I’m looking for beautiful spiritual buddhist/zen/taoist/hindu/sufi/shamanic quotes, preferably with a deep philosophical meaning. The deeper the better
Some of my favorites:
"[i]Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in dewdrops on the grass,
Or even in one drop of water.
Enlightenment does not divide you,
Just as the moon does not break the water.
You cannot hinder enlightenment,
Just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky.
The depth of the drop is the height of the moon.
Each reflection, however long or short its duration,
Manifests the vastness of the dewdrop,
And realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky.[/i]"
- Eihei Dogen (1200-1253)
"[i]One who knows does not speak.
One who speaks does not know.
Close your holes, shut your doors,
Soften your sharpness, loosen your knots.
Soften your glare and merge with the everyday.
This is called mysteriously attaining oneness.
Though you cannot possess it, you are intimate with it
And at the same time, distant.
Though you cannot possess it, you are benefitted by it,
And harmed by it.
You cannot possess it, but are esteemed through it
And humbled by it.
Therefore the world values you.[/i]"
- Tao-Te-Ching (chapter 56)
Let them come