Contemplative Spectatorship (Zen)

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"Ensō" (=Circle in Japanese, Emptiness in Zen)

This thread is for all the Zen proverbs and aphorisms relating to the Contemplative Cinema, its making or its spectatorship. How to be a contemplative viewer?

I will post them in this place, in the comment section, as I find them. Feel free to post your own findings in the comments, or to comment your favourites.

Comments

Benoit Rouilly said…
"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."
Alan Watts
December 17, 2017 at 1:22 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"With mindfulness, you learn to look at things from an existential point of view—allowing things to exist—rather than trying to even them out or bulldoze the whole landscape. With this view, fighting or resistance isn't necessary."
— Chögyam Trungpa
December 17, 2017 at 1:24 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
– Zen Proverb
December 17, 2017 at 1:26 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity your very effort fills you with activity."
– Jianzhi Sengcan
December 17, 2017 at 1:28 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Time is not a line, but a series of now-points."
~ Taisen Deshimaru
December 17, 2017 at 1:29 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The foolish reject what they see, not what they think; the wise reject what they think, not what they see."
Huangbo Xiyun
December 17, 2017 at 1:30 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The quieter you become, the more you can hear."
~ Zen Proverb
December 17, 2017 at 1:31 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Can you see time?
No.
Then you should stop looking for it."
– Zen Proverb
December 17, 2017 at 1:32 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine."
– Shunryu Suzuki
December 17, 2017 at 1:33 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one's humdrum life into one of art."
— D. T. Suzuki
December 17, 2017 at 5:44 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"When we practice mindfulness in our daily lives we open to the wonders of life and allow the world to heal and nourish us."
— Thich Nhat Hanh
December 18, 2017 at 11:58 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"When I am sipping tea, this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space."
— D. T. Suzuki
December 18, 2017 at 10:25 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The root of dissatisfaction: always looking for the next thing."
— Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
December 19, 2017 at 12:02 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
At that pond
the frog is growing old now—
among fallen leaves.
— Buson
December 19, 2017 at 11:06 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Freeing oneself from words is liberation."
— Bodhidharma
December 19, 2017 at 5:38 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"You may have a million desires to be in other places,
doing other things, but you are not there, you are here."
— Zen proverb
December 21, 2017 at 9:35 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"If you are capable of living deeply one moment in your life, you can learn to live the same way all the other moments of your life."
— Thich Nhat Hanh
December 22, 2017 at 9:57 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Often we cling to habits that aren't even comforting or satisfying, simply because we are unable to let go or explore new ways to do things."
— Lama Surya Das
December 23, 2017 at 7:32 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Don't follow the past.
Don't anticipate the future.
Remain in the present moment.
Leave your mind alone."
— Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava
December 24, 2017 at 11:17 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Silence has a grammar all its own."
— B. D. Schiers
December 25, 2017 at 10:54 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"If we're really engaged in mindfulness while walking along the path to the village, then we will consider the act of each step we take as an infinite wonder, and a joy will open our hearts like a flower, enabling us to enter the world of real."
— Thich Nhat Hanh
December 25, 2017 at 11:13 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Just look right here. Don't seek transcendent enlightenment. Just observe and observe: suddenly you'll laugh aloud."
— Zen Master Ta Hui
December 27, 2017 at 5:10 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side."
— Henepola Gunaratana
December 27, 2017 at 5:15 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"It all depends on you. You can go on sleeping forever, or you can wake up right this moment."
— Osho
December 28, 2017 at 11:41 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Give the gift of your full presence."
— Haemin Sunim
December 28, 2017 at 11:48 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The little things?
The little moments?
They aren't little."
— Jon Kabat-Zinn
December 28, 2017 at 8:21 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances."
— Atiśa Dīpa kara Śrījñāna
December 29, 2017 at 1:35 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Tensions ease in the air of quiet simplicity. It's here where you realize what truly matters."
— Brian Thompson
December 30, 2017 at 8:21 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Just sitting is the subtle activity of allowing all things to be completely at rest just as they are."
— John Daido Loori
December 30, 2017 at 8:25 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
— Zen proverb
December 30, 2017 at 3:52 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Emptiness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities."
— D. T. Suzuki
December 30, 2017 at 5:27 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Don't try to figure anything out."
— Tilopa
December 31, 2017 at 4:52 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The expectation that you bring to your meditation are often the greatest obstacles you will encounter."
— Mingyur Rinpoche
