Zen
Sayings
Sitting
Quietly
兀然無事坐、春夾草自生
"Sitting
quietly, doing nothing,
Spring
comes, and the grass grows by itself." Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 134,
222)
Suchness
青山自青山、白雲自白雲
"The
blue mountains are of themselves blue mountains;
"The
white clouds are of themselves white clouds." Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 134,
222)
Mountains are
Mountains
The famous saying of
Ch'ing-yüan Wei-hsin (Seigen Ishin):
老僧三十年前未參禪時、見山是山、見水是水、及至後夾親見知識、有箇入處、見山不是山、見水不是水、而今得箇體歇處、依然見山秪是山、見水秪是水
(The Way of
Zen 220 k)
Before I had studied Zen
for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I
arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that
mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got
its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again
as mountains, and waters once again as waters. 13
13 Ch'uan
Teng Lu, 22. (The Way of Zen
126)
"Before a
man studies Zen, to him mountains are mountains
and waters are waters; after he gets an insight into the truth of Zen through
the instruction of a good master, mountains to him are not mountains and waters
are not waters; but after this when he really attains to the abode of rest,
mountains are once more mountains and waters are waters." (Essays in Zen
Buddhism – First Series 24)
Eternity in an
hour
萬古長空 An eternity of
endless space:
一朝風月 A day of wind and
moon. (The
Golden Age of Zen 246, 322 n.2)
"One of
the most frequently reiterated couplets in Chinese Zen literature" (The Golden Age of Zen
246)
Oneness
天地同根 Heaven and earth
and I are of the same root,
萬物一體 The ten-thousand
things and I are of one substance.
Zen Master
Sêng-chao/Sõjõ (僧肇
384-414)
"Nan-ch'uan and his lay
disciple Lu Hsuan (陸亘).
Lu was reciting Seng-chao's saying:
天地與我同根
Heaven and earth come from the same root as myself:
萬物與我爲一
All
things and I belong to one Whole.
However, he did not
really understand the full purport of it. Nan-ch'uan pointed at the peonies in
the courtyard, saying, 'The worldlings look at these bush of flowers as in a
dream." Lu did not see the point." (The
Golden Age of Zen 285)
陸大夫向師道、｢肇法師、也甚奇怪、解道"天地與我同根、萬物與我爲一"｣師指庭前牡丹花曰、｢大夫、時人見此一花株如夢相似｣
(The Golden Age of Zen 324 n.92)
"While
Rikkõ, a high government official of the T'ang dynasty, had a talk with his Zen
master Nansen, the official quoted a saying of Sõjõ, a noted monk scholar of an
earlier dynasty:
Heaven and earth and I
are of the same root,
The ten-thousand things
and I are of one substance
and continued, 'Is not
this a most remarkable statement?' / Nansen called the attention of the visitor
to the flowering plant in the garden and said, 'People of the world look at
these flowers as if they were in a dream.' " (The Essentials of Zen Buddhism
483-4)
Unity
Merge
your mind with cosmic space, integrate your actions with myriad
forms.
Ch'an
master Hung-chih Cheng-chüeh (宏智正覺
Wanshi Shõkaku, 1091-1157)
(Transmission
of Light xi)
Subtlety
入林不動草、入水不立波
"Entering
the forest he moves not the grass;
Entering
the water he makes not a ripple." Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 152,
224)
Everyday
Mind
争如著衣喫飲、此外更無佛祖
"There's
nothing equal to wearing clothes and eating food. Outside this there are neither
Buddhas nor Patriarchs." Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 152,
224)
Seeking
the Same Thing
From the K'un-lun
mountains eastward the (Taoist) term "Great Oneness" is used. From Kashmir
westward the (Buddhist) term sambodhi is used. Whether one
looks longingly toward "non-being" (wu) or cultivates
"emptiness" (sunyata), the principle
involved is the same. 4
4 Quoted by
Fung Yu-lan (1), vol. 2, p. 240, from Seng-yu, Ch'u San-tsang
Chi-chi, 9. (The Way of Zen
82)
Ocean
of Pure Reality
清淨眞如海 Ocean of pure Reality,
湛然體常住 Its substance, in fathomless quiescence, exists
eternally.
