Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.
The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one’s humdrum life, a life of monotonous, uninspiring commonplaceness, into one of art, full of genuine inner creativity.
If you have attained something, this is the surest proof that you have gone astray. Therefore, not to have is to have, silence is thunder, ignorance is enlightenment.
The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.
When we start to feel anxious or depressed, instead of asking, ‘What do I need to get to be happy?’ the question becomes, ‘What am I doing to disturb the inner peace that I already have?’
To Zen, time and eternity are one.
Unless it grows out of yourself no knowledge is really yours, it is only borrowed plumage.
The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.
We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything. That is to understand Zen.
I am an artist at living – my work of art is my life.
Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.
Great works are done when one is not calculating and thinking.