Zen Quotes Quotes & Sayings

WU WEI

flow of Life governed by Tao
flow of change

spontaneous
natural
effortless
acting through non-action

connecting with Earth and Moon and Sun
through
being

not inert or lazy or passive
but swimming swiftly
within the current
merging Life with Tao

quiet and watchful
not-interfering
receptive alert directly connected

acting without action
trusting detached without desire
spontaneous natural effortless
Living — Natasa Nuit Pantovic

Just dabbing pieces of my heart into things that make me shine, my little young simple life. — Nikki Rowe

Most of the pain we experience, whether we realize it or not, comes from the fantasies we live in.
We create our own worlds, where there are certain rules, things to be done and said and events to happen. And every time that doesn't go according to the plan (which, basically, means anything because we have no control over what might happen and can't predict it), we panic. — Lidiya K.

No ideals. No illusions. Just reality - but more perfect than you've ever imagined. That's what being mindful and living in the present means. — Lidiya K.

I should like to be the landscape which I am contemplating, I should like this sky, this quiet water to think themselves within me, that it might be I whom they express in flesh and bone, and I remain at a distance. But it is also by this distance that the sky and the water exist before me. My contemplation is an excruciation only because it is also a joy. I can not appropriate the snow field where i slide. It remains foreign, forbidden, but I take delight in this very effort toward an impossible possession. I experience it as a triumph, not as a defeat. — Simone De Beauvoir

A man always writes absolutely well whenever he writes in his own manner, but the wigmaker who tries to write like Gellert ... writes badly. — Georg C. Lichtenberg

In battle, one must adhere to one's beliefs. — Azai Nagamasa

What we can change is our perceptions, which have the effect of changing everything. — Donna Quesada

With silence comes mindfulness, and thus we become better at choosing our words with kind intent before we express them. — Alaric Hutchinson

Wild woman are an unexplainable spark of life. They ooze freedom and seek awareness, they belong to nobody but themselves yet give a piece of who they are to everyone they meet.
If you have met one, hold on to her, she'll allow you into her chaos but she'll also show you her magic. — Nikki Rowe

Everything real is in the present moment. Only here can we find happiness and harmony, feel alive and do something that will change our future. Only here can we be with the people we love, enjoy the things we like and see beautiful places. — Lidiya K.

The quality of our lives is determined by the focus of our attention. — Cheri Huber

Mastering my mind one thought at a time. — Nikki Rowe

The zenith of the peak of mountains has to be balanced by the nadir of the depth of the seas. — Ackshat Deoli

If only people stopped acting like they've been asked to donate a lung every time somebody asks for something the world would be a better place — Alina Radoi

Often we suffer because we don't realize what's essential.
We may want to be rich, but the rich are lonely.
We see all those people on TV that have won the lottery and want to be at their place, but studies show that they are even more miserable after having won the big check. They don't really know what to do with all that money, take poor decisions on how to spend them, change themselves and their friends don't see them in the same way. — Lidiya K.

followed. . . . By merely observing with close attention how the winged tribes perform their feats, by carefully reflecting on what we have seen, and, above all, by striving correctly to understand the modus operandi of what we do see, we are sure not to wander far from the path, which leads to eventual success. — David McCullough

Men are my bread and butter. It's what I live for! I have no shame about that. — Fiona Apple

The joy resulting from the diffusion of blessings to all around us is the purest and sublimest that can ever enter the human mind, and can be conceived only by those who have experienced it. Next to the consolations of divine grace, it is the most sovereign balm to the miseries of life, both in him who is the object of it, and in him who exercises it. — Beilby Porteus

Mindfulness helps you understand that the past is gone, can't be changed and all the lessons are already learned. — Lidiya K.

He had learned long ago that life became much easier if you ignored what was not right before you. — Joe Abercrombie

The blossoms fall just once each winter, yet in our memories, they fall every day. — David Kudler

Kids want to be grown ups, adults want to be young and careless again.
Single people desperately want a relationship, but those who are in one still complain almost all the time and wish for freedom.
The poor want money, the rich want more of it.
This means that changing your situation doesn't prevent you from suffering, doesn't make your desires go away.
So you need to change something on the inside. — Lidiya K.

Love starts when peace begins. — Alaric Hutchinson

You see, from where I stand, there are a couple of ways. You continue your journey and you will find your path or the path is already there and you aren't just able to see it. — Ackshat Deoli

Happiness will be fleeting if you constantly search for it in places that can be taken away. It's an inside job. — Nikki Rowe

I am inspired by the professionalism of others. I believe there is an obligation to strive for excellence in what one is asked to do. No pains are too great, no revisions too tedious no matter how small the result. But I also believe that while humility should not be overdone, excellence should never be taken for granted, otherwise we stop reaching for it. — Densey Clyne

Your actions create an "energy vortex" that draws in the necessary ingredients for your venture. — Chris Prentiss

There's a void inside most people.
It's been created by not being contented with who we are, not being happy with what we have, not being present and looking for something more, better, more exciting out there.
And we've always been trying to fill this void with something external. — Lidiya K.

Suzuki also frequently quotes a sentence of Eckhart's: "The eye wherein I see God is the same eye wherein God sees me" (Suzuki, Mysticism: East and West, p. 50) as an exact expression of what Zen means by Prajna. — Thomas Merton