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Zen Quote of the Day

Welcome to these Zen Quotes of the Day from my large collection of positive, romantic, and funny quotes.

A good traveler has no fixed plans,
and is not intent on arriving.
- Lao Tzu

Related topics: Wisdom Inspirational Live-By

By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try.
The world is beyond the winning.
- Lao Tzu

To the mind that is still,
the whole universe surrenders.
- Lao Tzu

The words of truth are always paradoxical.
- Lao Tzu

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Thank you for joining me on this journey we call life,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Fully experience THIS moment -
breathe in, breathe out - nothing more.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity,
reduce selfishness, have few desires.
- Lao Tzu

NECESSITY and URGENCY are twin poisons of our rattlesnake minds.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

He who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao Tzu

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
- Lao Tzu

Those who have knowledge, don't predict.
Those who predict, don't have knowledge.
- Lao Tzu

He who knows that enough is enough
will always have enough.
- Lao Tzu

The water in a vessel is sparkling;
the water in the sea is dark.
The small truth has words which are clear;
the great truth has great silence.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Besides the noble art of getting things done,
there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
- Lin Yutang

The Tao of the sage is work without effort.
Practice non-action. Work without doing.
- Lao Tzu

To manage your mind,
know that there is nothing,
and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.
- Lao Tzu

The things of this world exist;
they are; you can't refuse them.
- Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching - Book One #2 - version by Ursula K. Le Guin

He who knows, does not speak.
He who speaks, does not know.
- Lao Tzu

Maybe So, Maybe Not.
- Ancient Taoist Proverb

Dare to be naive.
- Buckminster Fuller

No more walls.
- Anais Nin

The wise man looks back into the past,
and does not grieve over what is far off,
nor rejoice over what is near;
for he knows that time is without end.
- Lao Tzu

Great acts are made up of small deeds.
- Lao Tzu

The Tao abides in non-action,
Yet nothing is left undone.
- Lao Tzu

The wise man looks into space,
and does not regard the small as too little,
nor the great as too much;
for he knows that there is no limit to dimensions.
- Lao Tzu

"It's not that important,
don't worry about it" is the answer,
now what was the question?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Freedom from desire leads to inner peace.
- Lao-Tzu

As we cultivate peace and happiness in ourselves,
we also nourish peace and happiness in those we love.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Be content with what you have,
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.
- Lao Tzu

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
- Lao Tzu

Breath by breath, let go of fear, expectation, anger,
regret, cravings, frustration, fatigue.
Let go of the need for approval.
- Lama Surya Das

Zen says that if you drop knowledge -
and within knowledge everything is included;
your name, your identity, everything,
because this has been given to you by others -
if you drop all that has been given by others,
you will have a totally different quality to your being: innocence.
This will be a crucifixion of the persona, the personality,
and there will be a resurrection of your innocence.
You will become a child again, reborn.
- Osho

I confess that there is nothing to teach:
no religion, no science, no writings
which will lead your mind back to Spirit.
Today I speak this way, tomorrow that,
but always the Path is beyond words and beyond mind.
- Lao Tzu
(paraphrase)

Children are natural Zen masters;
their world is brand new in each and every moment.
- John Bradshaw

Stay at the center
and let all things take their course.
- Lao Tzu

At the deepest level, there is no giver, no gift, and no recipient...
only the universe rearranging itself.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

This moment! - this here-now - is forgotten
when you start thinking in terms of achieving something.
When the achieving mind arises,
you lose contact with the paradise you are in.
- Osho

Overflowing Cup of Tea:
The Zen Master poured his visitor's teacup full, and then kept pouring.
The visitor watched until he could no longer restrain himself.
"It is overfull. No more will go in!"
"Like this cup," the Zen Master said,
"you are full of your own opinions and assumptions.
How can you learn truth until you first empty your cup?"
- Traditional Zen Koan

One cannot have a mind that is empty of all thoughts,
but one can have a mind that is content with
whatever thoughts fill it at the moment.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Maybe life isn't really as complicated
as we make it out to be.
Perhaps a simple child-like attitude would create
a less stressful and happier life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Give yourself permission to allow this moment to be exactly as it is,
and allow yourself to be exactly as you are.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Any change that comes about in your life
will be primarily because of your own efforts.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Be still and know who you are.
- Kirtana

I do not know whether I was then
a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
or whether I am now
a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
- Zhuangzi

Do not say, "It is morning,"
and dismiss it with a name of yesterday.
See it for the first time
as a newborn child that has no name.
- Rabindranath Tagore

If you understand, things are just as they are;
if you do not understand, things are just as they are.
- Zen Proverb

Patience is a form of wisdom.
It demonstrates that we understand and accept
the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

If you really aren't trying to get anywhere else in this moment,
patience takes care of itself.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.
- Henry David Thoreau

In meditation practice, the best way to get somewhere
is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

When you become centered, suddenly there is great freedom
because you know you are not the mind and you are not the body.
- Osho

All the suffering, stress, and addiction
comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way:
on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

He who obtains has little.
He who scatters has much.
- Lao Tzu

To be a beneficial presence in the world,
cultivate a conscious awareness of your unity with Spirit.
Expect good in your own life.
Desire good for all others as well.
See and affirm abundant blessings of peace,
health, and plenty for everyone.
Align your thoughts with peace and happiness,
and realize that these qualities are your true nature.
- Kathy Juline

Being wakeful in each and every moment of your life is meditation.
The simplest definition of meditation is:
when seeing, just see; when hearing, just hear.
- Josh Baran

Be an Observer of Life.
See the events, feel the emotions,
and recognize the difference.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you are absolutely without mind,
just pure consciousness,
time stops completely,
disappears,
leaving no trace behind.
- Osho

Be - don't try to become.
Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.
- Osho

Yielding is the way of the Tao.
- Lao Tzu

Can you let go of words and ideas,
attitudes and expectations?
If so, then the Tao will loom into view.
- Lao Tzu

Practice moment to moment non-judgemental awareness.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Look at other people and ask yourself
if you are really seeing them or just your thoughts about them.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake
is to be continually thrown out of the nest.
- Pema Chodron

Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen.
Then what will be the quality?
Watchfully alert, joyously unmotivated,
centered, loving, flowing, one walks.
And the walking is sauntering.
Loving, alert, watchful, one sits, unmotivated -
not sitting for anything in particular,
just enjoying how beautiful
just sitting doing nothing is,
how relaxing, how restful.
- Osho

When I find that I can't accept what is happening,
I turn my attention to accepting my non-acceptance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We take care of the future best by taking care of the present now.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Don't choose. Accept life as it is in its totality.
- Osho

"Beginner Mind" is a Zen Buddhist term
that describes moving past our assumptions
of the nature of our life,
and really SEEING our surroundings -
especially the people we interact with -
with new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Abandon hope.
- Pema Chodron

The moment you start seeing life
as non-serious, a playfulness,
all the burden on your heart disappears.
All the fear of death, of life,
of love - everything disappears.
- Osho

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May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie