sa asked his student, "What do you think of these answers?"
"Not bad, not good. But the dog runs after the bone."
"How would you answer?"
"I'd say, 'Why do you make a difference?' "

Soen-sa said, "Not bad. Now you ask me."
"What's the difference between Bodhidharma's sitting in Sorim for nine years and your sitting here now?"
"Don't you know?"
"I'm listening."
"Bodhidharma sat in Sorim for nine years. I am sitting here now."

The student smiled.”
~ Seung Sahn from Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn

Daily Zen Quote - September 18, 2015

“Om is the things, Om is the ingredient, Om is the container and the content of this universe.”
~ Banani Ray from Glory of OM: A Journey to Self-Realization

Daily Zen Quote - September 17, 2015

“The real ugliness lies in the relationship between people who produce the technology and the things they produce, which results in a similar relationship between the people who use the technology and the things they use.”
~ Robert M. Pirsig

Daily Zen Quote - September 16, 2015

“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 from Hsin Hsin Ming

Daily Zen Quote - September 15, 2015

“The importance and unimportance of the self cannot be exaggerated.”
~ R.H. Blyth

Daily Zen Quote - September 14, 2015

“For the unified mind in accord with the Way all self-centered striving ceases. Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible. With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold nothing. All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind's power.”
~ Sengcan from Hsin Hsin Ming

Daily Zen Quote - September 13, 2015

“Hearing a crow with no mouth
Cry in the deep
Darkness of the night,
I feel a longing for
My father before he was born.”
~ Ikkyu from Crow with No Mouth

Daily Zen Quote - September 12, 2015

“Do not seek for the truth, only stop having an opinion.”
― Seng-Ts'an

Daily Zen Quote - September 11, 2015

“The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind.”
~ Sengcan, from Hsin Hsin Ming

Daily Zen Quote - September 10, 2015

“That stone Buddha deserves all the
birdshit it gets
I wave my skinny arms like a tall
flower in the wind”
~ Ikkyu, from Crow with No Mouth

Daily Zen Quote - September 9, 2015

“Humility before the flower at the timber line is the gate which gives access to the path up the open fell.”
~ Dag Hammarskjöld, from Markings

Daily Zen Quote - September 8, 2015

“Earth, mountains, rivers, hidden in this nothingness.
In this nothingness, earth, mountains, rivers revealed.
Spring flowers, winter snows.
There's no being or non-being, nor denial itself.”
~ Saisho Hiroshi

Daily Zen Quote - September 7, 2015

“A pity it is evening, yet
I do love the water of this spring
seeing how clear it is, how clean;
rays of sunset gleam on it,
lighting up its ripples, making it
one with those who travel
the roads; I turn and face
the moon; sing it a song, then
listen to the sound of the wind
amongst the pines.”
~ Li Bai

Daily Zen Quote - September 6, 2015

“A falcon hovers at the edge of the sky.
Two gulls drift slowly up the river.

Vulnerable while they ride the wind,
they coast and glide with ease.

Dew is heavy on the grass below,
the spider's web is ready.

Heaven's ways include the human:
among a thousand sorrows, I stand alone.”
~ Du Fu

Daily Zen Quote - September 5, 2015

“To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality. The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking and there is nothing you will not be able to know.”
~ Sengcan, Hsin Hsin Ming

Daily Zen Quote - September 4, 2015

“When you paint Spring, do not paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots, but just paint Spring. To paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots is to paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots - it is not yet painting Spring.”
~ Dōgen

Daily Zen Quote - September 3, 2015

“Pardon all runners,
All speechless, alien winds,
All mad waters.

Pardon their impulses,
Their wild attitudes,
Their young flights, their reticence.

When a message has no clothes on
How can it be spoken.”
~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen Quote - September 2, 2015

“What we can change is our perceptions, which have the effect of changing everything.”
~ Donna Quesada, Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers

Daily Zen Quote - September 1, 2015

“The baby looks at things all day without winking; that is because his eyes are not focused on any particular object. He goes without knowing where he is going, and stops without knowing what he is doing. He merges himself within the surroundings and moves along with it. These are the principles of mental hygiene.”
~ Zhuangzi