Zen Away for Awhile

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." - Shakespeare

"It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish."

- Aeschylus

"Those who testify to the truth of the nature of the Self, Have found it by reflecting within themselves." Zen Master, Buddhism, Mahayana

"To find a buddha all you have to do is see your nature. Your nature is the buddha. And the buddha is the person who's free: free of plans, free of cares. If you don't see your nature and run around all day looking somewhere else, you'll never find a buddha. The truth is, there's nothing to find. But to reach such an understanding you need a teacher and you need to struggle to make yourself understand...

If you don't find a teacher soon, you'll live this life in vain. It's true, you have the buddha-nature. But without the help of a teacher you'll never know it. Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher's help.

If, though, by the conjunction of conditions, someone understands what the Buddha meant, that person doesn't need a teacher. Such a person has a natural awareness superior to anything taught. But unless you're so blessed, study hard, and by means of instruction you'll understand." Bodhidharma

"As one lamp serves to dispel a thousand years of darkness, so one flash of wisdom destroys ten thousand years of ignorance." Hui-Neng

"he two exist because of the One, But hold not even to this One.." Hsin-hsin ming

"If we hold exclusively to Emptiness, we deny the entire causal world; All is then attributed to chance, with no ruling principle, inviting evil to prevail.

The same error occurs when one holds exclusively to the manifested, denying the Emptiness; That would be like throwing oneself into the flames in order to avoid being drowned in the water." Yung-chia Ta-shih

"Life, according to Zen, ought to be lived as a bird flies through the air, or as a fish swims in the water." - D. T. Suzuki

"There is nothing left to you at this moment but to have a good laugh." - Zen Master

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

"Not to be bound by rules, but to be creating one's own rules--this is the kind of life which Zen is trying to have us live." - D. T. Suzuki

"As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises again and again." -Dhammapad

"Do not conquer the world with force, force only causes resistance. Years of misery follow a great victory." Lao Tze

"Move and the way will open." - Zen Proverb

"The reverse side also has a reverse side" - Japanese Proverb.

"Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know." - Zen Proverb

"When you seek it, you cannot find it." - Zen Proverb

"The infinite is the infinite of every instant." - Zen Proverb

Zen Master Unmon said: "The world is vast and wide. Why do you put on your robes at the sound of a bell?"

"When you expect something, when you aim at something, right there you dilute your energy; you split your energy, you split your attention and you do not only divide, but you create the problem." - Taizan Maezumi

"Often I am still listening when the song is over."

- Marquis de Saint-Lambert

"And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T.S. Eliot

"When there is no place that you have decided to call your own, then no matter where you go, you are always heading home."

- Muso Soseki

"Remember that you are this universe and that this universe is you. Remmber that all is in motion, is growing, is you."

- Joy Harjo

"Today is absolutely today. Today is not yesterday. Today is not tomorrow." - Ogui

"To find a buddha all you have to do is see your nature. Your nature is the buddha." The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

"The Truth is perfect like the vastness of space,

With nothing wanting, nothing superfluous." Hsin-hsin ming

"When we return to the root, we gain the meaning. When we pursue the external objects, we lose the purpose. The moment we are enlightened within, We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us." Hsin-hsin ming

"One can not be certain of living; even into the evening." Shinkei

"Clouds come from time and bring a chance to rest from looking at the moon." - Basho

"Today is absolutely today. Today is yesterday. Today is not tomorrow." - Ogui

"Do not be an embodiment of fame; do not be a storehouse of schemes; do not be an undertaker of projects; do not be a proprietor of wisdom. Wander where there is no trail. Hold on to all that you have received from Heaven but do not think you have gotten anything. Be empty, that is all. The perfect man uses his mind like a mirror. Going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing." - Chuang-Tzu

"Fundamentally, not one thing exists." Hui-Neng

"The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers." --Erich Fromm

"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.) -- Walt Whitman

"The knowledge beyond knowledge is my knowledge" - Kabir

"Our mind should be free from traces of the past, just like the flowers of spring." - Shunryu Suzuki

"O to be delivered from the rational into the realm of pure song..." Theodore Roethke

"You will find poetry nowhere unless you bring some of it with you." - Joseph Joubert

"With the ideal comes the actual, like a box and its lid. In darkness there is light, but you will not understand it by one-sided darkness alone. In light there is darkness, but you will not understand it by one-sided light. The two go together like the sequence of steps in a dance." The Sandokai

"Develop interest in life as you see it, in people, things, literature, music --- the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." - Henry Miller

"Near or far, hiddenly, to each other linked are, that thou canst not stir a flower without troubling a star." - Francis Thompson

"When you are fooled by something else, the damage will not be so big. But when you are fooled by yourself, it is fatal. No more medicine." - Shunryu Suzuki

"There is no reality in the absence of observation" The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

"Wherever you are is the entry point" - Kabir

"The world is ruled by letting things take their course." Lao-Tzu

"If he is not edified by my silence, there is no hope that he will be edified by my words." Abbot Pambo when asked to speak with the Bishop of Alexandria

"If others had not been foolish, we should be so." William Blake

"The moment is the sole reality." Karl Jasper

"The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet." -- Shunryo Suzuki

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