Quotes About Enlightenment

To be aware of the meaning of your life, you practice zazen.

So even if the sun were to rise from the west, the Bodhisattva has only one way.

Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ashes. This is the goal of our practice. That is what Dogen meant when he said, "Ashes do not come back to firewood.

Those who can sit perfectly physically usually take more time to obtain the true way of Zen, the actual feeling of Zen, the marrow of Zen.

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity.

Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say, "I know what Zen is," or "I have attained enlightenment." This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner. Be very very careful about this point.

Enlightenment is not some good feeling or some particular state of mind. The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is, itself, enlightenment. If you cannot be satisfied with the state of mind you have in zazen, it means your mind is still wandering about. Our body and mind should not be wobbling or wandering about. In this posture there is no need to talk about the right state of mind. You already have it. This is the conclusion of Buddhism.

The enlightened person is some perfect, desirable character, for himself and for others.

the four noble truths: that there is suffering, that it has an origin, that there is a cessation of suffering, and that there is a path to that cessation.

Ego is like our shadow.... when enlightenment is at its best there is no ego and we live well within ourselves.... however as soon as the sun (of sanity)starts setting our ego starts outgrowing us.

Sometimes its best to walk in darkness...... It helps to focus on the ray of light!!

No one knows all that there is to know. (This despite Mark Twain's observation that between him and Albert Einstein, they encompassed all human knowledge. As he put it, "Einstein knows all that there is to know, and I know the rest.") The task is to learn as much as you can about as much as you can; the great disease of mankind is ignorance. With

The great disease of mankind is ignorance.

The chasm between French Jacobinism and British liberalism is not as wide as it seems: both are assimilatory modes of thought rooted in the Enlightenment.

I just want to keep learning.

The only way into truth is through one's own annihilation through dwelling a long time in a state of extreme and total humiliation.

I think perhaps we want a more conscious life.

One of most the greatest moment in life, is when you notice light when you are in the dark.

Seek wisdom wherever you are, seek wisdom even in your dreams.

I keep the subject constantly before me and wait till the first dawnings open little by little into the full light.

This book endeavors to clear away the mists which prevent so many from seeing the road.

All is but lip-wisdom which wants experience.

Yes Truth may be, but 'tis not Here; mankind must seek and find it There, But Where nor I nor you can tell, nor aught earth-mother ever bare. Enough to think that Truth can be: come sit we where the roses glow, Indeed he knows not how to know who knows not also how to 'unknow.'

In your light I learn how to love.