Be aware of yourself without thinking or looking in the mirror

what is not true does not exist in this moment.

To think, or not to think…This is the true question.

Your actions create an “energy vortex” that draws in the necessary ingredients for your venture.

What is first seen as a loss is now seen as a gain. For he finds solitude, not in far off, quite places; he creates it out of himself, spreads it around him, wherever he...

The answers are never “out there.” All the answers are “in there,” inside you, waiting to be discovered.

The object of your desire is not an object.

There had to be something wrong with my life. I should have been born a Yugoslavian shepherd who looked up at the Big Dipper every night.

14. Muddy Road Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash,...

Zen has been called the “religion before religion,” which is to say that anyone can practice, including those committed to another faith. And that phrase evokes that natural religion of our early childhood, when heaven...

With passions stilled and one’s nature firm, all destinies are in harmony; When the full moon of contemplation is reached you will be pure.

Anywhere we go, we will have our self with us; we cannot escape ourselves.

I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color–something which exists before all forms and colors appear…...

For eternally and always there is only now, one and the same now; the present is the only thing that has no end.

When you paint Spring, do not paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots, but just paint Spring. To paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots is to paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots – it is not...

Maybe the Buddha was right: pain and suffering are the only true constants in life.

that stone Buddha deserves all the birdshit it getsI wave my skinny arms like a tall flower in the wind

Each situation is a blossom to be picked with a curious spirit.

When something comes from within, when it is a part of you, you have no choice but to live it, to express it.

The title of this Chautauqua is “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” not “Zen and the Art of Mountain Climbing,” and there are no motorcycles on the tops of mountains, and in my opinion...

One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection. To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual...

The object of our lives is to look at, listen to, touch, taste things. Without them—these sticks, stones, feathers, shells—there is no Deity.

The problem with all students, he said, is that they inevitably stop somewhere. They hear an idea and they hold on to it until it becomes dead; they want to flatter themselves that they know...

Zen movement is a meditative practice.

The true tragedy in most people’s lives is that they are far better than they imagine themselves to be and, as a result, end up being much less than they might be.

Who you allow into the circle of your life will make the difference in the quality of your life.

Zen is the period of time during which a person has true clarity of vision.

A falcon hovers at the edge of the sky.Two gulls drift slowly up the river.Vulnerable while they ride the wind,they coast and glide with ease.Dew is heavy on the grass below,the spider’s web is ready.Heaven’s...

Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar

When composing a verse let there not be a hair’s breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree...

We’re all in this together and we don’t have much time.

Let whatever happens, be what needs to happen, so that I may awaken.

What Happens, Happens.

In Zen, there is an old saying: The obstacle is the path. Know that a whole and happy life is not free of obstacles. Quite the contrary, a whole and happy life is riddled with...

A strong personal philosophy does more than sustain us through the tragedies of life. It also stains us daily in everything we think and do. It gives us optimism and hope.

Doffing the ego’ssafe glory, he findshis naked reality.

You want to know my name? –a hill, a tree. An empty drifting boat.

1. A Cup of Tea Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), recieved a university professor who came to inqure about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then...

has no patience with mysticism, far less the occult.” Nor does it have any time with moralism, the prescriptions or distortions we would impose on the world, obscuring it from our view. It asks, it...

Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

Some people live as though they are already dead. There are people moving around us who are consumed by their past, terrified of their future, and stuck in their anger and jealousy. They are not...

A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, “Why is there so much suffering?”Suzuki Roshi replied, “No reason.

It’s like you took a bottle of ink and you threw it at a wall. Smash! And all that ink spread. And in the middle, it’s dense, isn’t it? And as it gets out on...

Every man possesses the Buddha-nature. Do not demean yourselves.

I wrote a zen koan once about love, but it didn’t make any sense. That’s how I knew I had accurately described love.

I’d love to give you somethingbut what would help?

Think of the jazz improv artist responding to the musical banter among her fellow players onstage. Aside from whatever training they’ve done in advance, as soon as the curtain opens, they move into unknown territory...

The things I carry are my thoughts. That’s it. They are the only weight. My thoughts determine whether I am free and light or burdened.

Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down....

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set...