Being Zen Quotes

#1. Being the people we are, and feeling the way that we do, getting excited about going somewhere new can be terrifying. Of course it is, I get it! But if you don't travel, you'll regret it. Your soul will forever be empty.

S.R. Crawford

#2. No ideals. No illusions. Just reality - but more perfect than you've ever imagined. That's what being mindful and living in the present means.

Lidiya K.

#3. Zen is the way of complete self-realization; a living human being who follows the way of Zen can attain satori and then live a new life as a Buddha.

Zenkei Shibayama

#4. There's a Zen to acting, by being in the moment. That's where the power is.

Christine Ebersole

#5. Only in the moments of being alone in the darkness on the raft, will you have the space to speak, listen, and to act from the heart. Only in the moments of pain, do we begin to empathize with humankind. Only when you are lost, you will find new meaning. Float on.

Forrest Curran

#6. When you've done the technical part, you're then into the joy, the zen, into being. Technology no longer exists for you. You're then into the mystery of the thing you're doing.

William Shatner

#7. Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain.

Kabir

#8. I think that that's why artists make art - it is difficult to put into words unless you are a poet. What it takes is being open to the flow of universal creativity. The Zen artists knew this.

Alex Grey

#9. Have you ever thought; whilst looking all this time for the magic in the world, it's been inside you all along? No matter how far you travel, how wide you spread your wings and learn to fly if you have no idea what treasures hide within you you'll be searching your entire life.

Nikki Rowe

#10. It is only in the last 800 years that the rules have come into being and conservative Zen has surfaced. It is not particularly popular in Japan at all. Hardly anybody practices Zen any more because it's just too strict; there are too many rules.

Frederick Lenz

#11. In Zen Buddhism an action is considered good when it brings happiness and well-being to oneself and others, evil when it brings suffering and harm to oneself and others.

Thich Thien-An

#12. Zen insight is not our awareness, but Being's awareness of itself in us.

Thomas Merton

#13. There's a void inside most people.
It's been created by not being contented with who we are, not being happy with what we have, not being present and looking for something more, better, more exciting out there.
And we've always been trying to fill this void with something external.

Lidiya K.

#14. Being able to wait without purpose in the state of highest tension ... without continually asking yourself: Shall I be able to manage it? Wait patiently, as see what comes - and how it comes!

Eugen Herrigel

#15. And not being guided into action by foolish thought is what is known as "wisdom" (prajna).

Zen Master So Sahn

#16. Always now - just now - come into being. Always now - just now - give yourself to death. Practicing this is Zen practice.

Soko Morinaga

#17. It takes courage to become authentic. So many talk about the light but not enough speak the truth about the struggles it takes to get there and the tools to overcome it all.

Nikki Rowe

#18. We are each responsible for our own emotional well being.

Alaric Hutchinson

#19. Real Freedom is to not feel limited when wearing this Zen robe, this troublesome formal robe. Similarly, in our busy life we should wear this civilization without being bothered by it, without ignoring it, without being caught by it.

Shunryu Suzuki

#20. All success in sports and athletics, from the Zen point of view, comes from the mind. No matter what kind of shape your body is in, there is disharmony in the being.

Frederick Lenz

#21. Thus we see that the all important thing is not killing or giving life, drinking or not drinking, living in the town or the country, being unlucky or lucky, winning or losing. It is how we win, how we lose, how we live or die, finally, how we choose.

R.H. Blyth

#22. Zen in it's essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

D.T. Suzuki

#23. According to Zen philosophy each human being has two minds, a finite mind and an infinite mind.

Frederick Lenz

#24. Christopher, like most people, didn't like his universe being unfathomable, so I doubted that a Zen koan would help him.

Scarlett Thomas

#25. Being in touch with oneself is the meaning of meditation, to be aware of what is going on in your body, in your feelings, in your mind.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#26. Tantric Zen is not being kinky; nor is it being conservative and austere. It is eclectic. It is a real mixture of all things.