Ch'an
master Fo-kuang Ju-man
(佛光如滿 Bukkõ
Nyoman)
(The Development of
Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 64)
Great
Unity
有一物上拄天下拄地。黒似漆。常在動用中。
There is one thing:
above, it supports Heaven; below, it upholds Earth. It is black like lacquer,
always actively functioning.
Ch'an
master Tung-shan Ling-chia (洞山良价
Tõsan Ryõkai, 807-869)
(The Development of
Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 74)
Man of
Tao
譬如秋水澄渟清浄無爲澹泞無礙。喚他作道人亦名無事人。
Like the clear stillness
of autumn water—pure and without activity; in its tranquil depths are no
obstructions. Such an one is called a man of Tao, also, a man who has nothing
further to do.
Wei-shan Ling-yu
(溈山靈祐 Isan
Reiyû)
(The Development of
Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 66)
Nondiscrimination
善與不善、世出世間、一切諸法莫記憶、莫緣念、放捨身心、今其自在。心如木石、無所辨別。
"When you
forget the good and the non-good, the worldly life and the religious life, and
all other dharmas, and permit no thoughts relating to them to arise, and you
abandon body and mind—then there is complete freedom. When the mind is like wood
or stone, there is nothing to be discriminated." Pai-chang Huai-hai
(百丈懷海
Hyakujõ
Ekai, 720-814)
(The Development of
Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 63)
Speech and
Silence
語是謗、寂是誑、語寂向上有路在
"Speech is blasphemy,
silence a lie. Above speech and silence there is a way
out."
I-tuan (義端) one of Nan-ch'uan's
great disciples (The Golden Age of Zen 250, 322 n.13)
Inexpressible
説不處用無盡
What
is inexpressible is inexhaustible in its use.
A Chinese Zen
master (The Golden Age of Zen 253,
322 n.19)
Independent
寧可永刧受沈淪、不從諸聖求解脱
I
would rather sink to the bottom of the sea for endless eons than seek liberation
through all the saints of the universe. Shih-t'ou (石頭)
(The Golden Age of Zen 270, 323 n.57)
Independent
丈夫自有衝天志 The full-grown man aspires to
pierce through the heavens:
莫向如夾行處行 Let him not walk in the
footsteps of the Buddha!
Ts'ui-yen
(翠巖可眞)
(The Golden Age of Zen 270, 323 n.59)
Bodhidharma's
Definition of Zen
Four Sacred Verses of
Bodhidharma (Daruma no Shiseiku
達磨四聖句)
教外別傳 Kyõge
betsuden
A
special transmission outside the scriptures;
不立文字 Furyû monji
No dependence upon words and letters;
直指人心 Jikishi
ninshin
Direct pointing at the soul of man;
見性成佛 Kenshõ
jõbutsu
Seeing into one's nature and the attainment of
Buddhahood.
Bodhidharma (Essays in Zen Buddhism
– First Series 176)
Accomplishing
Beforehand
"When the task is done
beforehand, then it is easy." Zen master Yuan-tong
(The Tao of Abundance
100)
Begin at the
Top
If you want to climb a
mountain, begin at the top. Zen saying
Every
Day is a Good Day
日日是好日
"Everyday
is a good day." (Nichi nichi kore kõjitsu.)
Yün-men
(Unmon) Hekiganroku case 6
No Work, No
Eating
一日不作、一日不食
"A day without work, a
day without eating."
"When there's no work
for a day, there's no eating for a day." (The Development of Chinese Zen After
the Sixth Patriarch 62)
Ichijitsu nasazareba,
ichijitsu kuwarazu. (一日作さざれば、一日食わらず。)
Pai-chang Huai-hai
(百丈懷海
Hyakujõ
Ekai, 720-814)
Living
Dead
許多死漢、送一個活漢
What a long
procession of dead bodies follows the wake of a single living person! Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen (趙州從諗Jõshû
Jûshin)
"At the funeral of one
of his monks, as the Abbot joined the procession, he remarked, 'What a long
procession of dead bodies follows the wake of a single living person!' " (The
Golden Age of Zen 145, 309 n.47)
Mind
is Buddha
Asked "What is buddha?"
