Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Inaction, Spring, Proverbs
The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Attachment
Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Proverbs, Letting Go
In studying the way, realizing it is hard; once you have realized it, preserving it is hard. When you can preserve it, putting it into practice is hard.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Zen
If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Understanding, Proverbs, Wilderness
Do not seek the truth; only cease to cherish your opinions.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Opinions, Opinion
When your bow is broken and your last arrow spent,
shoot, shoot with all of your heart.
—Zen Proverb
Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it’s dark.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Self-Discovery
The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say we did it ourselves.
—Zen Proverb
No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.
—Zen Proverb
If you have no feelings about worldly things, they are all Buddhism; if you have feelings about Buddhism, it is a worldly thing.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Buddhism
Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life—after that you cannot be deceived.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Zen
If something is boring after 2 minutes, try it for 4. If still boring, try it for 8, 16, 32, and so on. Eventually, one discovers that it is not boring, but very interesting.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Boredom, Resolve, Endurance, Perseverance
Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you.
—Zen Proverb
Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Master
Hide your body in the Big Dipper.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Body
The driver knows how much the ox can carry, and keeps the ox from being overloaded. You know your way and your state of mind. Do not carry too much.
—Zen Proverb
Sometimes, simply by sitting, the soul collects wisdom.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Proverbs, Wisdom
Be as an cup, and the universe flows into you. Be as an arrow, and the universe retreats from you.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Attitude
Knock on the sky and listen to the sound.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Experience
When walking, walk. When eating, eat.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Proverbs, Concentration, Focus
Riverbanks lined with green willows, fragrant grasses: A place not sacred? Where?
—Zen Proverb
The obstacle is the path.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Obstacles
From the withered tree, a flower blooms.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Proverbs, Flowers, Hope
Learning Zen is a phenomenon of gold and dung. Before you understand it, it’s like gold; after you understand it, it’s like dung.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Philosophy, Zen
Before enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water. After enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Understanding
The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Choice
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Hokusai Japanese Artist, Wood Engraver
- Taiichi Ohno Japanese Manufacturing Engineer
- Haruki Murakami Japanese Novelist
- Masaru Ibuka Japanese Entrepreneur, Engineer
- Matsuo Basho Japanese Poet
- Murasaki Shikibu Japanese Diarist, Novelist
- Tanizaki Jun’ichiro Japanese Novelist
- Zeami Motokiyo Japanese Playwright
- Soichiro Honda Japanese Inventor
- Monzaemon Chikamatsu Japanese Dramatist
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