"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.
73 comments:
"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."
Alan Watts
"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
"Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
– Zen Proverb
"When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity your very effort fills you with activity."
– Jianzhi Sengcan
"Time is not a line, but a series of now-points."
~ Taisen Deshimaru
"The foolish reject what they see, not what they think; the wise reject what they think, not what they see."
Huangbo Xiyun
"The quieter you become, the more you can hear."
~ Zen Proverb
"Can you see time?
No.
Then you should stop looking for it."
– Zen Proverb
"Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine."
– Shunryu Suzuki
"The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one's humdrum life into one of art."
— D. T. Suzuki
"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
"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
"The root of dissatisfaction: always looking for the next thing."
— Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
At that pond
the frog is growing old now—
among fallen leaves.
— Buson
"Freeing oneself from words is liberation."
— Bodhidharma
"You may have a million desires to be in other places,
doing other things, but you are not there, you are here."
— Zen proverb
"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
"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
"Don't follow the past.
Don't anticipate the future.
Remain in the present moment.
Leave your mind alone."
— Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava
"Silence has a grammar all its own."
— B. D. Schiers
"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
"Just look right here. Don't seek transcendent enlightenment. Just observe and observe: suddenly you'll laugh aloud."
— Zen Master Ta Hui
"The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side."
— Henepola Gunaratana
"It all depends on you. You can go on sleeping forever, or you can wake up right this moment."
— Osho
"Give the gift of your full presence."
— Haemin Sunim
"The little things?
The little moments?
They aren't little."
— Jon Kabat-Zinn
"The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances."
— Atiśa Dīpa kara Śrījñāna
"Tensions ease in the air of quiet simplicity. It's here where you realize what truly matters."
— Brian Thompson
"Just sitting is the subtle activity of allowing all things to be completely at rest just as they are."
— John Daido Loori
"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
— Zen proverb
"Emptiness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities."
— D. T. Suzuki
"Don't try to figure anything out."
— Tilopa
"The expectation that you bring to your meditation are often the greatest obstacles you will encounter."
— Mingyur Rinpoche
"Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself."
— Zen proverb
"Nothing weaker than water. Nothing stronger than rock.
Still, a slow flow of water can cut through mountains."
— Zen proverb
"Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace."
― The Dhammapada
"Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom."
— Henepola Gunaratana
"Truth lies in silence."
— B. D. Schiers
"When completely relaxed, we experience the essence of our being, the deep silence that knows everything as it is."
— Haemin Sunim
"When you concentrate, even a phone book becomes interesting. Perhaps your life is boring because you are not concentrating."
— Haemin Sunim
Never forget⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
we walk on hell⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
gazing at flowers⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
~ Issa ~⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
Nice!
"Thanks to emptiness, everything is possible."
— Nagarjuna
"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
"I want you to know that I love your ordinariness, because I, too, am ordinary. The truth is, we are all ordinary."
— Haemin Sunim
"Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality."
— Shunryu Suzuki
"Zen is not interested in high-flown statements; it wants its pupil to bite his apple and not discuss it."
— Ann Bancroft
"Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualization takes place. There is no other reality."
— Robert M. Pirsig
"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
"If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life."
— Wumen Huikai
"There is nothing to search for; everything you seek is already within."
— Brian Thompson
"Having no destination, I am never lost."
— Ikkyu
"Silently
time passes.
The only life I have
submits to its power."
— Hatsui Shizue
"If you live the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion."
— Linji Yixuan
"Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you're doing."
— Sharon Salzberg
"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
"Silence can never be misquoted."
— B. D. Schiers
"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
"When we wake up from our confused state of mind, that is enlightenment."
— Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
"The greatest traveler has no itinerary. When traveling, be a gardener of each new experience."
— Kari Hohne
"If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything."
— Shunryu Suzuki
"The beauty of Zen is found in simplicity and tranquility, in a sense of the all-embracing harmony of things."
— Thich Thien-An
"Silence is proactive."
— B. D. Schiers
"Silence is sometimes the best answer."
— Dalai Lama XIV
"I sit. I stand. I lay down. Everything else is just a story."
— Byron Katie
"Silence is the hardest argument to refute."
— B. D. Schiers
"Wisdom waits for you to be silent enough to hear."
— B. D. Schiers
"Scream in silence.
Dance in stillness."
— B. D. Schiers
"Listen more. Talk less."
— Brian Thompson
"Can you see time?
No.
Then you should stop looking for it."
— Zen proverb
"Follow the stream, have faith in its course."
— Master Sheng-yen
"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
"When an ordinary man attains knowledge, he is a sage;
when a sage attains understanding, he is an ordinary man."
— Zen proverb
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