I've been on steemit for few months and although I've been active, I haven't really posted much. So I thought of presenting you guys with a collection of my favorite Zen quotes. I grew up in a  Theravada Buddhist family. I consider Buddha to be the only person who had a significant influence in my philosophy of life. I may regulary find myself agree with many different individuals which is to be expected as truth has no brand or ownership. Unlike lies, truth doesn't to need reference. Truth only requires the insight to understand it; no approval required. 

Personally I see Mahayana Buddhist teachings as too much of a mess. I haven't looked much into it and I didn't keep digging as I found no additional value in it. On the other hand I've had a great connection with Zen. Following are 25 Zen quotes that carry lots of personal resonance with me.

 

The perfect person has many different aspects but at heart he changes not. To understand the world he assumes its appearances but his heart remains centered on the One. Within he is stable, outwardly he bends and straightens like a bow

- Wen-tzu 

 

Neither by words nor by the patriarch;
Neither by colors nor by sound was I enlightened.
But, at midnight, when I blew out
The candle and went to bed,
Suddenly, I reached the dawn.
Profound quietude delivered me
To the transparent moonlight.
After enlightenment one understands
That the Six Classics contain not even a word.

- Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529) 

 

The Unborn is the ground of everything;
the Unborn is the beginning of everything.
Because there is no ground for anything
outside of the Unborn
and because before the Unborn
there was no beginning for anything,
the Unborn is the foundation of all Buddhas.

- Bankei (1622-1693) 

 

If you do not spontaneously
Trust yourself sufficiently,
You will be in a frantic state,
Pursuing all sorts of objects
And being changed
By those objects,
Unable to be independent.

- Linji (d.867) 

 

The mind is an uncertain thing. This body is uncertain. Together they are impermanent. Together they are a source of suffering. Together they are devoid of self. These, the Buddha pointed out, are neither a being, nor a person, nor a self, nor a soul, nor us, nor they. They are merely elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. Elements only!When the mind sees this, it will rid itself of attachment which holds that ‘I’ am beautiful, ‘I’ am good, ‘I’ am evil, ‘I’ am suffering, ‘I’ have, ‘I’ this, or ‘I’ that. You will experience a state of unity, for you’ll have seen that all of mankind is basically the same. There is no ‘I’. There are only elements.

- Ajahn Chah: Bodhinyana 

 

Outwardly in the world
of good and evil,
yet without thoughts
stirring the heart,
this is meditation.
Inwardly seeing
one's own true nature
and not being distracted from it,
this is meditation.

- Hui-neng 

 

What I point out to you
Is only that
You shouldn’t allow yourselves
To be confused by others.
Act when you need to,
Without further hesitation or doubt.

— Linji (d. 827) 

 

It is most urgent that you seek
Real, true perception,
So you can be free in the world
And not confused
by ordinary practitioners.
It is best to have no obsessions.
Just don’t be contrived.
Simply be normal.
You impulsively seek elsewhere,
Looking to others
For your own hands and feet.
This is already mistaken.

— Hui-neng 

 

The more you talk and think about it,
The further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
And there is nothing
You will not be able to know.
To return to the root
Is to find the meaning,
But to pursue appearances
Is to miss the source.
At the moment
Of inner enlightenment
There is a going beyond
Appearance and emptiness.

— Seng Ts’an (d.606) 

 

I explain to you matters
Pertaining to enlightenment,
But don’t try to keep
Your mind on them.
Just turn to the ocean
Of your own essence
And develop practical
Accord with its nature.

— Yangshan 

 

You fools!
What are you running
After so intently?
Why are you trying
To put a head on top of your head?
Your head is already
Exactly where it needs to be.

— Lin-chi 

 

This is the great mystery
You do and do not exist.

— Shen T'sing 

 

Spring has its hundred flowers
Summer its many moons.
Autumn has cool winds
Winter its snow.
If useless thoughts do not
Cloud your mind,
Each day is the best of your life.

