Quotes About Zen

To design for compactness and orthogonality, start from zero. Zen teaches that attachment leads to suffering; experience with software design teaches that attachment to unnoticed assumptions leads to non-orthogonality, noncompact designs, and projects that fail or become maintenance nightmares.

One of the main lessons of Zen is that we ordinarily see the world through a haze of preconceptions and fixed ideas that proceed from our desires. To achieve enlightenment, we must follow the Zen teaching not merely to let go of desire and attachment, but to experience reality exactly as it is—without the preconceptions and the fixed ideas getting in the way. This

then let him go, losing himself in the Zen of pain control once more.

Hitting a ball dead perfect - the only peace.

When I do something perfect, I enjoy a split second of sanity and calm.

Buddhas don't practice nonsense.

I try to just stay in the present moment as much as possible.

I'm just dealing with what's happening, with what is. Joy, happiness, good, bad, all those terms are meaningless to me.

The essence of the Way is detachment.

I feel like I play better when I'm calm. There is an inner peace I can tap into sometimes during my matches.

Soyen Shaku saw America as a natural place for the dharma to grow and evolve.

But true Zen never stops, never congeals into such truths. That is why everyone must constantly be pushed to the abyss, starting over and feeling their utter worthlessness as a student. Without suffering and doubts, the mind will come to rest on clichés and stay there, until the spirit dies as well. Not even enlightenment is enough. You must continually start over and challenge yourself.

Think of yourself as your own Zen Master. Such masters would beat their pupils and deliberately lead them to points of maximum doubt and inner tension, knowing such moments precede enlightenment.

Zen is the spirit of the valley, not the mountaintop. The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.

Logic presumes a separation of subject from object; therefore logic is not final wisdom.This is Zen. This is my motorcycle maintenance.

Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire.

Zen is the "spirit of the valley," not the mountaintop.

Mu becomes appropriate when the context of the question becomes too small for the truth of the answer.

Mu means "no thing." Like "Quality" it points outside the process of dualistic discrimination. Mu simply says, "No class; not one, not zero, not yes, not no." It states that the context of the question is such that a yes or no answer is in error and should not be given. "Unask the question" is what it says.

The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.

However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles either.

Robert M. Pirsig

The title of this Chautauqua is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, not Zen and the Art of Mountain Climbing, and there are no motorcycles on the tops of mountains, and in my opinion very little Zen. Zen is the spirit of the valley, not the mountaintop. The only Zen you fin on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.

we don't usually see that there's a third possible logical term equal to yes and no which is capable of expanding our understanding in an unrecognized direction. We don't even have a term for it, so I'll have to use the Japanese mu.