Daily Zen Quote - July 31, 2013

Master Huang-po was traveling with another monk when they came to a river. Without even breaking stride the monk walked across the water, then beckoned Huang-po to do the same. Huang-po said, "If I had known he was going to be that kind of fellow, I would have broken his legs before we reached the water."

~Zen Story

Daily Zen Quote - July 30, 2013

The world is poetical intrinsically; what it means is simply itself. Its significance is the enormous mystery of its existence and our awareness of its existence.

~Aldous Huxley

Daily Zen Quote - July 29, 2013

The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right names.

~Chinese Proverb

Daily Zen Quote - July 28, 2013

We don't see the world as it is. We see it as we are.

~Anais Nin

Daily Zen Quote - July 27, 2013

If you base your understanding of Zen on the secondhand notes from some dead guy, just wrap your notebooks in squares of cloth and declare them secret - you are nothing but a blind idiot.

~Rinzai

Daily Zen Quote - July 26, 2013

A monk asked Ma-tsu, "Why do you teach 'Mind is Buddha'?"
"To stop a baby from crying," said Ma-tsu.
"When the crying has stopped, what then?" the monk asked.
Ma-tsu said, "Then I teach 'Not mind, not Buddha.'"
"How about someone who isn't attached to either?"
"I would tell him 'Not beings.'"
Then the monk said, "And what if you met a man unattached to all things. What would you tell him?"
"I would just let him experience the great Tao."

~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - July 25, 2013

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

~Niels Bohr

Daily Zen Quote - July 24, 2013

In what ways do my hands resemble the Buddha's hands?

~Zen Koan

Daily Zen Quote - July 23, 2013

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.

~John Muir

Daily Zen Quote - July 22, 2013

Zen is a religion of tranquility. It is not a religion that arouses emotion, causing tears to well from our eyes and stirring us to should aloud the name of God. When the soul and the mind meet, in that moment complete unity between the universe and the self will be realized.

~Sokei-an

Daily Zen Quote - July 21, 2013

People would rather sleep their way through life than stay awake for it.

~Edward Albee

Daily Zen Quote - July 20, 2013

Sitting lost in sitting.

~Zen Saying

Daily Zen Quote - July 19, 2013

Samsara (daily life) and Nirvana do not differ. Find the Buddha-heart in your own heart.

~Zen Master, on "What is the basic idea of Zen?"

Daily Zen Quote - July 18, 2013

The whole of humanity, in space and time, in one immense army galloping beside and before and behind, each of us, in an overwhelming charge, able to beat down every resistance and clear the most formidable obstacles.

~Henri-Louis Bergson

Daily Zen Quote - July 17, 2013

July 17, 2013
Before the mountain lies a patch of fallow land. Hands folded in salute, I repeatedly asked the Patriarch: How many times have you sold and then rebought this land?
It was in pity, he replied, for its wind-enticing pines and bamboos.

~Fa-Yenv

Daily Zen Quote - July 16, 2013

Having no thing in mind, and no mind in things.

~Zen Saying

Daily Zen Quote - July 15, 2013

A Zen master was about to die. He called the disciple who was to be his successor and began dictating his will in great detail.
"Please rest, Master," the disciple said. "I can follow these instructions."
But the master persisted in going over the details of his will, backward and forward, until finally the disciple shouted: "Shut up!"
"Ah," said the Master, "I am so happy to have such a trustworthy son as you." He then passed away in peace.

~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - July 14, 2013

All beings are Buddha-nature.

~Dogen

Daily Zen Quote - July 13, 2013

All beings have the Buddha-nature.

~Mahaparinirvana Sutra

Daily Zen Quote - July 12, 2013

The sound of the rain drops is heard in the empty hall.

~Hekiganroku

Daily Zen Quote - July 11, 2013

A disciple thought he could prove he had reached enlightenment by showing the master that he had reached enlightenment by showing the master that he had burned all the cooks of Confucius.
    "You'd do better by burning the books within yourself," the master countered.

~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - July 10, 2013

The sound of the water says what I think.

~Chuang-Tzu

Daily Zen Quote - July 9, 2013

Rinzai went to a feast accompanied by Fuke, a mysterious figure sometimes thought of as a divine fool, other times a supernatural presence. While they were eating, Rinzai presented Fuke with a koan: "A hair swallows the vast ocean, a mustard seed contains Mount Sumeru. Does this happen by means of otherworldly powers, or is the whole body like this?" Fuke responded by kicking the table.
     "Ruffian!" Rinzai cried.
     "What place is this to speak of rough and refined?" Fuke replied.
     The next day they went to another meal from a supporter, and Rinzai said:
"How does this meal compare with yesterday's?" Fuke kicked over the table again.
      "You certainly understand, but you're still a ruffian," Rinzai said admiringly.
      Fuke replied: "You blind man! How can you preach roughness and refinement in the Buddhadharma?"

~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - July 8, 2013

At one stroke I forgot all my
    knowledge!
There's no use for artificial discipline,
For, move as I will, I manifest the ancient way.

~Hsiang-Yen

Daily Zen Quote - July 7, 2013

With hands of emptiness
     I take hold of the plow.
While walking, I ride the
     water buffalo.

~Zen Koan

Daily Zen Quote - July 6, 2013

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Daily Zen Quote - July 5, 2013

The morning mists rise
     Fuji!
        Ah, the day is saved

~Issa

Daily Zen Quote - July 4, 2013

In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

~Bertrand Russell

Daily Zen Quote - July 3, 2013

I and other humans no difference.

~Ikkyu

Daily Zen Quote - July 2, 2013

A thousand different paths lead to the No-gate of the Great Way. The desire to enter the gate is not the prerogative of the young or old, men or women; the wise are not preferred above the foolish nor the rich above the poor. The essential requirement is that one hold steadfastly to true faith.

~Rev. Zuigan Goto

Daily Zen Quote - July 1, 2013

Think of Zen, of the Void, of Good and Evil and you are bound hand and foot. Think only and entirely and completely of what you are doing at the moment and you are as free as a bird.

~R.H. Blyth