good quotes from girija

[ramachandran girija]

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“Where there are humans,
You'll find flies,
And Buddhas.”
― Kobayashi Issa

 

[ramachandran girija]

“Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.”
― Ryokan

 

[ramachandran girija]

“If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there's room to hear more subtle things - that's when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It's a discipline; you have to practice it.”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs

 

[ramachandran girija]

Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.”
― Bodhidharma, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

 

[ramachandran girija]

“A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"

Suzuki Roshi replied, "No reason.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki, Author of "ZEN Mind, Beginner's Mind

 

[ramachandran girija]

“When the mind is exhausted of images, it invents its own.”
― Gary Snyder, Earth House Hold

 

[ramachandran girija]

“I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color--something which exists before all forms and colors appear... No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.”
― Shunryu Suzuki

 

[ramachandran girija]

“Silence is the language of Om. We need silence to be able to reach our Self. Both internal and external silence is very important to feel the presence of that supreme Love.”
― Amit Ray, Om Chanting and Meditation

 

[ramachandran girija]

“It is a wretched thing that the young men of today are so contriving and so proud of their material posessions. Men with contriving hearts are lacking in duty. Lacking in duty, they will have no self-respect.”


― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

 

[ramachandran girija]

“If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”
― Dōgen

 

[ramachandran girija]

“It is easy to believe we are each waves and forget we are also the ocean.”
― Jon J. Muth

 

[ramachandran girija]

“When you've understood this scripture, throw it away. If you can't understand this scripture, throw it away. I insist on your freedom.”
― Jack Kerouac, The Scripture of the Golden Eternity

 

[ramachandran girija]

“Like vanishing dew,
a passing apparition
or the sudden flash
of lightning -- already gone --
thus should one regard one's self.”
― Ikkyu

 

[ramachandran girija]

Commander, I always used to consider that you had a definite anti-authoritarian streak in you.”
“Sir?”
“It seems that you have managed to retain this even though you are authority.”
“Sir?”
“That’s practically zen.”
― Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

 

[ramachandran girija]

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”
― Masanobu Fukuoka, The One-Straw Revolution

 

[ramachandran girija]

“The more you know, the less you need.”
― Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

 

[ramachandran girija]

“When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.”
― Bashō Matsuo

 

[ramachandran girija]

“When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”
― Masanobu Fukuoka, The One-Straw Revolution

 

[ramachandran girija]

“Preoccupied with a single leaf you won't see the tree.”
― Vagabond

 

[ramachandran girija]

“Haiku is not a shriek, a howl, a sigh, or a yawn; rather, it is the deep breath of life.”
― Santōka Taneda, Mountain Tasting: Haiku and Journals of Santoka Taneda

 

[ramachandran girija]

“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.”
― Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind

 

[ramachandran girija]

“This accidental meeting of possibilities calls itself I.

I ask: what am I doing here?
And, at once, this I becomes unreal.”
― Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings

 

[ramachandran girija]

In pale moonlight / the wisteria's scent / comes from far away.”
― Yosa Buson

 

[ramachandran girija]

“To preserve the silence within--amid all the noise. To remain open and quiet, a moist humus in the fertile darkness where the rain falls and the grain ripens--no matter how many tramp across the parade ground in whirling dust under an arid sky.”
― Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings

 

[ramachandran girija]

“I have no news of my coming or passing away-- the whole thing happened quicker than a breath;
ask no questions of the moth.”

****