(如何[是]佛) Ma-tsu replied "This
very mind, this is Buddha." (即心即佛
or
即心是佛. Sokushin
sokubutsu.)
Mumonkan case 30 (The
Development of Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 53)
No
Mind No Buddha
Asked "What is buddha?"
(如何[是]佛) Ma-tsu replied
"Neither mind nor Buddha." (非心非佛. Hishin,
hibutsu.)
Mumonkan case 33 (The
Development of Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 53)
This
Very Mind is Buddha
自心是佛
Jishin
zebutsu. "Your own mind—this is Buddha." Ma-tsu
(The Development of
Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 55)
No
Mind No Buddha Not a
Thing
不是心不是佛不是物 "This is not mind, this
is not Buddha, this is not a thing." (Fuzeshin, fuzebutsu, fuzemotsu.) Nan-chüan
(The Development of Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch
55)
No
Clinging
不着不求
"No
clinging, no seeking." (Fujaku, fugu.) Pai-chang (Hyakujõ)
(The Development of
Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 62)
All Dharmas are
Mind-Created
故三界唯心 "Therefore the Three
Realms are only mind" (Yue ni sangai yuishin) Ma-tsu Tao-i (The Development of
Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 54)
法界一相
Ultimate
reality has a unified form. (Fa-chieh
i-hsiang./Hokkai issõ.) Buddha
(Early Ch'an in China
and Tibet 107)
Great
Tao
不二大道
"The
non-dual Great Tao." (Funi Daidõ) Chao-chou Ts'ung-shên (趙州 Jõshû Jûshin) (The
Development of Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 61)
No Delusive
Thoughts
幕妄想
"Away with your delusive thoughts!" "Don't be deluded!" (Maku
mõzõ!)
Ch'an
master Wu-ye (Mugõ, 760-821) (Zen Word, Zen
Calligraphy 65)
Whatever the master was
asked, he replied "Maku mõzõ!"
(I'm not sure about the
first character 幕, it may be
incorrect.)
Who is
This
不識
[I] know not. (Fushiki.) Bodhidharma
No
Merit At All
廓然無聖 Vast
emptiness, nothing holy!
(Kakunen mushõ.)
Bodhidharma
Dropped
身心脱落 "Body and mind dropped
off." (Shen-hsin t'o-lo./Shinjin datsuraku.) Dõgen
Dõgen's words describing
his enlightenment (This is not a saying)
(Zen
Buddhism: A History vol. 2, 107 n.24)
身心脱落 "Body and mind dropped
away." (Zen Master Dogen 32)
身心脱落 (Casting off [both] body and mind.)
Hui-neng's
Enlightenment and Diamond Sutra
Fifth Patriarch Hung-jen
(弘忍 Gunin or Kõnin, 601-674) signed Hui-neng to go to his chamber
at the third watch in the evening.
"When the two were face
to face in the stillness of the night, the Patriarch expounded the Diamond
Sutra
to his disciple. When he came to the sentence: "Keep your mind alive and free
without abiding in anything or anywhere," Hui-neng was suddenly and thoroughly
enlightened" (The Golden Age of Zen 62)
應無所住而生其心
"Keep your
mind alive and free without abiding in anything or
anywhere."
Diamond Sûtra
(Vajracchedikâ [Prajña Paramita] Sûtra)
(The Golden Age of Zen 300 n.6)
"To
awaken the mind without fixing it anywhere" (Essays in Zen Buddhism
– Second Series 32)
_______________________________________________________________________________
Note
on Sources
1.
Zenrin Kushû 禪林句集
"Ch'an lin lei chü
in twenty fasciculi compiled in the year 1307. The title means 'Zen materials
(literally, woods) classified and collected'. The book is now very rare."
(Essays in
Zen Buddhism – Second Series 253 n.1)
Also
see Watts, The Way of Zen 117 n.4; Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History vol. 2, 47
n.113