quotations about Zen
Not relying on scripture, doctrine or ritual, Zen is verified by personal experience and is passed on from master to disciple, hand to hand, ineffably, through hard, intimate training.
NORMAN FISCHER
"Nothing Holy: A Zen Primer", Lion's Roar, January 20, 2017
Norman Fischer is an American poet, writer, and Soto Zen priest, teaching and practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He has published more than twenty-five books of poetry and non-fiction, as well as numerous poems, essays and articles in Buddhist magazines and poetry journals.
Zen is the state where one finds his/her original self and its ultimate goal is to calm the soul and experience the truths and reasons that prevail in the world.
SHUNMYO MASUNO
"Zen and the art of landscape gardening", Property Report, January 19, 2016
Shunmyō Masuno (born 28 February 1953) is a Japanese monk and garden designer. Chief priest of the Sōtō Zen temple Kenkō-ji and professor at Tama Art University, he has been called "Japan's leading garden designer".
Zen is a long discipline of unlearning what you've learned and accepting countless paradoxes.
TOM HENDERSON
"Zen and the Art of Security", Network World, December 13, 2017
A quiet, self-confident, and trustful existence of your own--this is the truth of Zen.
D. T. SUZUKI
attributed, Zen Chants: Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary
D. T. Suzuki (11 November 1870 - 12 July 1966) was a Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in Far Eastern philosophy to the West. He was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature. Suzuki was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963.
Zen is life itself sewn into the fabric of daily existence.
TERENCE KOH
"My 10 Favorite Books: Terence Koh", New York Times, January 15, 2016
Terence Koh is a conceptual artist who translates his ideas through a wide variety of media, including drawing, sculpture, video, performance, and the internet. Originally working under the alias "asianpunkboy", much of his diverse work involves queer and punk sensibilities.
Zen is ... in astonishing moments, sometimes small, sometimes great, noticing right down to our bones and marrow the truth of the moment.
JAMES FORD
"Kensho, Samadhi & the Practices of Zen", Patheos, January 13, 2017
James Ishmael Ford blogs as "Monkey Mind" on Patheos. The blog's motto is "easily distracted." It mostly addresses Zen life in the West, but also explores the currents of liberal and progressive religion, politics, and culture.
The great project of Zen is awakening.
JAMES FORD
"Zen Becoming Western", Patheos, December 4, 2016
James Ishmael Ford blogs as "Monkey Mind" on Patheos. The blog's motto is "easily distracted." It mostly addresses Zen life in the West, but also explores the currents of liberal and progressive religion, politics, and culture.
A sense of being present, with illumination and intensity, is the essence of zazen, and although there are many approaches to Zen meditation, they all come back to this.
NORMAN FISCHER
"Nothing Holy: A Zen Primer", Lion's Roar, January 20, 2017
Norman Fischer is an American poet, writer, and Soto Zen priest, teaching and practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He has published more than twenty-five books of poetry and non-fiction, as well as numerous poems, essays and articles in Buddhist magazines and poetry journals.
Zen is ... a special transmission outside of doctrine, not defined by literal formulations, but directly pointing to the human mind for the perception of its essence and fulfillment of enlightenment.
THOMAS CLEARY
Zen Antics: One Hundred Stories of Enlightenment
Thomas Cleary (born 1949) is an author and translator of more than 80 books related to Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, as well as The Art of War, a treatise on management, military strategy, and statecraft.
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.
SHUNRYU SUZUKI
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
Shunryū Suzuki (May 18, 1904 - December 4, 1971) was a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States. He founded San Francisco Zen Center which, along with its affiliate temples, comprises one of the most influential Zen organizations in the United States.
I'm a firm believer that we all hold a certain intuitive wisdom within each of us, and it's that wisdom which hints at our naturally harmonious and interconnected nature. It's also this wisdom which, if we so choose, can be used to bring this world together in greater peace and harmony. And it's this intuitive wisdom which we share that is the very spirit of Zen.
MATT VALENTINE
"The Beginner's Guide to Zen Living: 10 Steps to Transforming Your Life with the Spirit of Zen", Buddhaimonia
Zen is the authentic gate to free yourself in the unconfined realm.
