1,214 Quotes About Zen

Real haiku is the soul of poetry. Anything that is not actually present in one's heart is not haiku. The moon glows, flowers bloom, insects cry, water flows. There is no place we cannot find flowers or think of the moon. This is the essence of haiku. Go beyond the restrictions of your era, forget about purpose or meaning, separate yourself from historical limitations—there you will find the essence of true art, religion, and science.

No one is you, it is your power; everyone is you, it is your love.

we're lost where the mind can't find usutterly lost

There is a veil between you and God. Thoughts are like embroidery on that veil. People are doing more and more embroidery on your veil and making it more and more obscure.

Reality in itself is neither permanent nor impermanent; it cannot be categorized. But when one tries to hold on to it, change is everywhere apparent, since, like one's own shadow, the faster one pursues it, the faster it flees.

Life is eternal game, there are no rules. Indulge yourself.

There are no exams in playschool. If you are tired of exams and tests life is throwing at you, make your life like a book from playschool: Less words, more pictures. Less conclusions, more stories. Less meaning, more poetry. Less interpretations, more direct experiences.

There is an emptiness inside us. If we look at it from outside, we feel painful loneliness. If we sit inside that emptiness and look outside, we experience blissful solitude.

Letting go takes a lot of courage sometimes. But once you let go, happiness comes very quickly. You won't have to go around search for it.