Top 9 Quotes & Sayings by Seung Sahn

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a South Korean priest Seung Sahn.

Last updated on December 21, 2024.

Seungsahn Haengwon, born Duk-In Lee, was a Korean Seon master of the Jogye Order and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen. He was the seventy-eighth Patriarch in his lineage. As one of the early Korean Zen masters to settle in the United States, he opened many temples and practice groups across the globe. He was known for his charismatic style and direct presentation of Zen, which was well tailored for the Western audience.

South Korean - Priest | August 1, 1927 - November 30, 2004

Source: Wikipedia

You can fix your body, your heart, your diabetes. In Korea, China, and India, there are people who do yoga. They go to the mountains and do breath-in, breath-out meditation. They can live 500 years and not get sick. Keeping their bodies for a long time is possible; even flying in the sky is possible.

Seung Sahn

American dog say, 'Woof, woof.' Korean dog say, 'Mung, mung.' Polish dog say, 'How, how.' So which dog barking is correct? That is human beings' barking, not 'dog' barking. If dog and you become one hundred percent one, then you know sound of barking. This is Zen teaching. Boom! Become one.

Seung Sahn

Don't want anything. Then you get everything.

Seung Sahn

Human beings understand too much.

Seung Sahn

Correct meditation means correctly understanding your situation moment by moment - what are you doing now? Only do it! Then, each action is complete; each action is enough. Then no thinking, so each moment I can perceive everything just like this.

Seung Sahn

Meditation means keeping one mind. You must understand - what is life? What is death? If you keep one mind, there is no life, no death. Then if you die tomorrow, no problem; if you die in five minutes, no problem.

Seung Sahn

I always try meditation. Meditation means always keeping one mind, not-moving mind.

Seung Sahn

When reading, only read. When eating, only eat. When thinking, only think.

Seung Sahn

Perceiving your own voice means perceiving your true self or nature. When you and the sound become one, you don't hear the sound; you are the sound.

Seung Sahn