January 1, 2018 at 5:54 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself."
— Zen proverb
January 2, 2018 at 9:02 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Nothing weaker than water. Nothing stronger than rock.
Still, a slow flow of water can cut through mountains."
— Zen proverb
January 2, 2018 at 9:05 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace."
― The Dhammapada
January 2, 2018 at 6:52 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom."
— Henepola Gunaratana
January 2, 2018 at 7:02 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Truth lies in silence."
— B. D. Schiers
January 2, 2018 at 7:15 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"When completely relaxed, we experience the essence of our being, the deep silence that knows everything as it is."
— Haemin Sunim
January 2, 2018 at 7:15 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"When you concentrate, even a phone book becomes interesting. Perhaps your life is boring because you are not concentrating."
— Haemin Sunim
January 4, 2018 at 7:38 AM
Anonymous said…
Never forget⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
we walk on hell⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
gazing at flowers⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
~ Issa ~⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
January 5, 2018 at 5:01 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Thanks to emptiness, everything is possible."
— Nagarjuna
January 5, 2018 at 10:03 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Like a cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can you learn wisdom unless you first empty your cup?"
— Nyogen Senzaki
January 6, 2018 at 10:08 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"I want you to know that I love your ordinariness, because I, too, am ordinary. The truth is, we are all ordinary."
— Haemin Sunim
January 6, 2018 at 10:08 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality."
— Shunryu Suzuki
January 6, 2018 at 5:34 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Zen is not interested in high-flown statements; it wants its pupil to bite his apple and not discuss it."
— Ann Bancroft
January 6, 2018 at 5:36 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualization takes place. There is no other reality."
— Robert M. Pirsig
January 6, 2018 at 10:19 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Do only one thing at a time. When you walk, just enjoy walking. When you listen, really listen. You will become happier and more centered."
— Haemin Sunim
January 7, 2018 at 10:17 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life."
— Wumen Huikai
January 7, 2018 at 6:20 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"There is nothing to search for; everything you seek is already within."
— Brian Thompson
January 7, 2018 at 6:21 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Having no destination, I am never lost."
— Ikkyu
January 8, 2018 at 7:52 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Silently
time passes.
The only life I have
submits to its power."
— Hatsui Shizue
January 8, 2018 at 7:57 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"If you live the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion."
— Linji Yixuan
January 9, 2018 at 7:48 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you're doing."
— Sharon Salzberg
January 9, 2018 at 6:31 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That's all there ever is."
— Eckhart Tolle
January 9, 2018 at 6:35 PM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Silence can never be misquoted."
— B. D. Schiers
January 11, 2018 at 8:02 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness."
— Eckhart Tolle
January 12, 2018 at 7:58 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"When we wake up from our confused state of mind, that is enlightenment."
— Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
January 12, 2018 at 8:01 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The greatest traveler has no itinerary. When traveling, be a gardener of each new experience."
— Kari Hohne
January 12, 2018 at 8:01 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything."
— Shunryu Suzuki
January 18, 2018 at 7:59 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"The beauty of Zen is found in simplicity and tranquility, in a sense of the all-embracing harmony of things."
— Thich Thien-An
January 18, 2018 at 8:01 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Silence is proactive."
— B. D. Schiers
January 18, 2018 at 8:02 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Silence is sometimes the best answer."
— Dalai Lama XIV
January 18, 2018 at 8:03 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"I sit. I stand. I lay down. Everything else is just a story."
— Byron Katie
January 18, 2018 at 8:03 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Silence is the hardest argument to refute."
— B. D. Schiers
January 18, 2018 at 8:04 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Wisdom waits for you to be silent enough to hear."
— B. D. Schiers
January 18, 2018 at 8:05 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Scream in silence.
Dance in stillness."
— B. D. Schiers
January 18, 2018 at 8:05 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Listen more. Talk less."
— Brian Thompson
January 18, 2018 at 8:06 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Can you see time?

No.

Then you should stop looking for it."

— Zen proverb
January 18, 2018 at 8:07 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"Follow the stream, have faith in its course."
— Master Sheng-yen
January 18, 2018 at 8:08 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"If you use your mind to study reality, you won't understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you'll understand both."
— Bodhidharma
January 18, 2018 at 8:08 AM
Benoit Rouilly said…
"When an ordinary man attains knowledge, he is a sage;
when a sage attains understanding, he is an ordinary man."
— Zen proverb
January 18, 2018 at 8:10 AM
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