Zen & Tea One Flavor Quotes

“Zen is much more about stripping away than it is about adding anything. Lao Tzu also said that the Tao the sage follows is a taking away, the World an adding on. We don’t have to read sutras or agonizing koans to get Zen. Neither do we have to buy robes or beliefs, and especially not meditation cushions or gilded buddhas. “Your mind is Buddha,” said Bodhidharma, “so you don’t need a buddha to worship Buddha.” A cup of tea will do just fine. Zen is also much more about the letting-go than it is about learning or any of the other spiritual catch phrases, like “insight” or “enlightenment”. We cast off the body and mind. The real withdrawal from the World of Dust is this detachment. And it isn’t just about letting go of the clutter in our homes, but more importantly (or perhaps exclusively) the clutter in our minds: opinions and beliefs, thoughts about the way we think people or things “really are”, thoughts about “clutter” and “simplicity”—even the idea of Zen as an ‘ism’.”
― Aaron Daniel Fisher, Zen & Tea One Flavor

“You can’t disagree with Reality—not when it’s fully present”
― Aaron Daniel Fisher, Zen & Tea One Flavor

“The true master works from a distance, until the student is ready to recognize how ordinary a master is. Then the game of master and student is seen for what it is: more drama. In drinking the tea and walking to and from the hut, the monk found the insight himself. This cannot be taught, because it’s already here. You just need to discover that you are what you seek, and then all seeking ceases. Then you can have a cup of tea.”
― Aaron Daniel Fisher, Zen & Tea One Flavor

“Imperfection is only mind-made, and is related to the ego’s natural tendency to compare this moment to past sensations and future dreams.”
― Aaron Daniel Fisher, Zen & Tea One Flavor