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101 Powerful Zen Sayings and Proverbs - Buddhaimonia
101 Powerful Zen Sayings and Proverbs - Buddhaimonia
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Two years before that, I started reading a book. This book largely became my life for
those two years, and I consequently ended up reading it ten times more than any other
book I had read in my entire life up until then. The book? Tao of Jeet Kune Do.
For those who dont know, Tao of Jeet Kune Do is the book Bruce Lee is most well known
for outside of his films. He wrote a lot, and after his passing at the young age of 32 his
family and students gradually released to the public various books and collections of his
notes, but none received the notoriety that the very first collection, Tao of Jeet Kune
Do, did.
Bruce Lee was nearly as much a philosopher and mystic as he was a martial artist.
And Bruce Lees philosophy on the martial arts was heavily influenced by Zen.
So much so that the first ten or fifteen pages of the Tao of Jeet Kune Do is dedicated
solely to his favorite snippets from various Zen texts. And its these very same pages that
would be my first introduction to Zen.
I had read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do earlier in my life and was completely lost by this first
section of the book, and likewise would be again when reading it years later. It might
have been my first somewhat introduction to Zen, but at the time I had no idea what the
heck I was reading. There was stuff like this:
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Youll find the way in whispers of truth which you experience in your own
everyday life. And as you follow that trail, youll find greater peace and joy throughout
each day.
Not a sense of relief though, thats shallow, Im talking about a sense of peace that
washes over every part of you and seems to bring everything into focus, even if at first
just for a moment.
The below list of Zen quotes and Zen proverbs are bits of universal wisdom and
insight which Ive gathered over the past few years, mostly from teachers whom I have an
immense amount of respect for. People such as:
Thich Nhat Hanh
Shunryu Suzuki
Alan Watts
Dogen Zenji
Eckhart Tolle
Byron Katie
Osho
D. T. Suzuki
Rumi
Buddha
Ive amassed these from years of reading books and articles (I love buddhismnow.com)
and listening to a lot of audio. Sometimes it feels like Im following an invisible trail, laid
out step by step from past mystics and spiritual figures. Its like one big game of
connecting the dots. And this is a trail that anyone can follow.
I narrowed this list down from some 250 original quotes to the essential, the ones which
held the most significance for me and which I felt would bring the most value to you. I
feel that even a single quote can have a profound effect. A quote can give us insight into
something new or confirm something which weve felt or experienced.
As with all of Zen, the below Zen quotes arent about beliefs or ideas, but universal
wisdom which you can discover in your own daily life. And Zen is just one way to these
universal truths, countless mystics and spiritual traditions have come to the very same
insights independently that perfectly echo what Zen has discovered. This is why youll
see quotes from people other than notable Zen figures, such as Rumi and Martin Luther
King Jr.
Zen is about pointing to the universal everyday wisdom all around you,
about getting you to experience things purely as they are, not about convincing you of
some specific way of thinking, or about stamping some specific label on something.
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Dont get caught up in thinking something is Zen or anything like that, these are simply
bits of wisdom pointing to universal truth. Treat them as such and let them guide you
towards a life of greater peace and joy.
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I separated the quotes and proverbs below based on a number of major sections to help
you piece together their meaning. Keep in mind though that each section is really just a
shade of the same one thing, and so youll notice that many of these can be placed
under multiple categories.
Worry less about what category these fall into and more about receiving the message
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purely as intended and youll get the most from this list.
Im here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when
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Practice is this life, and realization is this life, and this life is
revealed right here and now.
Maezumi Roshi
If you want to change the world, start with the next person
who comes to you in need.
B. D. Schiers
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Huang Po
And when they played they really played. And when they
worked they really worked.
Dr. Seuss
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Interbeing
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Heaven & earth & I are of the same root. Ten thousand things
& I are of one substance.
Sng-chao
Im perm anence
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When you hear that all beings are Buddha, dont fall into the
error of thinking theres more than one Buddha.
Zen Graffiti
Have good trust in yourself not in the One that you think
you should be, but in the One that you are.
Maezumi Roshi
D irectExperience
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Osho
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Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:
Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the
ultimate.
Chuang
The Buddha talked about saving all beings from delusion, not
converting them to a new religion.
Buddhism Now
Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the
infinite. Let all things take their course.
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Chuang Tzu
Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life
after that you cannot be deceived.
Zen Proverb
Its not about approving or liking, but just being able to allow
the world to be the way it is without resenting, hating, or
judging it.
Buddhism Now
Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be
extremely hard and strong.
Zen Proverb
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The way out of life & death is not some special technique;
essential thing is to penetrate to the root of life & death.
Bukko
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To follow the path, look to the master, follow the master, walk
with the master, see through the master, become the master.
Zen Proverb
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At the still-point in the center of the circle one can see the
infinite in all things.
Chuang Tzu
All the things that truly matter, beauty, love, creativity, joy
and inner peace arise from beyond the mind.
Eckhart Tolle
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Youre never given more pain than you can handle. You
never, ever get more than you can take.
Byron Katie
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one
dewdrop on the grass.
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Dogen
Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night,
we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor
between well and badly arranged constellations.
Alan Watts
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If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where
else do you expect to find it?
Dogen
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Alan Watts
A follower of the way has neither form nor shape, neither root
nor trunk; nor dwelling place; like a fish leaping in the water.
Rinzai Zen proverb
I cannot tell you any spiritual truth that you dont know
already. All I can do is remind you of what you have
forgotten.
Eckhart Tolle
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Eckhart Tolle
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Brent says
February 2, 2015 at 4:43 AM
Great
6/22/2016 7:48 PM
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Reply
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Reply
Paul says
May 9, 2015 at 2:57 AM
I heard this one which I really like: To be calm is the highest achievement of self.
Reply
Syreeta says
July 11, 2015 at 4:27 AM
Someone shared this one with me,
Let go, or be dragged.
Reply
Carlota says
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Tony says
August 28, 2015 at 8:59 PM
By saying nothing I have said it all.
Reply
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Reply
Tony says
October 4, 2015 at 8:31 AM
Today I am here, tomorrow I am gone.
Keep me in your thoughts and I will always be
Reply
fazalurahman says
October 17, 2015 at 9:31 PM
excellent site man ,thanksss
Reply
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Really astounding piece of collection. Awaiting for the release of the book
Reply
Aphoristically says
April 25, 2016 at 1:31 PM
Each passing second is an infinite possibility.
Happiness blossoms upon sharing.
Reply
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