Zen Phrases

Short lines from the Zen records, such as kissako, do have some tea, and nichinichi kore kōjitsu, day after day, a good day. Each study finds the line in the record it comes from and the teacher it is told of.

和敬清寂 · wakei seijaku Four Virtues of Tea

喫茶者方知 · kissa no mono masa ni shiru Only the One Who Drinks the Tea Knows

看脚下 · kankyakka Look Under Your Feet

山是山水是水 · yama wa kore yama, mizu wa kore mizu Mountains Are Mountains, Waters Are Waters

一日不作一日不食 · ichijitsu nasazareba ichijitsu kurawazu A Day Without Work Is a Day Without Food

一身如雲水、悠悠任去來 · isshin unsui no gotoku, yūyū to shite kyorai ni makasu Like Cloud and Water, I Come and Go at Ease

喫茶喫飯 · kissa kippan Drinking Tea, Eating Rice

百千萬載一門春 · hyakusen manzai ichimon no haru A Hundred, a Thousand, Ten Thousand Years: Spring for One House

好雪片片不落別処 · kōsetsu henpen bessho ni ochizu Fine Snow, Flake by Flake, Falls Nowhere Else

掬水月在手 · mizu o kikusureba tsuki te ni ari The Moon in Your Hands

洗鉢盂去 · hatsu u o araisare Go Wash Your Bowl

直心是道場無虚假故 · jikishin kore dōjō, kokenaki ga yue ni The straightforward mind is the place of practice, because it is free of falsehood

一華開五葉 · ikka goyō o hiraku One Flower Opens Five Petals

莫妄想 · maku mōzō Do Not Think Falsely

明歴々露堂々 · meirekireki rodōdō Perfectly Clear, with Nothing Hidden

春来草自生 · haru kitatte kusa onozukara shōzu Spring Comes, and the Grass Grows of Itself

非風非幡 · hifū hihan Not the Wind, Not the Flag

柳緑花紅 · yanagi wa midori, hana wa kurenai The Willow Is Green, the Flower Is Red

不知最親切 · fuchi mottomo shinsetsu Not Knowing is Most Intimate

南無妙法蓮華経 · namu myōhō renge kyō Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō

了了知 · ryōryōchi Complete Understanding

本来無一物 · honrai muichimotsu By Nature, Having Nothing

無念無想 · munen musō No Thought, No Imagining

日々是好日 · nichinichi kore kōjitsu Every day is a good day

松無古今色 · matsu ni kokon no iro nashi The Pine Has No Color of Past or Present

放下著 · hōgejaku Put It Down

松樹千年翠 · shōju sennen no midori The Pine Stays Green a Thousand Years

白雲自去来 · hakuun onozukara kyoraisu The White Clouds Come and Go of Themselves

運水搬柴 · unsui hansai Carrying Water, Hauling Firewood

平常心是道 · heijōshin kore dō Ordinary Mind Is the Way

喫茶去 · kissako Have Some Tea

無事是貴人 · buji kore kinin The One with Nothing Left to Seek Is the Noble One

活人剣 · katsujinken Life Giving Sword

殺人剣 · satsujinken Life Taking Sword

隻手の音声 · sekishu no onjō The Sound of One Hand Clapping