216 pages
Rating: (6K votes)
“14. Muddy Road
Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling.
Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unble to cross the intersection.
"Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carriedher over the mud.
Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he could no longer restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"
"I left the girl there," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?”
― quote from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
“If the feet of enlightenment moved, the great ocean would overflow; If that head bowed, it would look down upon the heavens.
Such a body has no place to rest. . . .
Let another continue this poem.”
― quote from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
“It is too clear and so it is hard to see. A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern. Had he known what fire was, He could have cooked his rice much sooner.”
― quote from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
“When the mouth opens All are wrong.”
― quote from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
“Meeting a Zen master on the road, Face him neither with words nor silence. Give him an uppercut And you will be called one who understands Zen.”
― quote from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
“Mamiya concentrated upon what the sound of one hand might be. “You are not working hard enough,” his teacher told him. “You are too attached to food, wealth, things, and that sound. It would be better if you died. That would solve the problem.” The next time Mamiya appeared before his teacher he was again asked what he had to show regarding the sound of one hand. Mamiya at once fell over as if he were dead. “You are dead all right,” observed the teacher. “But how about that sound?” “I haven’t solved that yet,” replied Mamiya, looking up. “Dead men do not speak,” said the teacher. “Get out!” 43.”
― quote from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
“Gutei raised his finger whenever he was asked a question about Zen. A boy attendant began to imitate him in this way. When anyone asked the boy what his master had preached about, the boy would raise his finger. Gutei heard about the boy’s mischief. He seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and ran away. Gutei called and stopped him. When the boy turned his head to Gutei, Gutei raised up his own finger. In that instant the boy was enlightened.”
― quote from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
“When there is no place for Zen in the head of our generation, it is in grievous trouble.”
― quote from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
“That's what I really want - to shed all the people who want to form and shape me, one by one, and learn instead to form and shape myself.”
― Veronica Roth, quote from Four: A Divergent Story Collection
“Sometimes being a good friend means saying nothing."
"I'm supposed to watch her make a mistake?"
"Sometimes, yes. And then you stand by to pick up the pieces.”
― Kristin Hannah, quote from Firefly Lane
“Sometimes I think Ben is right, that the fantasy world is better because reality sucks...but then I look at Nikki and I believe that we can beat the odds.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Chain Reaction
“I have to keep going to find out ultimately what is the matter with it in the end.”
― Richard Feynman, quote from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character
“Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” was constantly on my FM Walkman radio around that time. I think that made me cry because I associated it with absolutely no one.”
― Tina Fey, quote from Bossypants
Cross My Heart, Hope...
Persuader
Knight's Mistress
Venus in Furs
Him
The Voyage OutBookQuoters 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.
