Linji Yixuan Quotes
Linji Yixuan was a Chinese Chan Buddhist master of the late Tang dynasty and the founder of the Linji school, the dominant Chan and later Zen lineage in China, Korea, and Japan. After training under Huangbo Xiyun, he established his teaching seat at the Linji monastery in Hebei, from which the school takes its name. The quotes below are attributed to Linji Yixuan, organized by topic.
Browse Linji Yixuan by topic
Linji Yixuan on Death
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“Outside of mind there is nothing, and what is within mind is also unattainable. What are you looking for? All of you people everywhere talk of having cultivation and having realization, but don’t make this mistake. Even if you gain something from cultivation, it is just the karma of birth and death.”
pp. 26-7
Linji Yixuan on Justice
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“Just make yourself master of every situation, and wherever you stand is the true [place]. (Trans: R.F. Sasaki, Ed. T. Kirchner, The Record of Linji ).”
Be a master everywhere and wherever you stand is your true place. (Translator unsourced.) -
“Worthy people, we must value the time. [You are wasting your chance] if you just intend to ‘study Zen’ and ‘study the Path’ as superficial adherents running busily back and forth, getting to recognize terms and phrases, seeking ‘buddhas,’ seeking ‘patriarchs,’ seeking ‘enlightened teachers’ [as you conceive of them]. You only have one father and mother: what else are you seeking? You should reflect back on yourself and see them.”
p. 18 -
“Even the multi-part scriptural teachings of the three vehicles are just old paper for wiping away dirt. Buddha is an illusion, an apparition. The ancestral teachers were just old monks.”
The Recorded Sayings of Linji(臨濟語錄) | p. 29 -
“An ancient said that if you call it a thing, you miss the mark. Just look for yourself: what else is there? Talk could go on forever: each of you must personally make the effort.”
The Recorded Sayings of Linji(臨濟語錄) | p. 46 -
“Good people, the physical body composed of the four great elements is impermanent. [All the parts of your body], your spleen and stomach and liver and hair and nails and teeth, just reveal the emptiness of all things.”
The Recorded Sayings of Linji(臨濟語錄) | p. 34
Linji Yixuan on Knowledge
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“<爾且隨處作主。立處皆真。> [T47n1985_p0498a19] from Linji lu (臨濟録, Record of Linji).”
Be a master everywhere and wherever you stand is your true place. (Translator unsourced.) -
“In my view, there are no buddhas and no sentient beings, no ancient and no modern. Those who attain, attain without cultivation, without realization, without gain, and without loss, for them there is never anything else but reality. ‘Even if there is anything that goes beyond this, I would say that it is like a dream or a magical illusion.’ This is what I am saying.”
p. 21
Linji Yixuan on Love
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“If you love the holy and hate the ordinary, you float and sink in the sea of birth and death. Affliction exists because of mind: if you have no mind, how can affliction hold you? If you do not try to discriminate and grasp forms, naturally you find the Path that instant.”
The Recorded Sayings of Linji(臨濟語錄) | p. 31
Linji Yixuan on Mind
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Attributed to Linji Yixuan:
“Wherever you stand, that is the very place; rest there.”
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“Someone asked: “What are enlightenment and delusion?” Linji said: “A moment when your mind is in doubt is delusion. If you can comprehend that the myriad phenomena are unborn, that [deluded] mind is like an illusory transformation, so that you are everywhere pure, this is enlightenment. So enlightenment and delusion are the two objects, defilement and purity.”
p. 21 -
“Everywhere there are those who say that there is a Path that can be cultivated and a truth that can be realized. You tell me, what path, what truth? What is lacking in your present functioning? Where will you cultivate and repair it? The younger generation of would-be Zen people do not understand this, so they believe in these wild fox spirits. When they explain things, they tie people down. They say that enlightenment can be attained only when truth and conduct are in accord and you guard yourself from misdeeds of thought, speech, and action. This kind of talk is like springtime drizzle.”
Wikiquote
Linji Yixuan on Nature
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“The local officials invited Linji to preach. Linji went up to the teaching hall and said: “Today I have no alternative but to bend to human sentiment—thus I have ascended to this seat [to preach]. By the standards of the Zen school, when you attempt to extol the great matter [of enlightenment], you simply cannot open your mouth. There’s no place for you to get a foothold.”
p. 11
Linji Yixuan on Truth
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Attributed to Linji Yixuan:
“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”
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Attributed to Linji Yixuan:
“Followers of the Way, there is no Buddha to seek, no Dharma to attain.”
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Attributed to Linji Yixuan:
“The true person of no rank stands in your face and speaks.”
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Attributed to Linji Yixuan:
“Don't be deceived by names; look the matter in the face.”
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“Be a master everywhere and wherever you stand is your true place. (Translator unsourced.)”
<爾且隨處作主。立處皆真。> [T47n1985_p0498a19] from Linji lu (臨濟録, Record of Linji). | Just make yourself master of every situation, and wherever you stand is the true [place]. (Trans: R.F. Sasaki, Ed. T. Kirchner, The Record of Linji ). | If you master any situation you are in, wherever you stand, all becomes true. (Trans: Irmgard Schloegl, The Zen Teaching of Rinzai ). -
“If you master any situation you are in, wherever you stand, all becomes true. (Trans: Irmgard Schloegl, The Zen Teaching of Rinzai ).”
Be a master everywhere and wherever you stand is your true place. (Translator unsourced.)