The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. — Dogen
Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. — Confucius
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself. — Matsuo Basho
Your mind is your instrument. Learn to be its master and not its slave.
However many holy words you read, However many you speak, What good will they do you If you do not act on upon them? — Buddha
If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path. — Buddha
In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves. — Abraham Joshua Heschel
The MASTER has failed more times than beginner has even TRIED.
Mind is everything. What we think, we become. — Buddha
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. — Buddha
Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun. — Alan Watts
Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. — Buddha
Zen Buddhism Quotes
If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? — Dogen
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others. — Buddha
Have good trust in yourself,
not in the One that you think you should be,
but in the One that you are. — Taizan Maezumi
You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be.
Let me give you a wonderful Zen practice. Wake up in the morning...look in the mirror, and laugh at yourself. — Bernie Glassman
You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself. — Alan Watts
Life is a vast, unknowable movement of wholeness with no one separate from it and nothing outside of it. — Toni Packer
You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.
Zen Buddhism is a discipline where belief isn't necessary. — David Sylvian
To practice Zen Buddhism is to train oneself to eliminate hatred, anger and selfishness and to develop loving-kindness towards all. — Thich Thien-An
One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world. — Dogen
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act. — Buddha
Zen Quotes
If you want to travel the Way of Buddhas and Zen masters, then expect nothing, seek nothing, and grasp nothing. — Dogen
The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one's humdrum life, a life of monotonous, uninspiring commonplaceness, into one of art, full of genuine inner creativity. — D.T. Suzuki
Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Let all things take their course. — Zhuangzi
Those who do not have goals are doomed forever to work for those who do.
Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen. — Bodhidharma
We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything. That is to understand Zen. — D.T. Suzuki
When you live in the shadow of insanity, the appearance of another mind that thinks and talks as yours does is something close to a blessed event. — Robert M. Pirsig
You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be.
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. — Nhat Hanh
Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space? — D.T. Suzuki
Children are natural Zen masters; their world is brand new in each and every moment. — John Bradshaw
The first and biggest victory of all is victory over your own self. — Enoch Adeboye
Zen Life Quotes
The key to finding happiness in this life is realizing that the only way to overcome is to transcend; to find happiness in the simple pleasures, to master the art of just being. — Brianna Wiest
Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. — Zhuangzi
When one is seized with a passion to understand one’s self, one has to leave behind all normal life and habitual modes of thought. — R.K. Narayan
Courage is refusing to be a slave to fear.
When the student is ready the teacher will appear. — Lao Tzu
Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. — Ray Bradbury
Many people are cruising through life doing precisely zero hours of deliberate practice. — Angela Duckworth
Time = Life, therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.
A zen master's life is one continuous mistake. — Dogen
Zen has no secrets other than seriously thinking about life and death. — Takeda Shingen
Zen is not “attained” by mirror-wiping mediation, but by “self-forgetfulness in the existential 'present' of life here and now.” We do not “come”, we “are.” Don't strive to become, but be. — Bruce Lee
Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everythiong else. — Buddha
Zen Like Quotes
I feel like Zoom is not a part of Zoom anymore. Zoom belongs to the world now. — Eric Yuan
If you try to grasp Zen in movement, it goes into stillness. If you try to grasp Zen in stillness, it goes into movement. It is like a fish hidden in a spring, drumming up waves and dancing independently. — Linji Yixuan
This is what Zen means by being detached—not being without emotion or feeling, but being one in whom feeling is not sticky or blocked, and through whom the experiences of the world pass like the reflections of birds flying over water. — Alan Watts
Success lies in a masterful consistency around the fundamentals.
To say one is revolutionary is a little like saying one is a Zen Buddhist - if you say you are, you probably aren't. — Lawrence Ferlinghetti
When a garden is used as a place to pause for thought, that is when a Zen garden comes to life. When you contemplate a garden like this it will form as lasting impression on your heart. — Muso Soseki
Life should be touched, not strangled. — Ray Bradbury
The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.
To an experienced Zen Buddhist, asking if one believes in Zen or one believes in the Buddha, sounds a little ludicrous, like asking if one believes in air or water. Similarly Quality is not something you believe in, Quality is something you experience. — Robert M. Pirsig
To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat. — Shunryu Suzuki
Crowdsourcing is the ultimate disruptor of distribution because in a most Zen-like fashion, the content is controlled by everyone and no one at the same time. — Jay Samit
More Zen Master Quotes
If you want to travel the Way of Buddhas and Zen masters, then expect nothing, seek nothing, and grasp nothing. — Dogen
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself. — Matsuo Basho
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. — Nhat Hanh
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.
