Seung Quotes & Sayings

I'm tremendously optimistic about the future of my discipline, yet understanding the brain is so difficult that we neuroscientists need help. — Sebastian Seung

Once Seung Sahn Soen-sa and a student of his attended a talk at a Zen center in California. The Dharma teacher spoke about Bodhidharma. After the talk, someone asked him "What's the difference between Bodhidharma's sitting in Sorim for nine years and your sitting here now?"
The Dharma teacher said, "About five thousand miles."
The questioner said, "Is that all?"
The Dharma teacher said, "Give or take a few miles."
Later on, Soen-sa asked his student, "What do you think of these answers?"
"Not bad, not good. But the dog runs after the bone."
"How would you answer?"
"I'd say, 'Why do you make a difference?' "
Soen-sa said, "Not bad. Now you ask me."
"What's the difference between Bodhidharma's sitting in Sorim for nine years and your sitting here now?"
"Don't you know?"
"I'm listening."
"Bodhidharma sat in Sorim for nine years. I am sitting here now."
The student smiled. — Seung Sahn

I didn't get hugely famous really quick. It was a slow, gradual process, so I was able to sort of grow into myself and figure out who I was and what I wanted without the glaring spotlight on me telling me who I was. — Sarah McLachlan

I don't whistle at you down the street. I would if I could, but I can't whistle you see. — Elton John

Don't want anything. Then you get everything. — Seung Sahn

To find better means of fixing the brain, we first need to achieve something more fundamental. We must understand how it works. — Sebastian Seung

Perceiving your own voice means perceiving your true self or nature. When you and the sound become one, you don't hear the sound; you are the sound. — Seung Sahn

She's been through growing up without a mother & makes my heart all of a sudden. — Kang Seung-jo

My dream's simple..and does whatever it pleases. I'm just moving in the direction of Seung Jo who's at the center of it. — Hani

Correct meditation means correctly understanding your situation moment by moment - what are you doing now? Only do it! Then, each action is complete; each action is enough. Then no thinking, so each moment I can perceive everything just like this. — Seung Sahn

If you are blessed with great fortunes ... you may love your fate. But your fate never guarantees the security of those great fortunes. As soon as you realize your helplessness at the mercy of your fate, you are again in despair. Thus the hatred of fate can be generated not only by misfortunes, but also by great fortunes. Your hatred of fate is at the same time your hatred of your self. You hate your self for being so helpless under the crushing power of fate. — T. K. Seung

When reading, only read. When eating, only eat. When thinking, only think. — Seung Sahn

The lesson: If the optimist says the glass is half full, and the pessimist says the glass is half empty, the physicist ducks. — Randall Munroe

Roarke had to force himself not to snatch her up as she swept through the hallowed Senate halls. Members of the media were already leaping toward her, but she cut through them as if they weren't there. "I like your style, Lieutenant Dallas," he said when they'd fought their way to the car. "I like it a lot. And by the way, I don't think I'm in love with you anymore. I know I am. — J.D. Robb

When people hear that I'm a neuroscientist, they ask me tough questions. 'Will grandpa learn to walk again after his stroke?' 'How can my son overcome his dyslexia?' 'What could have caused my best friend to become schizophrenic?' When I can't give satisfying answers, they look disappointed - and I feel embarrassed. — Sebastian Seung

The morning drizzle tightened the District's notorious braided-knot commute into a noose of traffic. - Scott Drayco — B.V. Lawson

The Truth is realized in an instant; the Act is practiced step by step. — Seung Sahn

Every love is different, I said to myself. Love is love, but the way people experience it is different. One hundred people love in one hundred different ways. So there's no love that isn't special — Lee Seung-u

Since we human beings are the cause of the environmental problems that we face today, we can also be the solution. We just need a shift in our thinking. We just need to move away from the paradigm of competition and domination. Then this world will not end. In fact, the world will prosper and return to its original place as the cradle of self-discovery and the advancement of human spirituality. And such a world is a true democracy. — Seung Heun Lee

The more circumspectly you delay writing down an idea, the more maturely developed it will be on surrendering itself. — Walter Benjamin

American dog say, 'Woof, woof.' Korean dog say, 'Mung, mung.' Polish dog say, 'How, how.' So which dog barking is correct? That is human beings' barking, not 'dog' barking. If dog and you become one hundred percent one, then you know sound of barking. This is Zen teaching. Boom! Become one. — Seung Sahn

The only way to say what abstract is, is to say what it is not. — Ad Reinhardt

You can fix your body, your heart, your diabetes. In Korea, China, and India, there are people who do yoga. They go to the mountains and do breath-in, breath-out meditation. They can live 500 years and not get sick. Keeping their bodies for a long time is possible; even flying in the sky is possible. — Seung Sahn

Meditation means keeping one mind. You must understand - what is life? What is death? If you keep one mind, there is no life, no death. Then if you die tomorrow, no problem; if you die in five minutes, no problem. — Seung Sahn

Pascal meditated upon outer space, but we need only turn our thoughts inward to feel his dread. Inside every one of our skulls lies an organ so vast in its complexity that it might as well be infinite. — Sebastian Seung

With every new day, Fenoglio's story was spinning a magic spell around her heart, sticky as spider's webs and enchantingly beautiful — Cornelia Funke

Anyone who separates being and doing is still enjoying separation. — David Deida

Taoist chanting, Confucian chanting, Christian chanting, Buddhist chanting don't matter. Chanting Coca Cola, Coca Cola, Coca Cola ... can be just as good if you keep a clear mind. But if you don't keep a clear mind, and are only following your thinking as you mouth the words, even the Buddha cannot help you. — Seung Sahn

I was brought up to think you don't talk about yourself. — Cy Twombly

Never give up. Look forward to the future, and don't give a damn about haters — Jang Hyun-seung

There are many ways in which genes influence the brain. — Sebastian Seung

The brain is behind the really big questions we have. Who am I, what is my identity? What is that based on? If memories are encoded in connectomes, your personality might be in your connectome. If that's the case, that's the basis of your uniqueness as a person. — Sebastian Seung

Dreams will be fulfilled if you want them badly enough. — Han Seung-yeon

If we can map the retina, that will help us understand how it functions in vision, as well as devise new ways of repairing its malfunctions. And if we can really figure out the retina, perhaps we will have a shot at figuring out the vastly more complicated brain. — Sebastian Seung

I always try meditation. Meditation means always keeping one mind, not-moving mind. — Seung Sahn

Human beings understand too much. — Seung Sahn

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make who would you call and what would you say?
And why are you waiting? — Stephen Levine

Ask not what the brain can do for the computer. Ask what the computer can do for the brain. — Sebastian Seung

The neural code usually refers to how your current thoughts and feelings and perceptions are encoded in the signals that neurons are passing around - and it's not the same. The code is not the same for every person. — Sebastian Seung

You see, people are everywhere. They are everything. No matter who we are, or what we do, people are involved in our lives. If those people are poisonous, our lives will be poisonous also. — S.R. Crawford