— Wu-Men-Hui-Kai (1183-1260) 

 

Don’t seek fame or fortune,
Glory or prosperity.
Just pass this life as is,
According to circumstances.
When the breath is gone,
Who is in charge?
After the death of the body,
There is only an empty name.
When your clothes are worn,
Repair them over and over;
When you have no food,
Work to provide.
How long can a phantomlike
Body last?
Would you increase your ignorance
For the sake of its idle concerns?

— Tung-shan 

 

Make no mistake about it; if you do not find it now, you will repeat the same routines for myriad eons, a thousand times over again, following and picking up on objects that attract you.We are no different from Shakyamuni Buddha. Today, in your various activities, what do you lack? The spiritual light coursing through your six senses has never been interrupted. If you can see in this way, you will simply be free of burdens all your life.

— Lin Chi (d 867) 

 

Kuei-shan asked Yun-yen
“What is the seat of enlightenment?”
Yun-yen said,
“Freedom from artificiality.”

— Kuei-shan (771-854) 

 

If we have presence of mind then whatever work we do will be the very tool which enables us to know right and wrong continually. There is plenty of time to meditate, we just don't fully understand the practice, that's all. While sleeping we breathe, eating we breathe, don't we? Why don't we have time to meditate? Wherever we are we breathe. If we think like this then our life has as much value as our breath, wherever we are we have time.

— Ajahn Chah 

 

To drink up the ocean
And turn a mountain
Upside down
Is an ordinary affair
For a Zennist.
Zen seekers
Should sit on the site
Of universal enlightenment
Right in the midst of all the thorny
Situations in life,
And recognize
Their original face while mixing
With the ordinary world.

— Huanglong 

 

Just get to the root,
Don’t worry about the branches,
For someday
You will come
To have them naturally.
If you have not attained the basis,
Even if you
Consciously study
You cannot attain the outgrowths either.

— Yangshan 

 

If you want to perceive
And understand objectively,
Just don’t allow yourself
To be confused by people.
Detach from whatever
You find inside or outside yourself
Detach from
Religion, tradition, and society,
And only then
Will you attain liberation.
When you are
Not entangled in things,
You pass through freely to autonomy.

— Linji (d. 867) 

 

Sentient beings are primarily all Buddhas:
It is like ice and water,
Apart from water no ice can exist;
Outside sentient beings, where do we find the Buddhas?
Not knowing how near the Truth is,
People seek it far away, what a pity!

— Hakuin (1685–1768) 

 

I gather chrysanthemums
At the eastern hedgerow
And silently gaze
At the southern mountains.
The mountain air
Is beautiful in the sunset,
And the birds
Flocking together return home.
Among all these things
There is a real meaning,
Yet when I try to express it,
I become lost in “no-words.”

— T’ao Ch’ien (365-427) 

 

The bait is the means
To get the fish where you want it;
Catch the fish
And you discard the bait.
Words are the means
To get the idea where you want it;
Catch on to the idea
And you forget about the words.

— Zhuangzi 

 

The imperfect becomes whole.
How true that is!
To become whole and
Return to the Source,
One must ever be in accord
With nature.
There is nothing in the world
So weak as water,
Nor anything strong enough
To overcome it.
The person of great wisdom
Is like water which,
Though benefiting all things,
Never strives.

— Lao-tzu (On a personal note: I've always loved the air and what it means to damage it. Even with nukes you can hardly damage much of the air. But a storm can carry the energy of hundreds of nuclear weapons. So I've had my own version of the above quote with air replacing the warter)

 

Just as the soft rains fill the streams,
Pour into the rivers,
And join together in the oceans,
So many the power of every moment
Of your goodness flow forth to awaken
And heal all beings;
Those here now,
Those gone before,
Those yet to come.

— Traditional Buddhist blessing  

All of the above quotes are taken from https://www.dailyzen.com

They publish one quote everyday single day taken from various sources. Consider this post my own way of curating non-steemit content among steemit users. I like to be an efficient person. If any of you bookmark the site, then I've revealed you 1000s of quotes to read throughout your life. Hopefully you gained something from my honorary marketing ploy :-)

It's too boring to close with that. I have few more valuable stuff for your consideration. These picks are certainly not random.