120 Zen Quotes Revealing the Oneness of Things
The word “Zen” is the Japanese way of pronouncing “Chan”, which is a Chinese transliteration of the Indian Sanskrit “Dhyana”, meaning training of the mind or meditative state, which was the core practice of early Buddhism. The basis of Zen is founded on the notion that all life and existence is based on a kind of dynamic void or “Sunya”. The following zen quotes explain that notion.
Like all schools of Buddhism, the essence of Zen begins with the fundamental understanding that existence means suffering, caused by human desire and attachment to living beings or inanimate objects and therefore one should endeavour to renounce all worldly things.
Through meditation, the Zen practitioner can overcome the illusion of the self and realize the oneness of all things by silencing his thoughts and observing without judging or without any intellectual process involved. By so entering a state of no thought and by dissolving the self, one can become perfectly in tune with all existence. In a word, through Zen one can realize his own Buddha nature.
In our dualistic world of opposites, like good and evil or life and death, filled with pain and emotional disturbance caused by life’s challenges and misfortunes, what we perceive as reality is only a perspective. The practice of Zen can help us realize the illusion and perceive the true nature of the cosmos.
Here you will find the most inspirational quotes of the greatest Zen masters to share with loved ones in order to motivate and inspire them but also to transcend your limitations and transform your perception of life for the better.
Table of Contents
Best Zen Quotes
- The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart. Buddha
- Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet. Thich Nhat Hanh
- Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. Buddha
- Zen is not an art, it’s not a religion. It’s a realisation. Gene Clark
- Love all. Serve all. Help ever. Hurt never. Sathya Sai Baba
- Move and the way will open. Zen Proverb
- There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path. Buddha
- Make the sunrise a temple. Frank LaRue Owen
- Enlightenment is intimacy with all things. Dogen
- Who you are is always right. Ming-Dao Deng
- Zen has no business with ideas. D.T. Suzuki
- Heaven and earth and I are of the same root. Ten thousand things and I are of one substance. Sêng-chao
- Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone. Alan Watts
- Your Treasure House is in yourself, it contains all you need. Hui Hai
- Everything that happens to you is a form of instruction if you pay attention. Robert Greene
- When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you. Lao Tzu
- Obstacles don’t block the path, they are the path. Zen proverb
- Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Lao Tzu
- No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place. Zen Proverb
- When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Zen Proverb
- Remain in the simplicity of the present moment. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
- In Zen we have no gurus. Frederick Lenz
- These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb. Najwa Zebian
- Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. Buddha
- Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there. Rumi
- Zen insists that the whole trouble is just our failure to realize that there is no problem. Bruce Lee
- If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? Dogen
- Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him? Zhuangzi
- At the still-point in the center of the circle one can see the infinite in all things. Chuang Tzu
- Rest and be kind, you don’t have to prove anything. Jack Kerouac
- We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. Lao Tzu
- Everybody is trying to put clothes of their own size on the Eternal Truth. Shunya
- When you reach the top of the mountain, keep climbing. Zen proverb
- Children are natural Zen masters; their world is brand new in each and every moment. John Bradshaw
- When you accept what is, every moment is the best moment. That is enlightenment. Eckhardt Tolle
- When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself. Shunryu Suzuki
- Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine. Shunryu Suzuki
- A man asked Gautama Buddha, ‘I want happiness.’ Buddha said, ‘First, remove I. That’s ego. Then remove want. That’s desire. Now you are left with only happiness.’ Buddha
- Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension between here and now, where thinking and time cuts out. If you won’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. Joseph Campbell
- When all things return to the One, even gold loses its value. But when the One returns to all things, even the pebbles sparkle. John Wu
- Un-think. Un-learn. Un-know. Un-believe. Un-speculate. Un-seek. Un-strive. Un-fear. Lose your mind and effortlessly be. Brian Thompson
- 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
Zen Quotes on Life
- To live – is that not enough? D.T. Suzuki
- Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life. Buddha
- Life begins where fear ends. Osho
- Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. Rumi
- Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else. Shunryu Suzuki
- Live your life, do your work, then take your hat. Henry David Thoreau
- Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. Buddha
- Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows. Jack Kornfield
- Respect life, revere life. There is nothing more holy than life, nothing more divine than life. Osho
- 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
- A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live. Lao Tzu
- Your life is your practice… Live the life in front of you, be the life you are, and see what you find out for yourself. Karen Maezen Miller
- Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink. Shunryu Suzuki
- She who knows life flows, feels no wear or tear, needs no mending or repair. Buddha
- Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. Buddha
- The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth. Thích Nhất Hạnh
- ‘Better a single day of life seeing the reality of arising and passing away than a hundred years of existence remaining blind to it.’ The Buddha
- Life is not as serious as the mind makes it out to be. Eckhart Tolle
- If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else. Confucius
- The good life can be as simple as just paying attention. Charlie Ambler
- Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life — after that you cannot be deceived. Zen Proverb
- The shortest sentence that adequately describes life is as long as the universe. Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. Alan Watts
- Practice is this life, and realization is this life, and this life is revealed right here and now. Maezumi Roshi
- 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
- In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. Buddha
- 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
Zen Quotes on Changes
- Nothing is permanent, except change. Buddha
- Awareness is the greatest agent for change. Eckhart Tolle
- If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. Buddha
- One moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world. Buddha
- If you want to change the world, start with the next person who comes to you in need. B. D. Schiers
- If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. Buddha
- Everything Changes. Suzuki Roshi
- If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation. Jiddu Krishnamurti
- What we can change is our perceptions, which have the effect of changing everything. Donna Quesada
- Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things. Pema Chodron
Zen Meditation Quotes
- To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. Chuang Tzu
- The real meditation is how you live your life. Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Stay in the center, and you will be ready to move in any direction. Alan W. Watts
- They call it ‘peace of mind’ but maybe it should be called ‘peace from mind’. Naval Ravikant
- Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind. Zen Proverb
- A disciplined mind brings happiness. Buddha
- Body and mind dropped off. Dogen
- Anything that can be said is a perspective, not truth. Shunya
- Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. Tilopa
- In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light. Dōgen Zenji
- Sleep is the best meditation. 14th Dalai Lama
- Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock, don’t demand – relax. Osho
- Meditate … do not delay, lest you later regret it. Sallekha Sutta
- Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. Lao Tzu
- No thought, no reflection, no analysis, no cultivation, no intention; let it settle itself. Tilopa
- [Zuzuki-roshi] I don’t know anything about consciousness. I just try to teach my students how to hear the birds sing. David Chadwick
- Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Let all things take their course. Chuang Tzu
- If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with this flow. Happiness lies ahead. Meditation is key. Buddha
- Mind is like a mad monkey. Sathya Sai Baba
- Nothing divides one so much as thought. Reginald Horace Blyth
- You should sit and meditate for 20 minutes, unless you’re too busy, then you should sit and meditate or an hour. Zen proverb
- We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. Buddha
- It’s important that meditation is not seen as something that only happens when you are seated in a quiet place. Otherwise spirituality and our daily life become two separate things. That’s the primary illusion. Adyashanti
Funny Zen Quotes
- I have lived with several Zen masters – all of them cats. Eckhart Tolle
- Let go, or be dragged. Zen Proverb
- Relax. Nothing is under control. Adi Da Samraj
- Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark. Zen Proverb
- Learning Zen is a phenomenon of gold & dung. Before you learn it, it’s like gold; after you learn it, it’s like dung. Zen Proverb
- Some days you’re the bug; some days you’re the windshield. Steven Tyler
- The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire. Unknown
- If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito. 14th Dalai Lama
- Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun. Alan Watts
- Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst. Lin Yutang
- When you hear that all beings are Buddha, don’t fall into the error of thinking there’s more than one Buddha. Zen Graffiti
- No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously. Dave Barry
- If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it. Unknown
- It’s always darkest before the dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it. Navjot Singh Sidhu
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