What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you heard of the word Zen? For me, its relaxation, while others associate it with religion, especially Buddhism. What exactly is the real meaning of Zen? Let’s take a look at the origin of the word.
Zen comes from the Chinese word Ch’an, which is directly taken from the Indian Sanskrit word dhayana, which means meditation. However, its meaning wasn’t based on the written word nor any religious transcript. Instead, Zen focuses solely on the personal relationship with your mind, and a higher, undefined entity outside of yourself. When someone says “I am in Zen”, it means that a person is in a state of being at peace with his/her thoughts, and being self-aware of his/her place within the universe, inconsequential (and simultaneously essential).
The practice of Zen is not easy. It’s like walking in a narrow path, especially if your lifestyle is so different with what Zen promotes. Nevertheless, with discipline, determination, and continuously learning and applying the teachings of Zen masters, you will eventually get into the state of “being Zen.”
We have listed inspiring quotes from some of the famous Zen masters that will help you be more motivated in the journey of finding your Zen.
Shunryu Suzuki
Born as Toshitaka Suzuki on May 18, 1904, in a small village near the Southwest of Tokyo, Japan. He was anointed as a Soto Zen monk when he was 13 years old and was awarded the Dharma name of Shogaku. He got his graduate degree at the age of 30 in Zen, Buddhism, and English major.
Suzuki established the very first Buddhist monastery in San Francisco called the ‘San Francisco Zen Center.’ He was also the author of one of the most renowned books on Zen practice, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.” He was the very first Zen Master who gained popularity in the Western world for his teaching of Zen Buddhism outside of Japan and was considered as the most famous Soto Zen monks of the 20th century.
“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.”
“Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.”
“Even though you try to put people under control, it is impossible. You cannot do it. The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be in control in a wider sense. To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control him. So it is with people: first let them do what they want, and watch them. This is the best policy. To ignore them is not good. That is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control them. The best one is to watch them, just to watch them, without trying to control them.”
“Each of you is perfect the way you are … and you can use a little improvement.”
“The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.”
“The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything. So when you try hard to make your own way, you will help others, and you will be helped by others. Before you make your own way you cannot help anyone, and no one can help you.”
“Calmness of mind does not mean you should stop your activity. Real calmness should be found in activity itself. We say, “It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.”
“When you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do.”
“Emotionally we have many problems, but these problems are not actual problems; they are something created; they are problems pointed out by our self-centered ideas or views.”
Eihei Dogen
Dogen was born in Uji, Japan in 1200. He was a Zen Buddhist teacher and the founder of the Sōtō Zen school of Buddhism in Japan.
“If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”
“Do not be concerned with the faults of other persons. Do not see others’ faults with a hateful mind. There is an old saying that if you stop seeing others’ faults, then naturally seniors and venerated and juniors are revered. Do not imitate others’ faults; just cultivate virtue. Buddha prohibited unwholesome actions, but did not tell us to hate those who practice unwholesome actions.”
“A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.”
“Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed, do not squander your life.”
“No matter how bad a state of mind you may get into, if you keep strong and hold out, eventually the floating clouds must vanish and the withering wind must cease.”
“To escape from the world means that one’s mind is not concerned with the opinions of the world.”
“When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves. Similarly, if you examine many things with a confused mind, you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. But when you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that there is nothing that has unchanging self.”
“Do not view mountains from the scale of human thought”
“If you study a lot because you are worried that others will think badly of you for being ignorant and you’ll feel stupid, this is a serious mistake.”
“What you think in your own mind to be good, or what people of the world think is good, is not necessarily good.”
Línjì Yìxuán
Linji was the founder of the Linji school of Chán Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China. He is considered to be one of the most influential Zen masters who was quite direct and strict to his students (he hits and shouts at them).
“When it’s time to get dressed, put on your clothes. When you must walk, then walk. When you must sit, then sit. Just be your ordinary self in ordinary life, unconcerned in seeking for Buddhahood. When you’re tired, lie down. The fool will laugh at you but the wise man will understand.”
“If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the sea of delusion.
“If you want to be free, get to know your real self. It has no form, no appearance, no root, no basis, no abode, but is lively and buoyant. It responds with versatile facility, but its function cannot be located. Therefore, when you look for it you become further from it, when you seek it you turn away from it all the more.”
“Just put thoughts to rest and don’t seek outwardly anymore. When things come up, then give them your attention; just trust what is functional in you at present, and you have nothing to be concerned about.”
“If you want to perceive and understand objectively, just don’t allow yourself to be confused by people. Detach from whatever you find inside or outside yourself – detach from religion, tradition, and society, and only then will you attain liberation. When you are not entangled in things, you pass through freely to autonomy.”
“Where the student is exerting all his strength, not a breath of air can pass, and the whole thing may be over as swiftly as a flash of lightning or a spark from a flint. If the student so much as bats an eye, the whole relationship could be spoiled. Apply the mind and at once there’s differentiation; rouse a thought and at once there’s error. The person who can understand this never ceases to be right before my eyes.”
“Followers of the Way, if you want to be constantly in accord with the Dharma, you’ll have to begin by learning to be first-rate fellows. Be weak-kneed and wishy-washy and you’ll never get there.”
“If your mind entertains a moment of doubt, it becomes obstructed by the element earth. If your mind entertains a moment of craving, it becomes drowned in the element water. If your mind entertains a moment of anger, it is seared by the element fire. If your mind entertains a moment of delight, it is tossed about by the element air. If you can understand that this is so, however, you will not be swayed by the environment but can utilize the elements wherever you may be.”
“You can’t seem to stop your mind from racing around everywhere seeking something. That’s why the patriarch said, ‘Hopeless fellows — using their heads to look for their heads!’ You must right now turn your light around and shine it on yourselves, not go seeking somewhere else. Then you will understand that in body and mind you are no different from the patriarchs and buddhas, and that there is nothing to do.”
Huang Po
“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.”
“Here it is–right now. Start thinking about it and you miss it.”
“Do not permit the events of your daily lives to bind you, but never withdraw yourselves from them. Only by acting thus can you earn the title of ‘A Liberated One’.”
“Observe things as they are and don’t pay attention to other people. There are some people just like mad dogs barking at everything that moves, even barking when the wind stirs among the grass and leaves.”
“The ignorant eschew phenomena but not thought; the wise eschew thought but not phenomena.”
“Where nothing is sought this implies Mind unborn; where no attachment exists, this implies Mind not destroyed; and that which is neither born nor destroyed is the Buddha.”
“Just let your minds become void and environmental phenomena will void themselves; let principles cease to stir and events will cease stirring of themselves.”