Zen Quotes

If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.

“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.”

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.

"If the water is still, you can see the moon reflected. If the water is agitated, the moon is fragmented and scattered. It is harder to see the true moon. Our minds are like that. When our minds are agitated, we cannot see the true world."

We’re so caught up in trying to do everything, experience all the essential things, not miss out on anything important...We can’t read all the good books, watch all the good films, go to all the best cities in the world, try all the best restaurants, meet all the great people...Life is better when we don’t try to do everything. Learn to enjoy the slice of life you experience, and life turns out to be wonderful.

Today isn't preparation for tomorrow, today is the main event.

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

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.

Gaining enlightenment is an accident. Spiritual practice simply makes us accident-prone.

There is not a petal of a flower or a blade of grass that does not configure the Way.

Only one koan matters: You.

If treacherous talk is constantly in your ears, and unwanted thoughts are constantly in your mind, you can turn these about and use them as whetstones to enhance your practice. If every word that came to your ears was agreeable, and all things in your mind were pleasant, then your whole life would be poisoned and wasted.

It takes a long time to understand nothing.

The infinite is in the finite of every instant.

You're only as far along as you can be at any given time.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.

To follow the path:
look to the master,
follow the master,
walk with the master,
see through the master,
become the master.

To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top.

Most people stand in sight of the spiritual mountains all their lives and never enter them, being content to listen to others who have been there and thus avoid the hardships.

"What's new?" is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion