Zen Proverbs and Sayings
- Nothing on earth can overcome an absolutely nonresistant person.
- When an ordinary man gains knowledge, he is a sage; when a sage gains understanding, he is an ordinary man.
- Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought. – Basho
- Even a good thing isn't as good as nothing. – Chien-ju
- Sitting peacefully doing nothing Spring comes and the grass grows all by itself.
- Where there is great doubt, there will be great awakening; small doubt, small awakening, no doubt, no awakening.
- The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.
- If you're attached to anything, you surely will go far astray.
- Only the crystal-clear question yields a transparent answer.
- Life is the only thing worth living for.
- Better to sit all night than to go to bed with a dragon.
- If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.
- When you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing.
- The mind should be as a mirror.
- Everyday life is the way.
- Great Faith. Great Doubt. Great Effort. – The three qualities necessary for training.
- If you do not get it from yourself, Where will you go for it?
- Do not permit the events of your daily life to bind you, but never withdraw yourself from them.
- One moon shows in every pool, in every pool the one moon.
- Everything the same; everything distinct. – Chien-ju
- As soon as you sense any lingering or obstruction, all of it is false imagining. Just make your mind clean and free, like space, like a mirror, like the sun in the sky. ~ Yuan Wu