John Daido Loori Quotes

• To be simple means to make a choice about what's important, and let go of all the rest. When we are able to do this, our vision expands, our heads clear, and we can better see the details of our lives in all their incredible wonder and beauty.

  John Daido Loori

  Inspirational, Life, Beauty

  John Daido Loori (2007). “The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life”, p.154, Ballantine Books

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• The creative process, like a spiritual journey, is intuitive, non-linear, and experiential. It points us toward our essential nature, which is a reflection of the boundless creativity of the universe.

  John Daido Loori

  Spiritual, Creativity, Reflection

  John Daido Loori (2007). “The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life”, p.1, Ballantine Books

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• To be still means to empty yourself from the incessant flow of thoughts and create a state of consciousness that is open and receptive.

  John Daido Loori

  Mean, Flow, Emptiness

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• If I was asked to get rid of the Zen aesthetic and just keep one quality necessary to create art, I would say it's trust. When you learn to trust yourself implicitly, you no longer need to prove something through your art. You simply allow it to come out, to be as it is. This is when creating art becomes effortless. It happens just as you grow your hair. It grows.

  John Daido Loori

  Art, Creating, Hair

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• The future doesn't exist. It hasn't happened yet. The past doesn't exist. It has already happened.

  John Daido Loori

  Past, Happened

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• To know objects only through dissecting and cataloguing them is to miss their full reality. It is to fall asleep amidst the mystery and to become numb to the wonder of this great Earth.

  John Daido Loori

  Fall, Reality, Missing

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• just sitting does not involve reaching some understanding. It is the subtle activity of allowing all things to be completely at rest just as they are, not poking one's head into the workings of the world.

  John Daido Loori

  Understanding, Doe, Sitting

  John Daido Loori (2010). “The Art of Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza (Large Print 16pt)”, p.10, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• It is possible to do something, and to do something meticulously and completely with out creating a goal... all nature works this way.

  John Daido Loori

  Creating, Goal, Way

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• If you miss the moment, you miss your life.

  John Daido Loori

  Missing, Moments, Ifs

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• serene illumination, or just sitting, is not a technique, or a means to some resulting higher state of consciousness, or any particular state of being. Just sitting, one simply meets the immediate present. Desiring some flashy experience, or anything more or other than 'this' is mere worldly vanity and craving.

  John Daido Loori

  Mean, Vanity, Illumination

  John Daido Loori (2010). “The Art of Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza (Large Print 16pt)”, p.14, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Wordless is not the same of expressionless. All phenomenon of the universe, audible and inaudible, tangible and intangible, sentient and insentient, are the clear and ceaseless expression of the buddha nature.

  John Daido Loori

  Expression, Tangible, Clear

  John Daido Loori (2009). “The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans”, p.222, Shambhala Publications

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• If you know the music the moment the violin string begins to vibrate, then you know how to navigate through the forest of brambles and entanglements with freedom and ease. If, on the other hand, you think that with practice the forest of brambles and entanglements will altogether disappear, then right from the beginning you are hopelessly entangled and won't find your way.

  John Daido Loori

  Music, Freedom, Thinking

  John Daido Loori (2009). “The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans”, p.169, Shambhala Publications

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• There is no place to search for the truth. Though it's right beneath your feet, it can't be found.

  John Daido Loori

  Feet, Found

  John Daido Loori (2009). “The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans”, p.57, Shambhala Publications

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• In the action of no-action (wu-wei), a cardinal aspect of the true creative process is set forth. In wu-wei, the mind is silenced and the work is allowed to express itself.

  John Daido Loori

  Work, Creativity, Creative

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• Words and ideas are a description of reality, silence is a negation of reality. What is the reality itself?

  John Daido Loori

  Reality, Ideas, Silence

  John Daido Loori (2009). “The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans”, p.222, Shambhala Publications

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• In transmitting the dharma, there is neither explanation nor teaching; there is neighter hearing nor attainment. Since explanations never really explains, nor are they able to teach, why talk about it? Since listening isn't really hearing or attaining anything, then why listen? But say, since it cannot be explained or heard, how can you enter the Way? But down the bagagge, take of the blinders, and see for yourself that this very place is the valley of the endless spring, this very body is the body of the universe. At such a time, who is it who can accompany this?

  John Daido Loori

  Spring, Teaching, Listening

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• Creativity is our birthright. It is an integral part of being human, as basic as walking, talking and thinking.

  John Daido Loori

  Creativity, Thinking, Talking

  John Daido Loori (2007). “The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life”, p.1, Ballantine Books

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• But down the bagagge, take of the blinders, and see for yourself that this very place is the valley of the endless spring, this very body is the body of the universe. At such a time, who is it who can accompany this?

  John Daido Loori

  Spring, Awakening, Valleys

  John Daido Loori (2009). “The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans”, p.8, Shambhala Publications

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• No creature, large or small, ever fails to cover the ground upon which it stands.

  John Daido Loori

  Failing, Creatures

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• Zen is a special transmission outside the scriptures,With no reliance on words and letters.A direct pointing to the human mind,And the realization of enlightenment.

  John Daido Loori

  Mind, Special, Enlightenment

  Stephen Addiss, John Daido Loori (2009). “The Zen Art Book: The Art of Enlightenment”, p.8, Shambhala Publications

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• What transpires for the least significant member transpires at once for the whole.

  John Daido Loori

  Significant, Members, Whole

  John Daido Loori (2009). “The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans”, p.89, Shambhala Publications

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