Zen Sayings

Zen Sayings

We take refuge in pride because we are afraid to tell the truth to ourselves.
- Kakuzo Okakura

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.
- James Oppenheim

To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
- Lao Tzu(while Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching preceded Zen by a thousand years, it is very Zen-like)

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
- Dogen

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?
- Dogen

When facing a single tree, if you look at a single one of its red leaves, you will not see all the others.
When the eye is not set on one leaf, and you face the tree with nothing at all in mind,
any number of leaves are visible to the eye without limit.
But if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.
- Takuan Soto