30 Top Zen Buddhism Quotes Sayings On Life

Sit quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
– Matsuo Basho

The obstacle is the path.
– Zen Proverb

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

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
– Gautama Buddha

The light is already there. In Zen Buddhism there’s a little speck of dust on the mirror, and that’s us.
– Frederick Lenz

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
– Gautama Buddha

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.
– Alan Watts

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
– Nhat Hanh

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
– Dalai Lama

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
– Gautama Buddha

One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.
– Dogen

However many holy words you read, However many you speak, What good will they do you If you do not act on upon them?
– Gautama Buddha

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
– Gautama Buddha

In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves.
– Abraham Joshua Heschel

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Watch your step.
– Thomas S. Monson

All that we are is the result of what we have thought; what we think we become.
– Gautama Buddha

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
– Dogen

Zen purposes to discipline the mind itself, to make it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. This getting into the real nature of one’s own mind or soul is the fundamental object of Zen Buddhism. Zen, therefore, is more than meditation and Dhyana in its ordinary sense. The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence.
– D.T. Suzuki

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.
– Edward de Bono

In Zen Buddhism an action is considered good when it brings happiness and well-being to oneself and others, evil when it brings suffering and harm to oneself and others.
– Thich Thien-An

Zen Buddhism is a discipline where belief isn’t necessary.
– David Sylvian

To practice Zen Buddhism is to train oneself to eliminate hatred, anger and selfishness and to develop loving-kindness towards all.
– Thich Thien-An

Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
– Confucius

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.
– Dalai Lama

Zen Buddhism does not preach. Sermons remain words. It waits until people feel stifled and insecure, driven by a secret longing.
– Eugen Herrigel

Let me give you a wonderful Zen practice. Wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and laugh at yourself.
– Bernie Glassman

When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised.
– Osho

In Zen Buddhism, the greater your doubt, the greater will be your enlightenment. That is why doubt can be a good thing. If you are too sure, if you always have conviction, then you may be caught in your wrong perception for a long time.
– Nhat Hanh

Don’t hate the arising of thoughts or stop the thoughts that do arise. Simply realize that our original mind, right from the start, is beyond thought, so that no matter what, you never get involved with thoughts. Illuminate original mind, and no other understanding is necessary.
– Bankei Yotaku

Have good trust in yourself, not in the One that you think you should be, but in the One that you are.
– Taizan Maezumi

While you are continuing this practice, week after week, year after year, your experience will become deeper and deeper, and your experience will cover everything you do in your everyday life. The most important thing is to forget all gain ing ideas, all dualistic ideas. In other words, just practice zazen in a certain posture. Do not think about anything. Just remain on your cushion without expecting anything. Then eventually you will resume your own true nature. That is to say, your own true nature resumes itself.
– Shunryu Suzuki