Children are natural Zen masters; their world is brand new in each and every moment. — John Bradshaw
There was a famous Zen master whom people would seek out to become enlightened. He was strict and would occupy people with things having nothing to do with seeking enlightenment. You see, that is the only way to achieve enlightenment; by not focusing on achieving it. Then, one day it will just come to you. — Masaaki Hatsumi
The key to finding happiness in this life is realizing that the only way to overcome is to transcend; to find happiness in the simple pleasures, to master the art of just being. — Brianna Wiest
At Patagonia, making a profit is not the goal because the Zen master would say profits happen 'when you do everything else right'. — Yvon Chouinard
How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a light bulb? The plum tree in the garden! — Brad Warner
Fish sense, applied in the field, is what the old Zen masters would call enlightenment: simply the ability to see what's right there in front of you without having to sift through a lot of thoughts and theories and, yes, expensive fishing tackle. — John Gierach
The only trouble was that the scripture master, Mr. Ebenzar, was a fanatic. — R.K. Narayan
A zen master's life is one continuous mistake. — Dogen
In deep self acceptance, grows a compassionate understanding. — Sayings
Nonresistance, nonjudgment, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living. — Eckhart Tolle
The renowned seventh-century Zen master Seng-tsan taught that true freedom is being "without anxiety about imperfection. — Tara Brach
A Zen master, when asked where he would go after he died, replied, 'To Hell, for that's where help is needed most.' — Philip Kapleau
I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats. — Eckhart Tolle
Zen masters say you cannot see your reflection in running water, only in still water. — Elizabeth Gilbert
Zen Master Dogen has pointed out that anxiety, when accepted, is the driving force to enlightenment in that it lays bare the human dilemma at the same time that it ignites our desire to break out of it. — Philip Kapleau
The Zen master walks in his garden, alone. There is no traffic there. There is no shopping there. There are only the flowers. — Frederick Lenz
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet. — Nhat Hanh
I didn't want a guru or a kung fu master or a spiritual director. I didn't want to become a sorcerer or learn the zen of archery or meditate or align my chakras or uncover mast incarnations...I was after something else entirely, but it wasn't in the Yellow Pages or anywhere else that I could discover. — Daniel Quinn
To follow the path look to the master follow the master walk with the master see through the master become the master. — Sengcan
One Zen master said, The whole universe is my true personality. This is a very wonderful saying... If you want to see what you truly are, open the window, and everything you see is in fact the expression of your inner reality. Can you embrace all of it? — Adyashanti
A Zen master used to say, It is clear and so it is hard to see. A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern. Had he known what fire was, he could have cooked his rice much sooner. — Osho
In deep self-acceptance grows a compassionate understanding. As one Zen master said when I asked if he ever gets angry, 'Of course I get angry, but then a few minutes later I say to myself, 'What's the use of this,' and I let it go.' — Jack Kornfield
I vow to live fully in each moment. — Nhat Hanh
The Zen masters have the right idea-no pain no gain: thwack a silly nebbish and he'll remember it far longer and more indelibly than any words you muster at him. Not absolutely everything can or should have to be explained, and particularly not to everybody. But a concussion is a value-judgment anyone gets the point of. — Kenny Smith
As the Japanese Zen masters say, “Don't seek the truth; just drop your opinions”. Drop your theories; don't seek the truth. — Anthony De Mello
Others have falsely claimed to be the inspiration for Tom Booker in The Horse Whisperer. The one who truly inspired me was Buck Brannaman. His skill, understanding and his gentle, loving heart have parted the clouds for countless troubled creatures. Buck is the Zen master of the horse world. — Nicholas Evans
The samurais were very interested in Zen because they admired the tremendous precision that the Zen Masters had, their lack of fear and pain and their absolute lack of fear of death. — Frederick Lenz
You may wonder which came first: the skill or the hard work. But that's a moot point. The Zen master cleans his own studio. So should you. — Twyla Tharp
The famous Zen parable about the master for whom, before his studies, mountains were only mountains, but during his studies mountains were no longer mountains, and afterward mountains were again mountains could be interpreted as an alleory about [the perpetual paradox that when one is closest to a destination one is also the farthest). — Rebecca Solnit
Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most beloved Buddhist teachers in the West, a rare combination of mystic, poet, scholar, and activist. His luminous presence and the simple, compassionate clarity of his writings have touched countless lives. — Joanna Macy
Like the moon on the water, in a way. When you confront a Zen master, what you're really seeing are not his limitations but yours. — Pico Iyer
I've been in these tabloids for 14 years now, and at some point you just become a Zen master of it all — Brad Pitt
I was talking to a Zen master the other day and he said, "You shall be my disciple."I looked at him and said, "Who was Buddha's teacher?" He looked at me in a very odd way for a moment and then he burst into laughter and handed me a piece of clover. — Alan Watts
The highest teaching is never written down. It's only communicated from teacher to student because it's a "transmission of the lamp." It's a transmission of mind. — Frederick Lenz
Someone once inquired of a Far Eastern Zen master, who had a great serenity and peace about him no matter what pressures he faced, "How do you maintain that serenity and peace?" He replied, "I never leave my place of meditation." He meditated early in the morning and for the rest of the day, he carried the peace of those moments with him in his mind and heart. — Stephen Covey
To be masterful at sales or marketing you need to know your identity and be a zen-master of self. — Bryant H. McGill
We have been teaching together [with Kaz] now for more than twenty years in sesshins, in international travel programs in Japan and China, as well as intensives on Buddhism that focus on the work of Zen Master Dogen and Ryokan, as well as on many of the Mahayana sutras. — Joan Halifax
I seemed to recall some words from an old Zen master, something like, "My Zen cuts down mountains." My rejection of Buddhism was a cutting down of mountains; that is precisely how it felt to me. — Quentin S. Crisp
It's a relationship like to a crusty Zen master, or something like that. And it is really like another entity because you cannot predict the answers. — Terence McKenna
This building we're in has doors and windows. If we close the doors and windows, we can't get out. People lock themselves inside a house of delusions. But they're only delusions. They can leave anytime. Actually there is no house to leave. There's not even any leaving. What we see are flowers in the sky, the moon in the water. As for the meditative powers of Zen masters like Hsu-yun, sometimes it's useful to meditate and sometimes it isn't. — Bill Porter
My comic sense, although deliberately Americanized, is, in its intent, much closer related to the crazy wisdom of Zen monks and the goofy genius of Taoist masters than it is to, say, the satirical gibes on Saturday Night Live. It has both a literary and a metaphysical function. — Tom Robbins
Before I had studied Zen for thirty years,
I saw mountains as mountains,
and waters as waters.
When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains,
and waters are not waters.
But now that I have got its very substance
I am at rest.
For it's just that
I see mountains once again as mountains,
and waters once again as waters. — Li Ching-Yuen
In Conclusion
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of zen master quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about zen master to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of zen master quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
