Zen lessons tend to embody the value of simplicity. However, there are many interpretations and ways to express zen and its teachings. Here are 20 zen lessons for creative living from zen masters.
Zen has many lessons to teach on how to live a happier life, but zen is also a creative practice and way of thinking. At its heart, zen refers to a quality of mind cultivated through practices like meditation, beginner’s mindset, and kensho (seeing one’s true nature).
These quotes, lessons, and zen proverbs come from some of the greatest zen minds in history, many with creative background themselves as the practice of zen also include creative hobbies to unlock secrets of zen and discover one’s true nature through self-expression.
“The true purpose [of Zen] is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes… Zen practice is to open up our small mind.”
― Shunryu Suzuki
“When you do something, you should immerse yourself completely, leaving no room for thinking.”
― Unknown
“Live by letting things happen”
― Dogen
“Let your mind wander in the pure and simple.”
― Lao ZI
“Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.”
― Dogen
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
― Lao Zi
“Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else”
― Shunryu Suzuki
“Have the fearless attitude of a hero and loving heart of a child.”
― Soyen Saku
“All that we are, is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.”
― Buddha
“Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind.”
― Zen Proverb
“To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders”
― Zhuang Zi
“Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing.”
― Tilopa
“Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.”
― Zhuang Zi
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
“To follow the path, look to the master, follow the master, walk with the master, see through the master, become the master.”
― Zen Proverb
“Think with your whole body.”
― Taisen Deshimar
“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few. “
― Shunryu Suzuki
“If you want to change the world, start with the next person who comes to you in need.”
― Maezumi Roshi
“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”
― Huang Po
“The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.”
― Dogen
“Have good trust in yourself … not in the One that you think you should be, but in the One that you are.”
― Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
“What is important is not the right doctrine but the attainment of the true experience. It is giving up believing in belief.”
― D.T. Suzuki
“Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.”
― Shen-hui
“The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.”
― Zen Proverb
“All the things that truly matter, beauty, love, creativity, joy and inner peace arise from beyond the mind.”
― Zen Proverb
“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
― Dogen
“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”
― Osho
Zach is an international writer, photographer, filmmaker, martial artist, and creator of Creative Enso, the Zen art of creative living. His goal is to empower and inspire creatives to live healthier, happier, and more creative lifestyles.