Frederick Lenz

#27. The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do so in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded.

D.T. Suzuki

#28. Most writers agree on the fact that Zen is not to be understood but to be lived; and far from being incompatible with the requirements of everyday life, Zen confers on it its own full revealing value.

Robert Linssen

#29. Shall you live authentically who you are or will you spend your allotted living the life of someone you imagine your self to be?

Earl R. Smith II

#30. Zen is very simple, it means being one with yourself at this very moment.

Paul Kain

#31. It's kind of like a Zen thing. Like playing the piano, or being a centipede in Heaven.

Peter Watts

#32. The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there. -Yasutani Roshi, Zen master (1885-1973)

Yasutani Roshi

#33. My conscious mind must have its roots and origins in the most unfathomable depths of being, yet it feels as if it lived all by itself in this tight little skull.

Alan W. Watts

#34. Being under stress is like being stranded in a body of water. If you panic, it will cause you to flail around so that the water rushes into your lungs and creates further distress. Yet, by calmly collecting yourself and using controlled breathing you remain afloat with ease.

Alaric Hutchinson

#35. Life was the gift that you were given the day you were born, and in turn you are the gift to life. Only in the moments of being alone in the darkness on the raft, will you have the space to speak, listen, and to act from the heart.

Forrest Curran

#36. What is perfect? From the Zen mind, perfection is not being there.

Frederick Lenz

#37. The chaos doesn't end, you kinda' just become the calm.

Nikki Rowe

#38. Earth, mountains, rivers, hidden in this nothingness.
In this nothingness, earth, mountains, rivers revealed.
Spring flowers, winter snows.
There's no being or non-being, nor denial itself.

Saisho Hiroshi

#39. Not being tense but ready.
Not thinking but not dreaming.
Not being set but flexible.
Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement.
It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.

Bruce Lee

#40. Happiness will be fleeting if you constantly search for it in places that can be taken away. It's an inside job.

Nikki Rowe

#41. There is competition in Zen. Let's not be ridiculous. There is competition in everything in life; being a winner in Zen means, competing and winning in the world of enlightenment.

Frederick Lenz

#42. Being scared to fail inspires creativity; heartbreak inspires creativity; being hurt by others inspires creativity; being lost inspires creativity. Your masterpiece isn't something that you will have made in the colorful, it is understood in the darkness. Use the anxiety within and let it serve you.

Forrest Curran

#43. Wild woman are an unexplainable spark of life. They ooze freedom and seek awareness, they belong to nobody but themselves yet give a piece of who they are to everyone they meet.
If you have met one, hold on to her, she'll allow you into her chaos but she'll also show you her magic.

Nikki Rowe

#44. Zazen is seated meditation-the opposite of contemplation-the emptying of the mind of all thoughts in order simply to be. In the midst of all evil, not a thought is aroused in the mind-this is called za. Seeing into one's Self-nature, not being moved at all-this is called Zen.

Huineng

#45. 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.

Earl R. Smith II

#46. Just so we're clear, I'm not zen by any stretch of the imagination. However, what I've read about change being the only constant is a concept that I can grab onto and have used quite a lot.

Patrick Fabian

#47. This is what Zen means by being detached - not being without emotion or feeling, but being one in whom feeling is not sticky or blocked, and through whom the experiences of the world pass like the reflections of birds flying over water.

Alan Watts

#48. If you have the sense of participation in sports or athletics, of being a player, then you are not really into the Zen mind. In Zen mind there is no sense of self in the play.

Frederick Lenz

#49. I use the terms "sky" and "earth" because as a human I cannot imagine those elements not being there. It is a way to give substance to nothingness.

Mark Tufo

#50. The renowned seventh-century Zen master Seng-tsan taught that true freedom is being without anxiety about imperfection.

Tara Brach

#51. Zen is a liberation from time. For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality.

Alan W. Watts

#52. If you don't practice presence, you never learn how to have busyness facilitate accomplishment.

Darrell Calkins