The butterfly sleeps well
Perched on the temple bell ...
Until it rings.
-Buson
Insects on a bough
Floating downriver,
Still singing.
-Issa
Calm in quietude is not real calm;
when you can be calm in the midst of activity,
this is the true state of nature.
Happiness in comfort is not real happiness;
when you can be happy in the midst of hardship,
then you see the true potential of the mind.
-Huanchu Daoren
To the mind that is still
the whole universe surrenders.
To what shall I compare this life of ours?
Even before I can say
it is like a lightning flash or a dewdrop
it is no more.
-Sengai
An inch of time is an inch of gold:
Treasure it.
Appreciate its fleeting nature;
misplaced gold is easily found,
misspent time is lost forever.
-Loy Ching-Yuen
We can hold back neither the coming of the flowers
nor the downward rush of the stream;
sooner or later, everything comes to its fruition.
-Loy Ching-Yuen
After killing
a spider, how lonely I feel
in the cold of night!
-Masaoka
The summer river:
although there is a bridge, my horse
goes through the water.
-Masaoka
No one travels
Along this way but I,
This autumn evening.
-Basho
Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening!
- Basho
Covered with the flowers,
Instantly I'd like to die
In this dream of ours!
-Etsujin.
No sky
no earth - but still
snowflakes fall
-Hashin
Let us be respectfully reminded:
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by, and with it,
our only chance.
Each of us must aspire to awaken.
Be aware.
Do not squander our life.
-Joko Beck.
Keep your heart clear and transparent
And you will never be bound.
A single disturbed thought, though,
Creates ten thousand distractions.
Let myriad things captivate you
And you'll go further and further astray.
How painful to see people
All wrapped up in themselves.
-Ryokan
I see people in the world
Throw away their lives lusting after things,
Never able to satisfy their desires,
Falling into deep despair
And torturing themselves.
Even if they get what they want
How long will they be able to enjoy it?
For one heavenly pleasure
They suffer ten torments of hell,
Binding themselves more firmly to the grindstone.
Such people are like monkeys
Frantically grasping for the moon in the water
And then falling into a whirlpool.
How endlessly those caught up in the floating world suffer.
-Ryokan
As for the people and affairs of the contemporary world, they hold
no attraction for me. If in becoming a teacher one thinks only of
wealth and honor and is not concerned about the importance of
literature, it would be better if we had no teachers. If in being
a friend one thinks only of power and profit and cares nothing about
the frank exchange of opinions, it would be better if we had no
friends. So I close my gate, shut my door, hum poems and sing
songs by myself.
Yoshishige no Yatsutane
We are here and it is now.
Further than that all human knowledge is moonshine.
-H. L. Mencken
Past and future are illusions. They exist only in the present,
which is what there is and all that there is.
-Alan Watts
Don't seek truth, just cease to cherish your opinions.
-Zen Proverb
In the scenery of spring,
nothing is better, nothing worse;
The flowering branches are
of themselves, some short, some long.
-Zen anon.
Meditation is not a means to an end.
It is both the means and the end.
-Krishnamurti
How shall I grasp it? Do not grasp it. That which remains when
there is no more grasping is the Self.
-Panchadasi
"Did you have a happy childhood?" is a false question. As a child I
did not know what happiness was, and whether I was happy or not. I
was too busy being.
-Alistair Reed.
It is a characteristic tendency of human beings to indulge in
emotions such as happiness, grief, or anger in response to present
conditions, failing to balance these feelings with the awareness
that present conditions are the results of past causes. It is
illogical to face the present only as an object of enjoyment or
tolerance, neglecting to use it as the opportunity to create the
future.
-Muso Kokushi
So little time, so little to do.
-Oscar Levant
No yesterday, no tomorrow, and no today.
-Sheng-Ts'an
Strong drink, fat meat, and spicy dishes
are not really flavorful;
true flavor is delicate.
-Huanchu Daoren
Great Faith.
Great Doubt.
Great Effort.
-The three qualities
necessary for training.
A luminous moon, the wind in the pine,
A long evening, a transcendent view:
But what is the meaning of this?
What is the meaning of life?
Value judgements are destructive to our proper business,
which curiousity and awareness.
-John Cage
In autumn
even though I may
see it again,
how can I sleep
with the moon this evening?
-Dogen
All existent phenomena are empty;
beware of taking as real,
all that is nonexistent.
-Layman P'ang
In a hundred-mile march,
ninety is about the halfway point."
-Chinese proverb.