Fraidoon Warasta > Fraidoon's Quotes

“Forgetting oneself is opening oneself”
― Dogen

“If You Meet The Buddha On The Road, Kill Him”
― Linji

“When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves. Similarly, if you examine many things with a confused mind, you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. But when you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that there is nothing that has unchanging self.”
― Dogen

“Imagination is our inner-child and creativity, its playground.”
― Jaeda DeWalt

“Only one who takes over his own life history can see in it the realization of his self. Responsibility to take over one's own biography means to get clear about who one wants to be.”
― Jürgen Habermas

“The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?”
― Zhuangzi, Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters

“The further one goes, the less one knows.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty" - Lao-tsu”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“He who stands on tiptoe
doesn't stand firm.
He who rushes ahead
doesn't go far.
He who tries to shine
dims his own light.
He who defines himself
can't know who he really is.
He who has power over others
can't empower himself.
He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures.

If you want to accord with the Tao,
just do your job, then let go.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“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

“All philosophies are mental fabrications. There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things.”
― Nagarjuna

“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“All know the way; few actually walk it.”
― Bodhidharma

“Vast emptiness, nothing holy.”
― Bodhidharma

“Everything sacred, nothing sacred.”
― Bodhidharma

“Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom.”
― Bodhidharma

“Freeing oneself from words is liberation.”
― Bodhidharma

“Poverty and hardship are created by false thinking.”
― Bodhidharma, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

“Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice."

[Stanford University commencement speech, 2005]”
― Steve Jobs

“We are all meant to be mothers of God...for God is always needing to be born.”
― Meister Eckhart

“The menu is not the meal.”
― Alan Watts

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
― Alan Wilson Watts

“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”
― Alan Watts

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
― Epicurus

“One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others.”
― Simone de Beauvoir

“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

“What really raises one's indignation against suffering is not suffering intrinsically, but the senselessness of suffering”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche