google.com, pub-0418880821635173, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 World of Proverbs: Zen Proverbs (051-103)

Zen Proverbs (051-103)

When you get there, there isn’t any there there.

A heavy snowfall disappears into the sea. What silence!

He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

It takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes,
but an even wiser man to learn from others.

One gains by losing and loses by gaining.

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes,
and the grass grows by itself.

The judgment of time is always done in the past tense.

The world is won by those who let it go.

Better to sit all night than to go to bed with a dragon.

The obstacle is the path.

Today a cow is eating grass;
tomorrow cow dung will make good fertilizer.

When walking, walk. When eating, eat.

What you possess, you lose.

Zen is like looking for the spectacles
that are sitting on your nose.

Can you see time?
No.
Then you should stop looking for it.

He who seeds a thought, harvests a destiny.

Learning Zen is a phenomenon of gold and dung.
Before you learn it, it's like gold; after you learn it, it's like dung.

The mad mind does not halt. If it halts, it is enlightenment.

The moment we desire to be something,
we are no longer free.

There is no beginning and there is no end to time.
There is only your perception of time.

When you have reached understanding,
even one word is too much.

When you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing.

A wild beast may wound your body,
but an evil friend will wound your mind.

Clouds gone, the mountain appears.

High understanding comes from not understanding at all.

Life is like stepping into a boat that is
about to sail out to the sea and sink.

Reality is only an agreement – today is always today.

The beautiful bird gets caged.

Better to see the face than to hear the name.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

What was never lost, can never be found.

With eyes watching, one cannot see.
With eyes closed, one can see clearly.

Relearn everything. Let every moment be a new beginning.

The beginner's mind is the Zen mind.

When you look forward into time,
it seems like forever.
When you look back, it appears
time has passed in a flash.

Only when you can be extremely pliable
and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.

Stop trying to observe time and you will be free of time.

When an ordinary man attains knowledge,
he is a sage; when a sage attains understanding,
he is an ordinary man.

At any given moment, I open my eyes and exist.
Before that, during all eternity, what was there?
Nothing.

Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions.

If we are facing in the right direction,
all we have to do is keep on walking.

Life is the only thing worth living for.

Renew thyself completely each day;
do it again, and again, and forever again.

After enlightenment, laundry.

When you are deluded and full of doubt,
even a thousand books of scripture are not enough.

The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist.
They turn to each other and say 'We did it ourselves.'

When one who is lost knows that it is time to turn back,
one is not far from having found the Way.

Everything will come, exactly as it does.

If you are not afraid of dying,
there is nothing you cannot achieve.

When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood carry water.

Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it's dark.

You may have a million desires to be in other places,
doing other things, but you are not there, you are here.

❖❖❖