KAZUAKI TANAHASHI
Zen Chants: Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary
Kazuaki Tanahashi (born October 4, 1933) is an accomplished Japanese calligrapher, Zen teacher, author and translator of Buddhist texts. A peace and environmental worker for decades, he founded A World Without Armies to encourage awareness and interest in the possibility of worldwide demilitarization.
It has been said that if you have Zen in your life, you have no fear, no doubt, no unnecessary craving, no extreme emotion. Neither illiberal attitudes nor egotistical actions trouble you. You serve humanity humbly, fulfilling your presence in this world with loving-kindness and observing your passing as a petal falling from a flower.
PAUL REPS
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection Of Zen And Pre-Zen Writings
Paul Reps (15 September 1895 - 12 July 1990) was an American artist, poet, and author best known for his unorthodox haiku-inspired poetry.
The new way to reach peak zen is underwater yoga. And we're not just talking legs in the sea. We're talking full body, deep-sea diving yoga.
ELLEN SCOTT
"This retreat lets you do yoga under the sea", Metro, January 12, 2016
Ellen Scott is lifestyle editor at Metro, writing about sex, food, mental health, and other fun stuff.
I think that one of the great barriers to reaching a broader audience for Zen is that it can seem incomprehensible, mystical, and inscrutable because language cannot describe what is in reality the very concrete and non-intellectual experience of awakening that is at the heart of our practice.
PETER SEISHIN WOHL
"What Is Zen? (Part 1)", Sweeping Zen, April 19, 2015
Peter Seishin Wohl is the spiritual director and senior teacher at Treetop Zen Center and the guiding teacher of Wild Fox Sangha, a Treetop-affiliated sitting group based in Portland, Maine.
Going off into theoretical physics to understand Zen is a mistake, however interesting the apparent similarities are.
JAMES FORD
"Zen in the Natural World: A Meditation on Awakening After Modernity", Patheos, December 29, 2017
James Ishmael Ford blogs as "Monkey Mind" on Patheos. The blog's motto is "easily distracted." It mostly addresses Zen life in the West, but also explores the currents of liberal and progressive religion, politics, and culture.
In the Zen tradition, the basis of life or the basis of discipline is accuracy. To a certain extent, it is the accuracy of black and white. In the Zen tradition there is no gray, nor is there yellow, red, green, or blue; it is black and white. That is the paramita of meditation. The very nature of black and white brings a student of Zen into a highly disciplined place, without any escape.
CHOGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE
"Zen Mind, Vajra Mind", Lion's Roar, February 14, 2017
Chögyam Trungpa (March 5, 1939 - April 4, 1987) was a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. Among his contributions are the translation of numerous Tibetan Buddhist texts, the introduction of the Vajrayana teachings to the West, and establishing the Shambhala Training method.
Your Treasure House is in yourself, it contains all you need.
HUI HAI
Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening
Hui Hai (720 - 814) was a Chinese Zen master during the Tang Dynasty famous for establishing the Zen monastic rule.
Even if we shear away all the Asian symbols and rituals, we can't deny that Zen is a meditation practice rooted in Buddhist spirituality. Everything about it points to the Buddha's experience of the true nature of self.
PERLE BESSERMAN & MANFRED STEGER
Grassroots Zen
Married university professors and authors Manfred Steger and Perle Besserman studied first under the cultural weight of Japanese Zen, then with the light-footed lay master Robert Aitken. Founders of the Princeton Area Zen Group in NJ, they have been teaching their democratic, grassroots-style of Zen for over twenty-five years.
This isn't to say that every single Zen teaching and practice is Ultimately True and Right, and that you only have your own ignorance to blame if you don't get it. That's dogmatism. Rather, the phrase "you are right to doubt what you think it means" is an open invitation to expand your mind and experience. You never have to swallow anything just because it's Zen or Buddhist, but I'm a pretty skeptical person and over 20 years of practice I've yet to encounter a teaching in this tradition from which I couldn't learn something.
DOMYO BURK
"What Zen Acceptance and Non-Attachment Really Are", Patheos, September 6, 2016
Domyo Sater Burk is a Soto Zen priest and leader of the Bright Way Zen Center in Portland, Oregon.