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There is in Zen nothing to explain, nothing to teach, that will add to your knowledge.
Unless is grows out of yourself, no knowledge is really yours.
It is only a borrowed plumage.

- D.T. Suzuki

When you are practicing zazen, do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out. It will not stay long.

When you try to stop your thinking, it means you are bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything. It appears as if something comes from outside your mind, but actually it is only the waves of your mind, and if you are not bothered by the waves, gradually they will become calmer and calmer. In five or at most ten minutes, your mind will be completely serene and calm.

- Shunryu Suzuki

To realize Mind, begin by looking for the source of your thoughts.
Whether asleep or working, standing or sitting, intensely ask yourself, “What is my mind?”

- Bassui Tokusho

When everything is seen as One,
We return to the Source
And stay where we have always been.

- Seng-t'san

Years of digging the earth,
Searching for the blue sky,
Piling up layer upon layer
Of mediocrity.
Then one dark night
The ceiling blew off,
And the whole structure
Disappeared into emptiness.

- Muso

Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.

~ Rumi

Sixty six times
I've seen this change to autumn.
Enough talk about moonlight.
Don't ask for more.
Just listen now
To the tree voices
When no breeze blows.

- Ryo-nen

What does it matter,
The new year, the old year?
I stretch out my legs
And all alone have a
Quiet sleep.
Don’t tell me the monks
Aren’t getting their instruction;
Here and there the nightingale
Is singing
The highest Zen.

- Bankei (1622-1693)

The shade of noble trees
Spreads in all directions
Below the trees a tiny
Hut is perfectly secluded
Beyond the sound of cart
Or horse or sign of human tracks
All day behind my door
I sit alone cross-legged.

- Han-shan Te-ch’ing (1546-1623)

Tiger Creek and the lone moon
Guide visitors along;
Ivy and vines decorate
Snowy pine branches;
Many green mountains await climbing:
The true old masters
Hide deep in white clouds.

- Ling Yi (728-762)

That the self advances
And confirms ten thousand things is called delusion;

That the ten thousand things advance and confirm the self
Is called enlightenment.

- Dogen (1200-1253)

Little pines
Poking up from the ground
Barely above my knees,
Already there’s holiness
In their coiled roots.
Though harsh frost has
Whitened the hundred grasses,
Deep in the courtyard,
One grove of green!
In the late night
Long-legged spiders stir;
Crickets are calling
From the empty stairs.
A thousand years from now
Who will stroll among these trees,
Fashioning poems on their
Ancient dragon shapes?

- Ch’I chi (864-937)

Snow besieges my plank door
I crowd the stove at night.
Although this form exists
It seems as if it doesn’t.
I have no idea where the
Months have gone
Every time I turn around
Another year on earth is over.

- Han-shan Te-ch’ing (1546-1623)

If you wish to cast aside the false
And return to true,
Concentrate and settle your
Mind in wall gazing.
Self and other,
The unenlightened
And the saintly,
Are all as one.

- Bodhidharma