The Poetry of Zen Quotes

“CALL it loneliness, that deep, beautiful color no one can describe: over these dark mountains, the gathering autumn dusk.”
― Sam Hamill, The Poetry of Zen

“I STAND here and watch the people of this world: all against one and one against all, angry, arguing, plotting and scheming. Then one day, suddenly, they die. And each gets one plot of ground: four feet wide, six feet long. If you can scheme your way out of that plot, I’ll set the stone that immortalizes your name.”
― Sam Hamill, The Poetry of Zen

“When the mind stops striving, the world’s not a problem. A constant heart won’t waver from the truth.”
― Sam Hamill, The Poetry of Zen

“I write in my notebook with the intention of stimulating good conversation, hoping that it will also be of use to some fellow traveler. But perhaps my notes are mere drunken chatter, the incoherent babbling of a dreamer. If so, read them as such.”
― Sam Hamill, The Poetry of Zen

“Is and is not produce one another. The difficult is born in the easy, long is defined by short, the high by the low. Instrument and voice achieve one harmony. Before and after have places. That is why the sage can act without effort and teach without words, nurture things without possessing them, and accomplish things without expecting merit: only one who makes no attempt to possess it cannot lose it.”
― Sam Hamill, The Poetry of Zen