The seeker approached the master and said, “I am ready to give up everything in order to find out the truth about God. I will give up my job, my money, my family, everything. Tell me, what must I do?”
“That is all well and good but there is one more thing you must give up [...]

Others are revolted, I am unmoved.
Gripped by desires, I am unmoved.
Hearing the wisdom of sages, I am unmoved.
I move only in my own way.
– Lu Yu

The master declared,
“The journey of life is thus:
Imagine yourself and everything you possess falling from a very high cliff.
While falling, you reach out and grab hold of the things around you to stop your fall.
But everything around you is also falling.”

Sitting quietly, doing nothing,
Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
–Zenrin Kushû

Teachers open the door
But you must enter by yourself.
– Chinese Proverb

The master got caught in a heavy rain one night and was soaking wet when he saw a Buddhist monastery nearby. He knocked hard on the gates until a monk came and opened the gate.
“What do you want?” the monk asked, thinking that the drenched figure was a beggar.
“I just need a place to stay [...]

The disciple told the master, “I am going away to the town on the other side of the hill. There are less distractions there and I can focus on meditating and searching for the truth. But don’t worry, while I am there, I will write to you and let you know my progress.”
After a month, [...]

“Why does it seem that the harder I seek God, the more distant he seems from me?” asked the disciple.
The master smiled and replied, “The distance seems to grow because you seek. Stop seeking and understand that there is no distance.”
“Are you saying that I and God are one?” said the disciple.
“No, not one. Not [...]

There was once a master whose fame had spread far and wide because of his holiness.
A tourist once came and visited the master, who was seated behind a small table eating a banana. Upon seeing the guest, the master picked another banana from the bunch and offered it to him.
The guest was so awed that [...]

Listen, pilgrim!
There are no roads.
Roads are made by walking.
– unknown

One day, a travelling stranger came to visit the master Joshu.
Joshu said, “Stranger, have I ever met you before?”
“No, sir. This is the first time we have met,” replied the stranger.
“Then have a cup of tea,” said Joshu.
Joshu then turned to a monk beside him.
“Have I ever seen you before?” he asked.
“Yes, I have been [...]

We consider bibles and religions divine–
I do not say they are not divine,
I say they have all grown out of you,
and may grow out of you still,
It is not they who give the life,
it is you who give the life.
Leaves are no more shed from the trees,
or trees from the earth,
than they are shed out [...]

Every day, people are straying away from church and going back to God.
– Lenny Bruce

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise.
Seek what they sought.
– Basho

Before I studied the art, a punch was just a punch; a kick was just a kick.
When I became a student of the art, a punch was no longer a punch; a kick no longer a kick.
When I mastered the art, a punch was just a punch; a kick was just a kick.
– Bruce Lee

A man approached the master and asked, “Is there a God?”
“Of course,” said the Master.
A year later, the man came again and asked the same question.
“No, I don’t think so,” said the Master.
Yet another year later, the man came and asked the question once more.
The master did not answer but simply smiled.
Then the man said, [...]

Two monks had taken a strict vow of celibacy which forbade them to touch a woman, even in the slightest of gestures.
One day, while taking a contemplative walk through the woods, they came upon a river. As they were about to cross, a woman lying on the riverbank called out to them. “Please sirs, I [...]

One day, a philosopher went to visit Master Nan-in to discuss zen with him. During the discussion, the philosopher would ask questions and as Nan-in began to answer, the philosopher would butt in with another question or would start sharing his own insights.
After this happened for two or three times, Nan-in took the teapot and [...]

When the sage points to the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.”
Experts come and study the nature of the finger. They form theories and doctrines around it. They organize the Church of the Finger and create rules and laws about how the finger should point, when it should point and in what angle it [...]