Zen Quotes on Compassion & Love
12 real, sourced lines — every attribution checked
Compassion in Zen begins close to home: with the person you are when no one is watching. Sourced lines on kindness without performance.
The quotes
“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.”
“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over.”
“Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings.”
“A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.”
— Dogen
“When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised.”
— Sengcan
“I watch people in the world throw away their lives chasing after things, never understanding the true source of their misery.”
— Ryokan
“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”
“The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with.”
“How may I help you? That is the whole of practice. Nothing else needs to be added.”
“The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is opinion.”
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
— Traditional Zen
More themes
Letting GoImpermanence & Changethe Present MomentInner PeaceStillness & SilenceAcceptanceAll themes →
One teaching like this each morning — and Mu, a companion who remembers your path.
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