Zen Quotes

I've been studying the cultures of Asia for many years, and I'm very attracted to the culture of Japan, in particular to the impact Zen has had on the Japanese mind and spirit.

I think any spiritual experience that's worthwhile is not about ego and it will humble you in some way. And also, a Zen monk once said to me, 'If you're not laughing, then you're not getting it.'

I made a photograph of a garden in Kyoto, the Zen garden, which is a rectangle. But a photograph taken from any one point will not show, well it shows a rectangle, but not with ninety degree angles.

If you study the writings of the mystics, you will always find things in them that appear to be paradoxes, as in Zen, particularly.

At my Rolling Stones' tour, the camera was a protection. I used it in a Zen way.

I use a Bruce Lee technique: 'The way of no way.' He had the idea that he would learn everything, so that whoever he had to fight, he could improvise anything. The best way of starting a gig is just to not think of anything - to clear your mind, not in an empty Zen state, but more just to go on and see where you go.

Children are natural Zen masters; their world is brand new in each and every moment.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

Zen Buddhism is a discipline where belief isn't necessary.

Zen, per se, is not just an art, it's not just a religion, it's a realisation.

Working out is my biggest hobby. It's my Zen hour. I just zone out.

Well, for one thing, in the tradition of Zen that I've practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity.

Zen teaches that once we can open up to the inevitability of our demise, we can begin to transform that situation and lighten up about it.

The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.

Green politics at its worst amounts to a sort of Zen fascism; less extreme, it denounces growth and seeks to stop the world so that we can all get off.

Golf is a spiritual game. It's like Zen. You have to let your mind take over.

The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.

Surfing soothes me, it's always been a kind of Zen experience for me. The ocean is so magnificent, peaceful, and awesome. The rest of the world disappears for me when I'm on a wave.

In Japanese art, space assumed a dominant role and its position was strengthened by Zen concepts.

There are things that I value now that I didn't when I first went over there, like Zen Buddhism, which has become part of my life over the last couple years.