Zen is a Japanese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that emphasizes the value of meditation and insight. It was introduced to Japan from China in the 12th century.
The word Zen is derived from the Sanskrit ‘Dhyāna,’ which in Chinese transliteration became ‘Chán,’ and Japanese pronunciation ‘Zen.’ It means meditation, contemplation, pondering.
The purpose of Zen is a spiritual discipline to reach enlightenment (satori) through meditation in a seated posture (zazen.) A practitioner receives guidance from a teacher and often uses paradoxical statements, stories, and puzzles (koans) to rise above mere intellectual reasoning and realize insight.
Owing to the consequential emphasis on harmony and mental tranquility, Zen has had a profound cultural influence on Japanese art and architecture. Zen practice has also inspired Japanese literature, the Japanese tea ceremony, and the Noh dance-theater.
Works on Zen by authors such as D. T. Suzuki has contributed to an ever-increasing appreciation and popularity of Zen in the West.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Zen Proverb
Before enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water. After enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Understanding
If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Proverbs, Wilderness, Understanding
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Spring, Proverbs, Inaction
When your bow is broken and your last arrow spent,
shoot, shoot with all of your heart.
—Zen Proverb
Knock on the sky and listen to the sound.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Experience
Be as an cup, and the universe flows into you. Be as an arrow, and the universe retreats from you.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Attitude
Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you.
—Zen Proverb
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
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: Resolve, Perseverance, Boredom, Endurance
From the withered tree, a flower blooms.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Proverbs, Hope, Flowers
The obstacle is the path.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Obstacles
Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it’s dark.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Self-Discovery
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
Sometimes, simply by sitting, the soul collects wisdom.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Wisdom, Proverbs
Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Master
The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Attachment
No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.
—Zen Proverb
When walking, walk. When eating, eat.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Proverbs, Concentration, Focus
Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Proverbs, Letting Go
Hide your body in the Big Dipper.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Body
Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life—after that you cannot be deceived.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Zen
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
The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say we did it ourselves.
—Zen Proverb
The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Choice
Riverbanks lined with green willows, fragrant grasses: A place not sacred? Where?
—Zen Proverb
Do not seek the truth; only cease to cherish your opinions.
—Zen Proverb
Topics: Opinions, Opinion
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
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