#zen

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

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.

It is not something you do in order to get somewhere else. It is the realization that you are already there.

How does one achieve enlightenment? By not seeking it. For whoever seeks it assumes that he does not already have it.

The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring there.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.

You only lose what you cling to.

Fall down seven times, stand up eight.

Sit upon a cold stone for three years, and it will become warm.

Let the grievance flow away into the river.

When your own heart enters into stillness, the entire universe becomes still.

The crane lives a thousand years, the tortoise ten thousand; walk with nature's deliberate rhythm.

One who knows their own nature harbors no bitter grudges toward others.

Pushing against a silk curtain only exhausts the fist.

Only when walking the solitary path does its true depth reveal itself.

The water that yields to the riverbed eventually carves through the stone.

A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it; it simply blooms.

The moon does not withhold its reflection from the muddy puddle.

When the tea is finished, only the silence remains.

The tongue never slips when the heart is quiet.

He who blames others has a long journey ahead; he who blames himself is halfway home; he who blames no one has arrived.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water.

Don't choose. Accept life as it is in its totality.

Don't seek, don't search, don't ask, don't demand — relax. If you relax, it is there.

Zen is a revolution. It does not give you any dogma; it simply gives you the methodology to find your own light.

Enlightenment is not an achievement, it is the realization that there is nothing to achieve.

Walk without a goal, love without a reason, live without a hurry.