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> 41 quotes tagged "zen-koan"
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The master of Kennin temple was Mokurai, Silent Thunder. He had a little protege named Toyo who was only twelve years old. Mokurai said, 'You can hear the sound of two hands when they clap together. Now show me the sound of one hand.'Traditional Zen
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Eka said to Bodhidharma, 'My mind is not at peace. Please pacify my mind.' Bodhidharma said, 'Bring me your mind and I will pacify it.' Eka said, 'I have searched for my mind, but I cannot find it.' Bodhidharma said, 'There, I have pacified your mind.'Traditional Zen
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Bankei said, 'If you try to stop your thoughts they will only multiply. Better to let them arise and pass away in the Unborn Mind.'Traditional Zen
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Hakuin would say to his students, 'In clapping both hands a sound is heard. What is the sound of one hand?'Traditional Zen
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Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again. Yet do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood past.Shobogenzo
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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 said to Joshu, 'I have just entered this monastery. Please teach me.' Joshu said, 'Have you had your breakfast?' 'Yes, I have,' replied the monk. Joshu said, 'Then go wash your bowl.' Later another monk came and Joshu said, 'Go drink tea.'Traditional Zen
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A monk asked, 'The stone bridge of Zhaozhou is widely renowned, but I find only a shabby log bridge.' Zhaozhou said, 'You see only the shabby log bridge and don't see the stone bridge.' The monk asked, 'What is the stone bridge?' Zhaozhou said, 'It lets donkeys cross, it lets horses cross.'Blue Cliff Record, Case 52
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A monk asked, 'Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?' Zhaozhou said, 'The cypress tree in the courtyard.'Blue Cliff Record
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A monk asked Tiantong, 'What is the essence of Buddha's teaching?' Tiantong said, 'No essence.' The monk asked, 'Then why do we sit in meditation?' Tiantong said, 'Because there's no essence.'Traditional Zen
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Huangbo said, 'You are all gobblers of dregs! Traveling around this way, where do you have today?'Traditional Zen
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Linji said, 'There is a true person of no rank constantly going in and out through the gates of your face. Those who have not yet proved it, look! Look!'Linji Yulu
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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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Dongshan said, 'The teaching is like the moon in water. The moon does not get wet; the water is not broken.'Traditional Zen
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Yunmen said, 'Everyone has their own light. When you try to see it, everything is darkness. What is your light?'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 Baling, 'What is the Blown Hair Sword?' Baling said, 'Each branch of coral holds up the moon.'Blue Cliff Record, Case 13
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A monk asked Longya, 'The physical body decays. What is the indestructible body of reality?' Longya said, 'The mountain flowers bloom like brocade, the valley streams are brimming blue.'Traditional Zen
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A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of meditation and study?' Zhaozhou said, 'In the morning we eat rice gruel, at midday we eat rice.'Traditional Zen
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A monk asked, 'What is Buddha?' Dongshan said, 'Three pounds of hemp.'Book of Serenity, Case 18
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A monk asked Dizang, 'Where can I find the place to enter?' Dizang said, 'Can you hear the sound of the valley stream?' The monk said, 'Yes, I can hear it.' Dizang said, 'Enter there.'Traditional Zen
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Xuedou said, 'If you want to attain intimate understanding, just don't develop any concepts. The past is already past. The future has not yet arrived. Here and now—speak!'Traditional Zen
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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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Fayan said, 'When there's a hair's breadth of difference, it is like the distance between heaven and earth.'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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Master Rujing said, 'Zazen is the Dharma gate of great ease and joy. It is the practice-realization of dropping off body and mind.'Traditional Soto Zen
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Empty-handed, I hold a hoe. Walking, I ride a water buffalo. A man passes over a bridge: the bridge flows, the water does not.Zen Poem – Fu Ta-shih (497-569)
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The blue mountains are constantly walking. The stone woman gives birth to a child in the night.Zen Poem – Dōgen (1200-1253)
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Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.Zen proverb
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Every day is a good day.Blue Cliff Record, Case 6 — Yunmen's Every Day Is a Good Day
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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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Before the donkey has left, the horse has already arrived.Blue Cliff Record, Case 97
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When you are hungry, eat. When you are tired, sleep.Book of Serenity — Baizhang