Great Throughts Treasury

"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water."

"A beautiful woman who is pleasing to men is good only for frightening the fish when she falls into the water."

"The mad mind does not half. If it halts, it is enlightenment."

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

"A drunken man who falls out of a cart, though he may suffer, does not die. His bones are the same as other people?s; but he meets his accident in a different way. His spirit is in a condition of security. He is not conscious of riding in the cart; neither is he conscious of falling out of it. Ideas of life, death, fear and the like cannot penetrate his breast; and so he does not suffer from contact with objective existence. If such security is to be got from wine, how much more is to be got from God?"

"A Donkey carrying a pile of holy books is still a donkey."

"A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker."

"A follower of the way has neither form nor shape, neither root nor trunk; nor dwelling place; like a fish leaping in the water."

"A falcon hovers at the edge of the sky. Two gulls drift slowly up the river. Vulnerable while they ride the wind, they coast and glide with ease. Dew is heavy on the grass below, the spider's web is ready. Heaven's ways include the human: among a thousand sorrows, I stand alone."

"A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it"

"A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself."

"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."

"A great rock is not disturbed by the wind; the mind of a wise man is not disturbed by either honor or abuse."

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

"A jug fills drop by drop."

"A heavy snowfall disappears into the sea. What silence!"

"A man foolish to desire privileges, promotion, profits, or honor, for such desires can never bring happiness but will bring suffering instead."

"A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm."

"A man who is pleased when he receives good instruction will sleep peacefully, because his mind is thereby cleansed."

"A lifetime is not what's between the moments of birth and death; a life time is one moment between my two little breaths"

"A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it."

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be."

"A noble heart never forces itself forward. Its words are as rare gems, seldom displayed and of great value."

"A pity it is evening, yet I do love the water of this spring seeing how clear it is, how clean; rays of sunset gleam on it, lighting up its ripples, making it one with those who travel the roads; I turn and face the moon; sing it a song, then listen to the sound of the wind amongst the pines."

"A samurai once asked Zen Master Hakuin where he would go after he died. Hakuin answered 'How am I supposed to know?' 'How do you not know? You're a Zen master!' exclaimed the samurai. 'Yes, but not a dead one,' Hakuin answered."

"A peaceful mind appreciates the present moment as the living embodiment of naked perfection, rather than a means to future attainment."

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

"A sand trap is like a politician in its duality. It represents two opposing viewpoints. You see, it was designed to trap your ball. So it exists to have balls land in it. But it was also designed to be avoided. So it also exists to not have balls land in it. This is the beauty of golf. The game of golf is a Zen koan in action."

"A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin, and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?" "Who are you?" inquired Hakuin. "I am a samurai," the warrior replied. "You, a soldier!" exclaimed Hakuin. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar." Nobushige became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued: "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably much too dull to cut off my head." As Nobushige drew his sword Hakuin remarked: "Here open the gates of hell!" At these words the samurai, perceiving the master's discipline, sheathed his sword and bowed. "Here open the gates of paradise," said Hakuin."

"A special contribution of Zen to Eastern thought was its recognition of the mundane as of equal importance with the spiritual. It held that in the great relation of things there was no distinction of small and great, an atom possessing equal possibilities with the universe"

"A scripture that is not read with sincerity soon becomes covered with dust; a house that is not fixed when it needs repairing becomes filthy; so an idle man soon becomes defiled."

"A walk with a two-year-old is very Zen; it is not about the end but the journey. He needs to pet the dog someone is walking; to roll down the slight incline to the church basement, and then roll again, and again, and again; to remind me of the place where the wasps (he calls them bees) live, then zoom past it."

"A strong personal philosophy does more than sustain us through the tragedies of life. It also stains us daily in everything we think and do. It gives us optimism and hope."

"Act without doing; work without effort."

"Action is the fundamental key to all success."

"A Zen master named Gisan asked a young student to bring him a pail of water to cool his bath. The student brought the water and, after cooling the bath, threw on to the ground the little that was left over. "You dunce!" the master scolded him. "Why didn't you give the rest of the water to the plants? What right have you to waste even a drop of water in this temple? The young student attained Zen in that instant. He changed his name to Tekisui, which means a drop of water."

"Action should culminate in wisdom."

"A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion."

"Action is the only reality; not only reality but morality as well."

"Adagio your Light shine out from morning till night, unaware that light. Tall trees breathe silence without having to seek for the very essence of wood. Barren steppes recline back and stretch its shape indefinitely without asking for the pathos of its emptiness. Quicksand just moves, do not think about anything until when, where. All this amazing existence is amazing, not only is it in amazement. Red moon looks like a split eye burns the darkness of the sky without feeling surprised by his loneliness. And cat dozing on the fence. Sleep, breathe. That's all. The wind does not stop night after night, spirit over forests and mountains. Vortices ceaselessly. And the spirit. Do not think and do not complain. Only you, O mortal flesh, write all night and friction seek meaning and reason to fix it."

"Activities such as chanting, bowing, and sitting in zazen are not at all wasted, even when done merely formally, for even this superficial encounter with the Dharma will have some wholesome outcome at a later time. However, it must be said in the most unambiguous terms that this is not real Zen. To follow the Dharma involves a complete reorientation of one's life in such a way that one's activities are manifestations of, and are filled with, a deeper meaning. If it were not otherwise, and merely sitting in zazen were enough, every frog in the pond would be enlightened, as one Zen master said. D?gen Zenji himself said that one must practice Zen with the attitude of a person trying to extinguish a fire in his hair. That is, Zen must be practiced with an attitude of single-minded urgency."

"After enlightenment, the laundry."

"After a heavy snowfall the more rigid branches of the pine break under the weight of the snow, but the more supple willow branches bend, thus allowing the snow to fall to the ground."

"All conditioned things are impermanent. When one see this is Wisdom, then one becomes dispassionate towards the painful."

"All know that the drop merges into the ocean but few know that the ocean merges into the drop."

"All of the significant battles are waged within the self."

"Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable."

"All other creatures look down toward the earth, but man was given a face so that might turn his eyes toward the stars and his gaze upon the sky."

"Again, all of life presents us with two basic ways to treat events. We can either label them god for us or bad for us. The event is only an event. It's how we treat the event that determines what it becomes in our lives. The event doesn't make that determination- we do."

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."