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> 38 quotes tagged "inquiry"
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Yantou asked his brother monks, 'Every sutra teaches that all things return to the One. Where does the One return to?' Dongshan said, 'When I was in Qingzhou, I made a robe that weighed seven pounds.'Blue Cliff Record, Case 1
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A monk asked Mazu, 'What kind of person is one who does not keep company with the ten thousand things?' Mazu said, 'When you swallow all the water of the West River in one gulp, I'll tell you.'Traditional Zen
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Deshan carried his bowls to the dining room. Xuefeng said, 'The bell hasn't rung and the drum hasn't sounded. Where are you going with your bowls?' Deshan returned to his room.Blue Cliff Record, Case 4
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It's like a person hanging in a tree by his teeth over a precipice. His hands grasp no branch, his feet rest on no limb. Someone under the tree asks him, 'Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?' If he doesn't answer, he fails. If he does answer, he falls to his death. What should he do?Blue Cliff Record, Case 5
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Yunmen said, 'I don't ask you about fifteen days ago. But what about fifteen days hence? Come, say a word about this!' Since none of the monks answered, he said, 'Every day is a good day.'Blue Cliff Record, Case 6
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A monk asked, 'When the tortoise has no hair and the rabbit has no horns, how do you understand this?' Hsueh Feng said, 'To have a head is to have horns, to have a shell is to have hair.'Traditional Zen
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A monk asked Yaoshan, 'What is the way?' Yaoshan pointed upward and downward and said, 'Do you understand?' The monk said, 'No.' Yaoshan said, 'Clouds in the sky, water in the jug.'Traditional Zen
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Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.Alan Watts
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The most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing.Shunryu Suzuki
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To study the self is to forget the self.Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
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Men ask the way to Cold Mountain. Cold Mountain: there's no through trail. In summer, ice doesn't melt. The rising sun blurs in swirling fog. How did I make it? My heart's not the same as yours. If your heart was like mine You'd get it and be right here.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems, tr. Gary Snyder
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My mind is like the autumn moon Shining clean and clear in the green pool. No, that's not a good comparison. Tell me, how shall I explain?Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.Blue Cliff Record — Linji
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Three pounds of flax.Blue Cliff Record, Case 12 — Tung-shan's Three Pounds of Flax
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Not the wind, not the flag. It is your mind that moves.Blue Cliff Record, Case 29 — The Sixth Patriarch and the Wind and Flag
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Before thinking good and evil, what is your original face?Blue Cliff Record — Huineng
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Not knowing is most intimate.Book of Serenity, Case 20 — Dizang's Intimacy
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A monk asked Zhaozhou, 'Does a dog have Buddha nature?' Zhaozhou said, 'Mu.'Book of Serenity, Case 18 — Zhaozhou's Dog
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The whole world is medicine. What am I?Blue Cliff Record, Case 87 — Yunmen's Medicine and Sickness
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The foolish reject what they see, not what they think. The wise reject what they think, not what they see.Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, tr. John Blofeld
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To use the mind to look for reality is delusion. Not to use the mind to look for reality is awareness.Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, tr. John Blofeld
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If you students of the Way do not awake to this Mind substance, you will overlay Mind with conceptual thought, you will seek Buddha outside yourselves, and you will remain attached to forms, practices, and so on, all of which are harmful and not at all the way to supreme knowledge.Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, tr. John Blofeld
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Beginning students of the Way often hear it said that there is fundamentally nothing to be attained. But hearing this, they jump to the conclusion that it means complete inactivity — that sitting blankly will do.Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, tr. John Blofeld
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The foolish man seeks for truth abroad, while the wise man knows that it is within himself.Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, tr. John Blofeld
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Beginners in Zen are afraid of the void. They run away from it and do not realize that the void is themselves.Huang Po
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Deep and distant, the road to Cold Mountain — long gorges choked with boulders, wide streams blurred with mist. The grasses are thick and the path is lost. Even when the wind is still, the pines keep sighing. Who can reach this place? Only someone whose heart is already here.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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All day I read the ancient books. All night the lamp burns down. At dawn I close the last page and still I have not arrived. A sparrow lands on the sill and sings one note. I put the books away.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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The pine wind sounds in the valley at night. A single owl asks its one question. I cannot answer the owl. The owl cannot answer the wind. The wind cannot answer the valley. All night they continue their conversation.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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The valley fills with evening mist and I cannot see the far cliff. Yesterday it was there, solid and absolute. Tonight it is gone. Tomorrow it will be there again. The cliff has learned something I have not yet learned.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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I met a man on the path who asked: where does this road lead? I told him: it leads back to where you came from. He laughed and went on. I went on too. We arrived at the same place from opposite directions.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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A monk asked me: what is your practice? I showed him the stream. He looked at the stream for a long time. Then he asked: and what is the stream's practice? I went inside and made tea.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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Mind is the root. The ten thousand things are its branches. If you see only branches you will spend your life climbing and never reach the tree.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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Someone came looking for Han Shan. I watched him from the cliff above. He called out several times. His voice echoed back to him. Perhaps that was answer enough.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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Beyond this cliff: another cliff. Beyond that cliff: sky. Beyond the sky? I have run out of cliffs but the question keeps climbing.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, Can you avoid separation? Attending fully and becoming supple, Can you be as a newborn babe? Washing and cleansing the primal vision, Can you be without stain?Tao Te Ching – Chapter 10
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Loving all men and ruling the country, Can you be without cleverness? Opening and closing the gates of heaven, Can you play the role of woman? Understanding and being open to all things, Are you able to do nothing?Tao Te Ching – Chapter 10
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Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles. Is there a difference between yes and no? Is there a difference between good and evil? Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!Tao Te Ching – Chapter 20
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Fame or self: Which matters more? Self or wealth: Which is more precious? Gain or loss: Which is more painful?Tao Te Ching – Chapter 44