“If you fall into poverty, live that way without grumbling - then your poverty will not burden you. Likewise, if you are rich, live with your riches. All this is the functioning of Buddha-nature. In short, Buddha-nature has the quality of infinite adaptability.”
― Philip Kapleau, quote from The Three Pillars of Zen
“You must realize that no matter how intently you count your breaths you will still perceive what is in your line of vision, since your eyes are open, and you will hear the normal sounds about you, as your ears are not plugged. And since your brain likewise is not asleep, various thought forms will dart about your mind. Now, they will not hamper or diminish the effectiveness of zazen unless, evaluating them as "good", you cling to them or, deciding they are "bad", you try to check or eliminate them.”
― Philip Kapleau, quote from The Three Pillars of Zen
“One day a man of the people said to Zen Master Ikkyu: “Master, will you please write for me some maxims of the highest wisdom?” Ikkyu immediately took his brush and wrote the word “Attention.” “Is that all?” asked the man. “Will you not add something more?” Ikkyu then wrote twice running: “Attention. Attention.” “Well,” remarked the man rather irritably, “I really don’t see much depth or subtlety in what you have just written.” Then Ikkyu wrote the same word three times running: “Attention. Attention. Attention.” Half angered, the man demanded: “What does that word ‘Attention’ mean anyway?” And Ikkyu answered gently: “Attention means attention.”11”
― Philip Kapleau, quote from The Three Pillars of Zen
“our mastery of worldly phenomena will simply change the particular ways we suffer and not our understanding of the nature of suffering.”
― Philip Kapleau, quote from The Three Pillars of Zen
“skipped my meditation because of a headache and Fuji looked somber and lifeless … Today after a couple of hours of good meditation in a chair it’s grand and soaring again. A remarkable discovery: I have the power of life and death over Fuji!…”
― Philip Kapleau, quote from The Three Pillars of Zen
“You must cease concerning yourself with the dialects of Buddhism and instead learn how to look into your own mind in seclusion.”
― Philip Kapleau, quote from The Three Pillars of Zen
“The patriarchal line is, then, a reminder of how deep cultural biases can run, in this case undercutting the core Buddhist teaching that all beings without exception are equally endowed with the true nature of enlightenment.”
― Philip Kapleau, quote from The Three Pillars of Zen
Philip Kapleau
Born place: in New Haven, The United States
Born date August 12, 1912
See more on GoodReads
“Og nú heldur hann þeir svensku séu ekki jafngáfaðir og hann. Ég skal segja þér: þeir eru gáfaðri en hann, þeir eru svo gáfaðir að einginn kraftur fær þá til að trúa því að það samsafn af lúsugum betlurum norðrí raskati, sem kallar sig íslendinga og nú eru bráðum allir dauðir guðisélof, hafi skrifað fornsögurnar.”
― Halldór Kiljan Laxness, quote from Iceland's Bell
“First of all, you have heard me talk of Logres. It was the old name for this country, thousands of years ago; in the old days when the struggle between good and evil was more bitter and open than it is now. That struggle goes on all round us all the time, like two armies fighting. And sometimes one of them seems to be winning and sometimes the other, but neither has ever triumphed altogether. Nor ever will,” he added softly to himself, “for there is something of each in every man.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from Over Sea, Under Stone
“Life seemed suddenly a little empty, for never again could there happen to her something so dangerous, so sublime.”
― Richard Hughes, quote from A High Wind in Jamaica
“Did you ever know a poor man made better by law or a lawyer!' said Bunce bitterly.”
― Anthony Trollope, quote from The Warden
“If you wish to find your answers, you’ll need to begin thinking, not merely reacting.
-- Lily”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from An Artificial Night
Practical Demonkeepi...
Heart-Shaped Bruise
A Million Miles in a...
South: The Story of...
After We Fell
MonsterBookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
