Hakuin Famous Koan Quotes

Nirvana is right here, before our eyes. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

A soldier came to Hakuin and asked "Is there really a paradise and a hell?"
"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.

"I am a samurai," the warrior replied.

"You, a samurai!" exclaimed Hakuin. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar!"

The soldier became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued. "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably as dull as your head!"

As the soldier drew his sword Hakuin remarked "Here open the gates of hell!"

At these words, the samurai, perceiving the discipline of the master, sheathed his sword and bowed.

"Here open the gates of paradise," said Hakuin ~ Hakuin Ekaku

Beanpaste that smells like beanpaste is no good. ~ Zen Koan

How bright and transparent the moonlight of wisdom. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

If you forget yourself, you become the universe. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

In singing and dancing is the voice of the Law. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

Once a person is able to achieve true singlemindedness in his practice and smash apart the old nest ... into which he has settled ... Wisdom immediately appears ... and the all-discerning Fivefold Eye opens wide. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

Meditation in action is endlessly more important than meditation in stillness. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

Underlying great doubt there is great satori, where there is thorough questioning there will be thoroughgoing experience of awakening. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

Meditation in the midst of activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

I encourage all you superior seekers in the secret depths to devote yourselves to penetrating and clarifying the self, as earnestly as you would put out a fire on the top of your head. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

You know the sound of two hands clapping; tell me, what is the sound of one hand? ~ Hakuin Ekaku

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

All beings by nature are Buddhas, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddhas. ~ Hakuin Ekaku

I don't want to be famous for being famous. ~ Kelli O'Hara

A famous person to themselves, they don't get up in the morning and think, I'm famous. I'm not famous to me. Famous is a perception. ~ Van Morrison

Sanity and enlightenment ... I've been reading a new book Dogen's Genjo Koan: Three Commentaries, and it contains a commentary on Genjo Koan by Shunryu Suzuki, the author who wrote Zen Mind, Beginners Mind. He doesn't mention sanity at all but I think that one possible definition of enlightenment would be a kind of profound sanity, where being insane is no longer an option. ~ Brad Warner

The problem for us, as viewers, is that we want famous people who are passionate about the things they're famous for, because that makes them worthy of the attention. But I think many of those famous people just want to be famous. ~ Bo Burnham

Being famous as a writer is like being famous in a village. It's not really any very heady fame. ~ Peter Carey

Be a famous musician. Be a famous act or. Be a famous write r. Be a famous basketball player. Be famous. ~ Dallas Clayton

I never wanted to be famous. I want to be more famous than I am so I can get the roles. I hate losing the roles. I was famous more for being around people who were famous, and I hate that kind of fame. ~ Johnathon Schaech

If you're famous, you suck, just for being famous. People in England totally get that; Americans don't. ~ Trey Parker

Perhaps one day even I will be famous. Perhaps more famous than you."
"I doubt it. ~ Madeline Miller

I can't see any value in being a celebrity, famous for being famous. ~ Noomi Rapace

Having bodyguards is just part of being famous, I think. ~ Dolph Lundgren

I'd love to give you something
but what would help? ~ Ikkyu

There is this power that comes with being famous. ~ Rod Stewart

There's a tendency, when the offspring of a famous person does something notable, to define them by their more-famous parent. ~ Rachel Sklar

I can't imagine wanting to be famous just for the sake of being famous. I think fame should come along with success, talent. ~ Kat Dennings

I've had to deal, a lot, with my own sense of intimidation at meeting famous people - especially actors, but really any famous people. ~ Charlie Kaufman

Everybody want famous, like me to be a famous director. ~ Andrew Lau

The idea of being famous is a lot better than the reality. ~ Tom Felton

It was never about winning medals or being famous. ~ Nancy Kerrigan

When you become famous, being famous becomes your profession. ~ James Carville

We're lost where the mind can't find us
utterly lost ~ Ikkyu

Being famous is not something that would make me feel successful - unless one was striving for mediocrity. ~ William Hurt

People don't get through to the essence of you right away - it's always the famous 'girl' or the famous 'girlfriend'. I'd rather be known for myself. ~ Vanessa Paradis

As I see it, every love has in the beginning a ray of light in it, but the lovers destroy that. They jump on that ray of light with all their darkness within. They jump on it and they destroy it. When it is destroyed they think it was false. They have killed it! It was not false --- they are false. The ray was real, true. ~ Osho, Love, Freedom, And Aloneness : The Koan Of Relationship

I absolutely loved being famous. It was all great, up until the point when it wasn't. ~ Noel Gallagher

I love being famous. It validates that I have something to say. ~ Richard Lewis

Being famous was extremely disappointing for me. When I became famous it was a complete drag and it is still a complete drag. ~ Van Morrison

We're teaching young girls that this is what they should be focusing on: rich and famous girls who are rich and famous for nothing. ~ Ellen Pompeo

I don't know about this thing - being famous. I haven't figured it out yet. It still mystifies me. ~ Helen Slater

We needed to become world-famous soon, while there was still that kind of world to be famous in ... ~ Scott Westerfeld

Exposure makes you famous, not just good work. Famous is being plastered everywhere. ~ Francesca Annis

I used to be like everyone else and think the Kardashians are just famous for being famous. But I've been really impressed with how supportive Kim Kardashian has been of Caitlyn Jenner. ~ Anne Hathaway

It isn't that we're alone or not alone
whose voice do you want mine? yours? ~ Ikkyu

When we were growing up our parents somehow made it clear that being famous was good. And I mistakenly thought that if I was famous then everyone would love me. ~ Ellen DeGeneres

My most famous show is the 'Kitchen Show.' More famous than any gallery show or museum show I curated. ~ Hans Ulrich Obrist

A lot of people are lost 2016 famous and non famous, relative and friends. A lot of people have also been lost in 2014 it's a fact! ~ Deyth Banger

This is what our love is––a sacred pattern of unbroken unity sewn flawlessly invisible inside all other images, thoughts, smells, and sounds. ~ Aberjhani

I just want to make sure I'm contributing good films to movie history rather than being famous just to be famous. ~ Logan Lerman

In the beginning, I loved being famous, but now I am tired of it and I would like to go back to my freedom. ~ Roberto Cavalli

My goal and my career is definitely not to be famous. That's a really horrible goal, just to be famous for the sake of having fame. ~ Joel McHale

Sex koan #14: The secret to sex is having some. ~ A. Aimee

I felt no pressure that my grandfather was famous and my uncle was famous. ~ Kim Weston

When I go to Atlanta, I'm famous. I can get on a flight, anything. Because they're watching every show, and if you're black, you famous. ~ Bresha Webb

I am one of the graduates of the William Morris famous, famous mail room from the '60s. ~ Irwin Winkler

I wanted to go hide. I wasn't looking to be more famous, I'm famous enough. ~ Howard Stern

To enjoy being famous, you need to have a screw loose. ~ Diablo Cody

I never pursued being 'famous.' ~ Francesca Annis

It's interesting because people assume that because I'm famous I know all famous people. ~ Daniel Radcliffe

The thing about being famous is, it's weird. The only people who get how weird it is are other famous people. ~ Margot Kidder

Who doesn't want to be famous? I am famous. I'm dying to be on TV. ~ Eileen Myles

Everyone in New York City thinks they are famous without being famous. ~ Ethan H. Minsker

I've been around some very famous people, but no one has the effect Maradona has; people tremble in his presence. ~ Emir Kusturica

I had a very erratic career. I got very famous for a minute and then it just all went away, you know? ~ Colin Hay

People will go into an audition and a casting situation, and they'll see someone across the room that's perhaps slightly famous, or famous, and they think, 'Oh God, I'm not gonna get the part.' ~ Missi Pyle

Well, I think a lot of people just want to be famous. ~ Dan Fogler

You can find love when you are famous if you are the same person you were before you were famous. ~ Tamar Braxton

I don't see myself as a famous person. ~ Jess Glynne

I don't like the idea of famous people. ~ Kristin Hersh

And what we've been always been is ... ?"
"Is living on borrowed time. Never caring about who's paying for it, who's starving somewhere else all jammed together so we can have cheap food, a house, a yard in the burbs ... planetwide, more every day, the payback keeps gathering. And meantime the only help we get from the media is boo hoo the innocent dead. Boo fuckin hoo. You know what? All the dead are innocent. There's no uninnocent dead."
After a while, "You're not going to explain that, or ... "
"Course not, it's a koan. ~ Thomas Pynchon

You could become famous just for being, well, famous. ~ Terry Pratchett

The strangest part about being famous is you don't get to give first impressions anymore. Everyone already has an impression of you before you meet them. ~ Kristen Stewart

You meet people in Hollywood that are famous, and you're not sure what they got famous for. ~ Rainn Wilson

Only traumatised people want to be famous. ~ Alanis Morissette

Zhaozhou often quoted this saying by Sengcan: "The great way is not difficult if you just don't pick and choose. ~ John Tarrant

I certainly don't think you need to be famous to want to leave a legacy, but when you are famous, it's even more likely that your child will get the wrong perspective on your life if you die prematurely. ~ Shania Twain

Becoming famous and selling a lot of records doesn't change a thing. ~ Macy Gray

The real harm of term extension comes not from these famous works. The real harm is to the works that are not famous, not commercially exploited, and no longer available as a result. ~ Lawrence Lessig

If I had to change one thing about my life, it would probably be, I wouldn't be famous. Because when you're famous it's so hard. ~ Willow Smith

Robert calmly, like an Oriental sage himself, treated the situation as if it were a koan, a riddle to be entered until its very assumptions shifted. ~ Mark Nepo

Is fame without purpose and is fame without talent really where we are now? People used to be famous for what they did. Now, they're just famous. ~ John Carroll Lynch

A very quiet and tasteful way to be famous is to have a famous relative. Then you can not only be nothing, you can do nothing too. ~ P. J. O'Rourke

Everyone always asks me, 'Do you want to be famous ... ' I never really thought about becoming famous. I just want to work, to be able to put out inspiring and good film and TV. ~ Kim Shaw

In a rich moonlit garden, flowers open beneath the eyes of entire nations terrified to acknowledge the simplicity of the beauty of peace. ~ Aberjhani

I handle fame by not being famous ... I'm not famous to me. ~ Bob Marley

I never thought about being famous. ~ Damon Wayans

I actually don't feel famous. ~ Anwar Robinson

That stone Buddha deserves all the
birdshit it gets
I wave my skinny arms like a tall
flower in the wind ~ Ikkyu

I know somebody from university who's called Phil Collins, and I think there's something terribly unfortunate about sharing a name with somebody who either is famous or becomes famous. ~ David Walliams

I'm in that comfortable niche where I'm not that famous and sometimes people do need to put a barrier between them and their followers. When you're real famous you need to do that but I'm not that famous so I don't need that kind of barrier. ~ Tony Levin

I love singing - singing is what I'm famous for doing. Now it's turned into things I am famous for doing - like having rows with my mum or about my boyfriend, so it does get irritating. ~ Charlotte Church

Adversity turns into advantage
With the use of our will
Don't wish for less challenge
But for more skill ~ BJ Klock

Be my silence in the house of open doors. ~ Kristian Goldmund Aumann

It's hard to have a bad hair day when you're famous. ~ Marion Jones

When everyone is famous, no one will be famous. ~ Michael P. Naughton

It was I who made Fellini famous, not the other way around. ~ Anita Ekberg