Zen Sayings

Sitting Quietly

兀然無事坐、春夾草自生

"Sitting quietly, doing nothing,

Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself." Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 134, 222)

 

Suchness

青山自青山、白雲自白雲

"The blue mountains are of themselves blue mountains;

"The white clouds are of themselves white clouds." Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 134, 222)

 

Zen Buddhism inspirational quotes

Mountains are Mountains

The famous saying of Ch'ing-yüan Wei-hsin (Seigen Ishin):

老僧三十年前未參禪時、見山是山、見水是水、及至後夾親見知識、有箇入處、見山不是山、見水不是水、而今得箇體歇處、依然見山秪是山、見水秪是水 (The Way of Zen 220 k)

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. ¹³

¹³ Ch'uan Teng Lu, 22. (The Way of Zen 126)

 

"Before a man studies Zen, to him mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after he gets an insight into the truth of Zen through the instruction of a good master, mountains to him are not mountains and waters are not waters; but after this when he really attains to the abode of rest, mountains are once more mountains and waters are waters." (Essays in Zen Buddhism – First Series 24)

 

Eternity in an hour

萬古長空      An eternity of endless space:

一朝風月      A day of wind and moon. (The Golden Age of Zen 246, 322 n.2)

"One of the most frequently reiterated couplets in Chinese Zen literature" (The Golden Age of Zen 246)

 

Oneness

天地同根      Heaven and earth and I are of the same root,

萬物一體      The ten-thousand things and I are of one substance.

Zen Master Sêng-chao/Sõjõ (僧肇 384-414)

 

"Nan-ch'uan and his lay disciple Lu Hsuan (陸亘). Lu was reciting Seng-chao's saying:

天地與我同根         Heaven and earth come from the same root as myself:

萬物與我爲一         All things and I belong to one Whole.

However, he did not really understand the full purport of it. Nan-ch'uan pointed at the peonies in the courtyard, saying, 'The worldlings look at these bush of flowers as in a dream." Lu did not see the point." (The Golden Age of Zen 285)

陸大夫向師道、｢肇法師、也甚奇怪、解道"天地與我同根、萬物與我爲一"｣師指庭前牡丹花曰、｢大夫、時人見此一花株如夢相似｣ (The Golden Age of Zen 324 n.92)

"While Rikkõ, a high government official of the T'ang dynasty, had a talk with his Zen master Nansen, the official quoted a saying of Sõjõ, a noted monk scholar of an earlier dynasty:

Heaven and earth and I are of the same root,

The ten-thousand things and I are of one substance

and continued, 'Is not this a most remarkable statement?' / Nansen called the attention of the visitor to the flowering plant in the garden and said, 'People of the world look at these flowers as if they were in a dream.' " (The Essentials of Zen Buddhism 483-4)

 

Unity

Merge your mind with cosmic space, integrate your actions with myriad forms.

Ch'an master Hung-chih Cheng-chüeh (宏智正覺 Wanshi Shõkaku, 1091-1157)

(Transmission of Light xi)

 

Subtlety

入林不動草、入水不立波

"Entering the forest he moves not the grass;

Entering the water he makes not a ripple." Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 152, 224)

 

read more at: http://www.cosmicchrist.net/Zen_Buddhism_inspirational_famous_quotes.htm

 

Zen Buddhism inspirational quotes