Quotes & Sayings About Koans

The koans in the Blue Cliff Record do their best to introduce people to their true natures. One of them (number 27 out of 100) quotes a monk asking the master Yun Men, "How is it when the tree withers and the leaves fall?" There are many ways to interpret the question, of course. — Mark Epstein

Whose silence are you? — Thomas Merton

You listen to people, you listen so deeply that you can hear their past lives,
The crackle of their funeral pyres, — Dick Allen

Life is full of tough decisions, and nothing makes them easy. But the worst ones are really your personal koans, and tormenting ambivalence is just the sense of satori rising. Try, trust, try, and trust again, and eventually you'll feel your mind change its focus to a new level of understanding. — Martha Beck

When we are able to receive life's challenges as koans rather than problems, they become interesting and exciting, rather than ponderous and depressing. — Brenda Shoshanna

One evening you may learn about enlightenment, koans, meditation and personal power. — Frederick Lenz