Quotes About Zen

Your arrows do not carry,' observed the Master, 'because they do not reach far enough spiritually.' Eugen Herrigel Zen and the Art of Archery

If anything she seems calm in this universe of hers.

I would love to be considered Zen, but I'm not sure that I am. Maybe just with animals and babies and in tough situations.

Zen people love Buddha so tremendously that they can even play jokes upon him. It is out of great love; they are not afraid.

I am still raw. I say I may be back. You know what lies are for. Even in your Zen heaven we shan't meet. --from Lesbos, written 18 October 1962

Even in your Zen heaven we shan't meet.

A bird gives a cry–the mountains quiet all the more.' 49 (This is also perhaps the real meaning behind Hakuin Ekaku's famous eighteenth-century-BCE koan 'What is the Sound of the Single Hand?': it is an invitation to attend to the silence, the emptiness.

We find Tankawosho breaking up a wooden statue of Buddha on a wintry day to make a fire. 'What sacrilege!' said the horror-stricken bystander. 'I wish to get the Shali out of the ashes,' calmly rejoined the Zen. 'But you certainly will not get Shali from this image!' was the angry retort, to which Tanka replied, 'If I do not, this is certainly not a Buddha and I am committing no sacrilege.' Then he turned to warm himself over the kindling fire.

Zen is a name derived from the Sanscrit word Dhyana, which signifies meditation.

Welcome to thee, O sword of eternity! Through Buddha And through Daruma alike Thou hast cleft thy way.

Tea ... is a religion of the art of life.

Designing a game can be like a Japanese garden. It's not what you put in but how much you take away.

The object of Zen is not to kill all feelings and become anesthetized to pain and fear. The object of Zen is to free us to scream loudly and fully when it is time to scream.

How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a light bulb? The plum tree in the garden!

Practicing zazen is like gradually (or maybe not so gradually) getting your sight back.

When I teach zazen I often tell people that it's kind of like a yoga class where there is only one posture and you hold it for a very long time.

The life of a Zen master is eating cornflakes and doing the dishes. From the distant past up till today, that's what the masters have all taught.

Zen is the complete absence of belief. Zen is the complete lack of authority.

You can do zazen by yourself. You do Zen Buddhism with other people.

When you do zazen, you're not trying to achieve a totally empty mind. That would be impossible. But you are trying to avoid the deliberate habitual manipulation of thoughts and images we usually engage in.

Buddhism is basically an oral tradition, not a religion based on a book. The meaning behind the words is far more important than the specific words used to convey that meaning. The way human beings tend to misremember what they've heard is actually part of the Zen tradition.

Part of the Zen way is learning to enjoy the fact that you cannot possibly have all the things you desire. In the truest sense none of your desires, no matter what they are, can ever be fulfilled because nothing will ever be the way you imagine it to be.

In some ways contemporary Zen centers resemble halfway houses for people who are seeking ways to get by in the world without falling to pieces.

Zen is the complete absence of belief. Zen is the complete lack of authority. Zen tears away every false refuge in which you might hide from the truth and forces you to sit naked before what is real. That's real refuge.