thought u lot may wanna read this, see if u get anythin from it! im about to read,

they seem... sensible

Zen is selling water by the river.
There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms.
A samurai once asked Zen Master Hakuin where he would go after he died.
Hakuin answered 'How am I supposed to know?'
'How do you not know? You're a Zen master!' exclaimed the samurai.
'Yes, but not a dead one,' Hakuin answered.
Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions.
If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.
In the landscape of spring, there is neither better nor worse. The flowering branches grow naturally, some long, some short.
Knock on the sky and listen to the sound.
The ten thousand questions are one question. If you cut through the one question, then the ten thousand questions disappear.
The ways to the One are as many as the lives of men.
Though the bamboo forest is dense, water flows through it freely.
To do a certain kind of thing, you have to be a certain kind of person.
To follow the path, look to the master, follow the master, walk with the master, see through the master, become the master.
When the pupil is ready to learn, a teacher will appear.
Why do you ask questions? If you already knew the flame was fire then the meal was cooked a long time ago. (Oma Desala, Stargate SG-1; various)
At first, I saw mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers. Then, I saw mountains were not mountains and rivers were not rivers. Finally, I see mountains again as mountains, and rivers again as rivers.
If the problem has a solution, worrying is pointless, in the end the problem will be solved. If the problem has no solution, there is no reason to worry, because it can't be solved.
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.
Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.
Basho
An autumn night... don't think your life, didn't matter.
Basho
There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.
Basho
At any given moment, I open my eyes and exist. And before that, during all eternity, what was there? Nothing.
Ugo Betti
The torch of doubt and chaos, this is what the sage steers by.
Chuang-tzu
It is everywhere.
Chuang-tzu
To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
Chuang-tzu
If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?
Dogen
Zazen is itself enlightenment.
Dogen
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
Dogen
There is no beginning to practice nor end to enlightenment; There is no beginning to enlightenment nor end to practice.
Dogen
And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot
When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a thousand books of scripture are not enough. When you have realized understanding, even one word is too much.
Fen-Yang
Should you desire great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads.
Hakuin
Zen: Seeing into one's own nature.
Hui-neng
How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole?
koan
It is better to practice a little than talk a lot.
Muso Kokushi
We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
Lao Tzu
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao Tzu
So little time, so little to do.
Oscar Levant
The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.
Robert M. Pirsig
The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.
Yasutani Roshi
The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
Baba Ram Dass
Natural and super-natural, temporal and eternal - continuums, not absolutes.
Albert Schweitzer (paraphrased)
You must neither strive for truth nor seek to lose your illusions.
The Shodoka
We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything. That is to understand Zen.
D. T. Suzuki
One falling leaf is not just one leaf; it means the whole autumn.
As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
Shunryu Suzuki
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but merely concentration on our usual everyday routine.
Shunkyu Suzuki
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few.
Shunryu Suzuki
The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.
Shunryu Suzuki
Life is like stepping onto a boat that is about to sail out to sea and sink.
Shunryu Suzuki
My heart burns like fire but my eyes are as cold as dead ashes.
Sayen Shaku
To set up what you like against what you don't like -- this is the disease of the mind.
Sheng-ts'an
No yesterday, no tomorrow, and no today.
Sheng-ts'an
Don't seek reality, just put an end to opinions.
Sheng-ts'an
When you get there, there isn't any there there.
Gertrude Stein
Water which is too pure has no fish.
Ts'ai Ken T'an
Nothing is exactly as it seems, nor is it otherwise.
Alan Watts
Let the dead bury the dead.
Jesus Christ
What does mysticism mean? It means the way to attain knowledge. It's close to philosophy, except in philosophy you go horizontally while in mysticism you go vertically.
Elie Wiesel
Ten thousand flowers in spring
the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life. Wu-men
Since it is all too clear
It takes time to grasp it. When you understand that it's foolish to look for fire with fire, The meal is already cooked. Wu-men
The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.
If you're attached to anything, you surely will go far astray.
Only the crystal-clear question yields a transparent answer.
All of the significant battles are waged within the self.
Life is the only thing worth living for.
Better to sit all night than to go to bed with a dragon.
Live every day like your hair was on fire.
When you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing.
The mind should be as a mirror.
There is nothing infinite apart from finite things.
Everyday life is the way.
Great Faith. Great Doubt. Great Effort. - The three qualities necessary for training.
If you do not get it from yourself, Where will you go for it?
Do not permit the events of your daily life to bind you, but never withdraw yourself from them.
Where there is great doubt, there will be great awakening; small doubt, small awakening, no doubt, no awakening.
Sitting peacefully doing nothing Spring comes and the grass grows all by itself.
Everything the same; everything distinct.
Lovely snowflakes, they fall nowhere else!
Chop wood, carry water.
Possessing much knowledge is like having a thousand foot fishing line with a hook, but the fish is always an inch beyond the hook.
A noble heart never forces itself forward. Its words are as rare gems, seldom displayed and of great value.
If you meet on the way a man who knows, Don't speak a word -- Don't keep silent!
Even a good thing isn't as good as nothing.
This is not the Buddha, this is the Buddha.
One moon shows in every pool, in every pool the one moon.
Studying Zen, learning the way, is originally for the sake of birth and death, no other thing.
What do I mean by other things? Arousing the mind and stirring thoughts right now; having contrivance and artificiality; having grasping and rejecting; having practice and realization; having purity and defilement; having sacred and profane; having Buddhas and sentient beings; writing verses and songs, composing poems and odes; discoursing on Zen and the way; discoursing on right and wrong; discoursing on past and present.
These various activities are not relevant to the issue of birth and death; they are all "other things."
Chien-ju
No ego, no pain.
If you for gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

if your interested have a look at Brad Warners books starting with Hardcore Zen. Very very modern view on zen and all that kinda stuff, he puts the ideas accross really well for western readers without a lot of the pretentiousness you can get from some of those kind of books.

YouTube Zen Bones with Alan Watts as well while your at it

here's a whole book by that lao tzu geezer that was quoted tao te ching

Looks promising I've ordered it, all the "umm, umm, scratch your bum" nonsense puts me off.

PS

cool, would be cool to hear your thoughts when you've read it dude.

That scratch your bum stuff sounds like bollocks id ignore it!