Zen Proverb Quotes

• When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Effort, Leaving, Should

  Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.47, Shambhala Publications

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• When you get there, there isn't any there there.

  Gertrude Stein

  Travel

  8 Copy quote

• Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself.

  Matsuo Basho

  Inspirational, Positive, Spring

  111 Copy quote

• Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

  Alan Watts

  Buddhist, Fun, Buddhism

  Alan Watts (2003). “Become what You are”, p.29, Shambhala Publications

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• Mind is everything. What we think, we become.

  Gautama Buddha

  Thinking, Meditation Practice, Meditation And Yoga

  60 Copy quote

• To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Cake, Ideas, Paper

  11 Copy quote

• If you do not get it from yourself, where will you go for it?

  Dogen

  Buddhist, Ifs

  18 Copy quote

• Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.

  Matsuo Basho

  Inspirational, Life, Positive

  149 Copy quote

• If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

  Dogen

  Spiritual, Art, Truth

  185 Copy quote

• Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

  Zhuangzi

  Motivational, Encouraging, Spiritual

  Zhuangzi, Gia-fu Feng (1974). “Chuang tsu: Inner chapters”, Vintage

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• Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know.

  Michael Lewis

  Knowledge, Knows

  11 Copy quote

• Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.

  Gautama Buddha

  Buddhist, Water, Enlightenment

  29 Copy quote

• In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Inspirational, Teaching, Imagination

  Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.2, Shambhala Publications

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• Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.

  Bodhidharma

  Lying, Thinking, Mind

  Bodhidharma (2009). “The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma”, p.49, Macmillan

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• All that we are is the result of what we have thought; what we think we become.

  Gautama Buddha

  Karma, Buddhist, Attitude

  69 Copy quote

• The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.

  Gautama Buddha

  Positive, Buddhist, War

  22 Copy quote

• A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.

  Grantland Rice

  Confidence, Wise, Wisdom

  310 Copy quote

• Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Let all things take their course.

  Zhuangzi

  Simple, Mind, Infinite

  Zhuangzi (2000). “Chuan Tsu: Inner Chapters”

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• When the student is ready the teacher will appear.

  Laozi

  Inspirational, Education, Wisdom

  48 Copy quote

• The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Two, Feet, Important

  97 Copy quote

• Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Buddhist, Kindness, Freedom

  Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.42, Shambhala Publications

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• No thought, no reflection, no analysis, no cultivation, no intention; let it settle itself.

  Tilopa

  Reflection, Analysis, Settling

  "Zen and Reality". Book by Robert Powell, p. 72, 1975.

  85 Copy quote

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• To follow the path look to the master follow the master walk with the master see through the master become the master.

  Sengcan

  Looks, Path, Masters

  16 Copy quote

• Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

  D.T. Suzuki

  Space, Tea, Swallowing

  69 Copy quote

• I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Spiritual, Cat, Meditation

  Eckhart Tolle (2010). “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment”, p.190, New World Library

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