Chan Buddhism Quotes

Everything sacred, nothing sacred. ~ Bodhidharma

If you have the sense of participation in sports or athletics, of being a player, then you are not really into the Zen mind. In Zen mind there is no sense of self in the play. ~ Frederick Lenz

At the end of meditation period we always bow and we touch our head to the floor and say "Buddha's name be praised." ~ Frederick Lenz

Jeremiah 1:4-5 - 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart....' ...God knew me before He made me. ~ Francis Chan

To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment & thus true love. ~ Sharon Salzberg

Some people say I would love to take a selfie with Moses. Do you understand the gap between Moses and God? ~ Francis Chan

They have said this is a lower level. Ridiculous! They're really both the same light, just two different forms. ~ Frederick Lenz

The only problem is that it was a concept I was aught, not something I implicitly knew o be true. For years, I 'got' God's love in my head, checked the right answer on the 'what God is like' test, but didn't fully understand it with my heart. ~ Francis Chan

Finally, the tern 'asceticism' is also susceptible to being misunderstood by those who view Buddhism from the outside. Evola reminds his readers that the original meaning of the term asceticism is "practical exercise," or 'discipline' - one could even say 'learning.' It certainly does not mean, as some are inclined to think, a willingness to mortify the body that derives from the idea of penance, and even leads to the practice of self-flagellation, since it is believed that one must suffer in order to expiate one's sins. Asceticism is rather a school of the will, a pure heroism (that is, it is disinterested) that Evola, a real expert in this subject, compares to the efforts of a mountain climber. To the layman, mountain climbing may be a pointless effort, but to the climber it is a challenge in which the test of courage, perseverance, and hero-ism is its only purpose. In this we recognize an attitude that Brahmanism knew under certain forms of yoga and Tantrism.

In the spiritual domain, the procedure is the same. Buddha, as we know, was tempted early in his life by a form of asceticism that was similar to that of a hermit living in the desert. This approach involved prolonged fasts and techniques aimed at breaking the body's resistance. Siddhartha, however, realized himself and achieved the Awakening only when he understood this type of asceticism to be a dead end. Turning away from the indignant protests of his early companions, he stopped mortifying his body, ~ Jean Varenne

Christ can come back at any time so the one thing you want to have in your life is a focused prayer time. ~ Francis Chan

If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it's fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there's an arrow in your heart ... ~ Pema Chodron

I'm afraid to fail again. ~ Jackie Chan

In Hinayana Buddhism, practice is classified in four ways. The best way is just to do it without having any joy in it, not even spiritual joy. This way is just to do it, forgetting your physical and mental feeling, forgetting all about yourself in your practice. ~ Shunryu Suzuki

Throughout the day remind yourself that you are moving through eternity. Be focused. Be centered. Be in the now. Know what is going on in the world. Read a newspaper once in a while. ~ Frederick Lenz

Buddhism doesn't come from anybody. It exists by itself. ~ Frederick Lenz

Everything knows what is best for itself. That is what the Sanskrit word dharma means. Dharma means the best of all possible actions. ~ Frederick Lenz

Apparently, one in five people in the world are Chinese. And there are five people in my family, so it must be one of them. It's either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother, Colin. Or my younger brother, Ho-Chan-Chu. But I think it's Colin. ~ Tim Vine

The rhythm of life is give and take. It is necessary to put things back into the system. To not do that is to foul your own nest - to use up all the natural resources greedily. ~ Frederick Lenz

When I was young, I saw a lot of martial arts films with Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. I loved them. They are my heroes but, I'm so powerful, I'm so faster. I'm so young and so handsome like a model. I really loved them so they are my role models. ~ Rain

I spend more time learning about Buddhism than English, which is why my English today is still bad. ~ Jet Li

What we do reverberates through the heavens and into eternity. ~ Francis Chan

It is not possible for a person to be completely free of sin and be squeaky clean. ~ Park Chan-wook

If you want the shortest version of my answer to the question of why Buddhism is true, it's this: Because we are animals created by natural selection. Natural selection built into our brains the tendencies that early Buddhist thinkers did a pretty amazing job of sizing up, given the meager scientific resources at their disposal. Now, in light of the modern understanding of natural selection and the modern understanding of the human brain that natural selection produced, we can provide a new kind of defense of this sizing up. ~ Robert Wright

They don't understand the multi-life sequences. Anything they can't see in a laboratory, they think is nonsense. ~ Frederick Lenz

Buddhism is all about finding your own way, not imitating the ways of others or even the ways of Buddha himself. ~ Brad Warner

You don't need a reason to be nice to someone. ~ Jackie Chan

As a dialectical teacher, I have had many lives where I have taught Zen and Tibetan Buddhism and mysticism. I teach in many different modalites. But the theme that unites them - is love. ~ Frederick Lenz

Human beings going to their jobs and living their lives are unconscious. They don't know what's going on. They don't know why you are born or why you die. ~ Frederick Lenz

When you do good, let it be good in line with nature. Don't latch onto the thought that you're good. If you get attached to the idea that you're good, it will give rise to lots of other attachments. ~ Suman Jyoty Bhante

Do a strong work meditation all day. You won't be as exhausted as everyone else because you have been gaining a kind of internal power from your work. ~ Frederick Lenz

You must learn to listen to and obey God, especially in a society where it's easy and expected to do what is most comfortable. ~ Francis Chan

They'll kill you in a minute rather than deal with truth. It's more convenient because then they can forget about it and rationalize your death. ~ Frederick Lenz

God is the only being who is good, and the standards are set by Him. Because God hates sin, He has to punish those guilty of sin. Maybe that's not an appealing standard. But to put it bluntly, when you get your own universe, you can make your own standards. ~ Francis Chan