Life can be difficult and demanding. With all that is going on around us, sometimes it’s tough to keep ourselves from unwanted stress. It is these moments when we must remember that the best approach to stressful situations is to stay clam, relax, and stay positive.
In the spirit of staying calm, we have put together of a list our favorite zen quotes. Choose your favorites to memorize and use when you start feeling overwhelming. Trust me, it works.
Zen Quotes to Help You Relax
1. A flower falls even though we love it and a weed grows even though we do not love it. – Dogen Zenji
2. All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. – Buddha
3. Do not speak – unless it improves on silence. – Buddha
4. Golf is a spiritual game. It’s like Zen. You have to let your mind take over. – Amy Alcott
5. He who asks a question is a fool for a minute; he who does not remains a fool forever. – Chinese Proverb
6. If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your own path. – Buddhist saying
7. Adversity introduces a man to himself. – Unknown
8. Student says ” I am very discouraged. What should I do?” Master says, “encourage others.” – Zen Proverb
9. The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. – Lao Tzu
10. The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there. – Robert M. Pirsig
11. Water and words… Easy to pour, impossible to recover. – Chinese Proverb
12. To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did. – Unknown
13. When the pupil is ready to learn, a teacher will appear. – Zen Proverb
14. You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger. – Buddha
15. Your Treasure House is in yourself, it contains all you need. – Hui Hai
16. Zen Buddhism is a discipline where belief isn’t necessary. – David Sylvian
17. Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes. – Alan Watts
18. Zen teaches that once we can open up to the inevitability of our demise, we can begin to transform that situation and lighten up about it. – Allen Klein
19. Zen, per se, is not just an art, it’s not just a religion, it’s a realisation. – Gene Clark
20. Discipline is making the choice between what you want now and what you want most. – Unknown
21. If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are. – Zen Proverb
22. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. – Buddha
23. Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots. – Frank Clark
24. How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. – Annie Dillard
25. Worry is resisting a future that hasn’t happened. – Mary Allen
