Chaos is inherent

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."
– Zen Proverb

Zen school

"I'd like to offer something to help you but in the Zen school we don't have a single thing!"
– Ikkyū

Inner surrender

"Inner surrender leads to the highest truth."
– Zen Proverb

Zen is not a particular state

Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful, unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor imagination take place. It's enough just to be without hypocrisy, dogmatism, arrogance — embracing all opposites.
– Taisen Deshimaru

Forever time, time flash

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

Flow (Zen Proverb)

Let go or be dragged.
Zen Proverb

The study of Zen is...

"The study of Zen is like drilling wood to make fire: the wisest course is to forge ahead without stopping."
– Hakuin

The Zen path is..

"The Zen path is devoted to clearing away conceptual obstructions and seeing into true nature." – Robert Aitken

The wholeness of beauty

"By plucking the petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower."
– Zen Proverb

Suffering

"Suffering has many faces. If we discover the roots of one suffering, we are at the same time discovering the roots of others." – Thích Nhat Hanh

To understand nothing

"To understand nothing takes time." – Zen Proverb

Understand yourself and then...

"Understand yourself and then you will understand everything." – Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Fill your bowl

"Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill." – Zen Proverb

Many people think excitement is happiness

"Many people think excitement is happiness.... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace." — Thích Nhat Hanh

The affairs of the world

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation. – Jetsun Milarepa

See purely

The foolish reject what they see, not what they think; the wise reject what they think, not what they see. - Huangbo Xiyun

When nothing is

"When nothing is done, nothing is left undone." – Zen Proverb

Zen does not confuse spirituality

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes." – Alan Watts

Zen teaches nothing

"Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points." – D.T. Suzuki

The world is won by...

Zen Proverb — "The world is won by those who let it go."

The meaning of life is...

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves. — Alan Watts