#zen

When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy. ↗

— Matsuo Bashō

#creating #haiku #japanese #poetry #zen

No praise, no blame. Just so. ↗

— Isaac Marion

#zen #zen

Here's an example: someone says, "Master, please hand me the knife," and he hands them the knife, blade first. "Please give me the other end," he says. And the master replies, "What would you do with the other end?" This is answering an everyday matter in terms of the metaphysical. When the question is, "Master, what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?" Then he replies, "There is enough breeze in this fan to keep me cool." That is answering the metaphysical in terms of the everyday, and that is, more or less, the principle zen works on. The mundane and the sacred are one and the same. ↗

— Alan Wilson Watts

#zen #metaphysics

Doffing the ego's safe glory, he finds his naked reality. ↗

— Dag Hammarskjöld

#reality #self #zen #zen

But people of the deepest understanding look within, distracted by nothing. Since a clear mind is the Buddha, they attain the understanding of a Buddha without using the mind. ↗

— Bodhidharma

#enlightenment #meditation #mind #spirituality #zen

I have no news of my coming or passing away-- the whole thing happened quicker than a breath; ask no questions of the moth. ↗

— فرید الدین عطار

#mayfly-and-pilgrim #zen #zen

He knows not where he's going, For the ocean will decide, Its not the destination, It's the glory of the ride ↗

— Edward Monkton

#zen #zen

We live thinking I am right, I am wise. Herein lies the cause of human delusion. ↗

— Ko Kamei

#zen

The object of your desire is not an object. ↗