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Frederick Lenz

Frederick Lenz Quotes

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Frederick Lenz was an American author known for his profound understanding and unique insights into Zen Buddhism. His works blended Zen philosophy with modern life, resonating with readers worldwide.

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All Buddhism Ifs People Mind World Enlightenment Meditation Yoga Way Rama Awareness Self Teacher Thinking Light Energy Enlightened Inspirational States Karma

Famous Frederick Lenz Quotes

“If we view the universe as other than what we are, we are everything we don't perceive.”

Ifs Universe Views Awareness Buddhism Perceive

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If you stay in the attention you are in, then you can predict everything that will happen to you for the rest of your life.”

Ifs Happens Attention Awareness Buddhism Karma Rest Of Your Life

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Your choices are really very limited. They are limited by your level of awareness. If you can change your level of awareness radically, then you can change your destiny.”

Ifs Choices Levels Destiny Awareness Buddhism Karma Our Destiny Your Destiny

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Each of is endlessly generating waves with our actions. If you could see the earth from a vibratory point of view, you would see something like radio waves billions of them, cascading constantly into very complex patterns all over the earth.”

Ifs Action Earth Views Awareness Buddhism Complexes Wave Patterns Radio Point Of View Billions Karma Our Actions Radio Waves

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If we put five people together, are there really five people? I don't think so, not in the world of magic. In the worlds of magic, there is only one being, reflecting itself in countless forms.”

People Ifs Thinking World Together Form Five Magic Awareness Buddhism Reflecting

Author:Frederick Lenz

“It's like looking at the sun, that's how infinity is. You can't look at it for too long or you dissolve. The bands of your attention break. But if you look at it in specific ways, you can become something or someone much more conscious.”

Ifs Way Looks Long Attention Break Sun Awareness Buddhism Band Conscious Infinity

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If your awareness was strong enough, you could change the fate of a whole world without ever leaving your room.”

Ifs World Enough Whole Strong Rooms Fate Awareness Buddhism Leaving Whole World Strong Enough Your Room

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Anyone has the ability, if they choose, to move to the higher end of the state of mind they are in. From that higher end, they can generate another state of mind.”

Ifs Mind Ends States Moving Ability Awareness Buddhism Higher State Of Mind

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If your parents were strong in one way and weak in another, you will be strong in the same way and weak in the same way. Even though you detest the weakness in them, you will find that you will do exactly the same things because they imprinted you.”

Ifs Way Strong Parent Awareness Buddhism Weakness Weak One Way Detest

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If you line everything up, just right, you walk through a doorway where the world as you know it collapses.”

Ifs Knows World Lines Walks Awareness Buddhism Collapse Doorways

Author:Frederick Lenz

“There is something to this fabric of life that is beautiful. If you find the world unpleasant, I don't think that is wisdom. That is a sign of a lack of wisdom.”

Ifs Thinking World Beautiful Humanity Buddhism Fabric Fabric Of Life

Author:Frederick Lenz

“We remember a few people who've been enlightened. We build churches and edifices in their name. But few people, if any, feel that they could ever be like that; and if that's how they feel - that's how it will be.”

People Ifs Feels Remember Humanity Names Church Buddhism Enlightened Edifice

Author:Frederick Lenz

“The constraints that humankind has set upon itself are so narrow, so rigid. If you don't wear your clothes one day, they'll lock you up. That's a pretty simple action.”

Ifs Action Humanity Simple Buddhism One Day Clothes Humankind Locks Constraints

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Who are these human beings anyway? They walk around, strut, fret, as if they owned the planet, or the goddamned universe. I mean, who do they really think they are?”

Ifs Thinking Humans Mean Humanity Universe Human Beings Walks Planets Buddhism

Author:Frederick Lenz

“You will always see, if this group is a highly evolved group or on the way up, a movement towards oneness.”

Ifs Way Humanity Groups Movement Buddhism Oneness

Author:Frederick Lenz

“A realistic recognition of the human condition is that it is corrupt beyond belief. What do you suppose would happen if the police all took a week off?”

Ifs Humans Happens Humanity Belief Week Conditions Buddhism Police Recognition Realistic Human Condition

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Humanity actually has the gall to feel they are more advanced than they were; technology somehow defines intelligence. If technology enables you to kill more people, that doesn't define intelligence. An intelligent species survives.”

People Ifs Feels Humanity Technology Buddhism Intelligent Species

Author:Frederick Lenz

“The 1990's will be a determining period of time for another cycle. If humanity during this time chooses to throw away a lot of the mirages and illusions it's fooled itself with, we will enter a very bright and golden age. It won't happen in one day.”

Ifs Happens Age Humanity Buddhism Periods One Day Illusion Golden Cycles Fooled Golden Age Mirages

Author:Frederick Lenz

“We live in the dark ages. If an intelligent society can destroy itself in large numbers and places the largest amount of revenues in instruments of destruction, it is certainly not an evolved society or an intelligent society.”

Ifs Age Humanity Dark Numbers Buddhism Amount Destruction Intelligent Instruments Revenue Dark Ages Large Numbers

Author:Frederick Lenz

“The planet earth is a sub-world, way below what's average, because if an enlightened being walked through New York City today, no one would see him or her. They wouldn't see the glow.”

Ifs World Way Today Earth Humanity Cities New York Planets Buddhism Average Enlightened New York City Planet Earth

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Slow down. Enjoy life. It's tough to slow down if your mind is going a million miles a second. It's tough to slow down if you think what these people do here matters.”

People Ifs Thinking Mind Matter Humanity Enjoy Millions Buddhism Mindfulness Tough Miles Enjoy Life Slow Down

Author:Frederick Lenz

“You do have an effect on the universe. If you think positive thoughts, if you are happy and progressive, then that energy affects everyone on the whole planet, in subtle ways, perhaps, but it does.”

Ifs Thinking Way Doe Whole Humanity Universe Energy Effects Planets Buddhism Subtle Progressive Positive Thoughts Think Positive Thinking Positive Thoughts

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Life is not a malfunction. It's beautiful. But if you do not see it that way, it's simply because your room needs cleaning.”

Ifs Way Needs Beautiful Happiness Life Is Rooms Buddhism Cleaning Your Room Malfunction

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Maybe if you stopped asking "why" all the time, you might be happy. Leave it alone, you know? Life is happy.”

Ifs Knows Might Happiness Life Is Buddhism Asking Asking Why

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Happiness comes from living in the moment, this moment, now, right here. If you are in obscure states of mind, you won't see what this moment is. You won't realize its beauty.”

Ifs Mind States Moments Happiness Realizing Buddhism State Of Mind Obscure Live In The Moment

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Nobody can make you happy but yourself. Things occupy us, people occupy us, but they don't make us happy. If we are honest, what makes us happy is to experience spirit.”

People Ifs Happiness Spirit Honest Buddhism Make You Happy

Author:Frederick Lenz

“You want to be happy; of course, that isn't how you get to be happy; because if you want to be happy, you are going to be sitting around being unhappy because you're not happy.”

Ifs Want Happiness Courses Buddhism Sitting Unhappy Not Happy Sitting Around Want To Be Happy Being Unhappy

Author:Frederick Lenz

“My god, life is beautiful! Look at the colors! if you are blind, look at the colors of your mind.”

Ifs Mind Looks Beautiful Happiness Life Is Color Buddhism Blind God Life Life Is Beautiful

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Happiness is separate from daily experience. If picking the right door on the game show makes you happy, then you will be unhappy in the future because eventually you will pick a wrong door.”

Ifs Shows Happiness Games Doors Buddhism Picks Unhappy Make You Happy Game Shows Daily Experience

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Let us say your wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend makes you happy. If they leave, you're bound to be unhappy. You are the slave of the thing that makes you happy. You are a junkie and human relationships can be expensive habits.”

Ifs Humans Happiness Wife Buddhism Habit Husband Slave Bounds Unhappy Girlfriend Expensive Make You Happy Human Relations Human Relationships Junkie

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Happiness is a state of mind. The key to happiness is being able to disconnect your life from your perceptions. If you saw things as they really were, you would be happy automatically.”

Ifs Mind States Would Be Able Happiness Saws Buddhism Keys Perception State Of Mind Key To Happiness

Author:Frederick Lenz

“The pathway to enlightenment is happiness. It doesn't really matter if you're successful, if you're in prison, if you're dying - if you have contact with light.”

Ifs Matter Light Happiness Successful Dying Buddhism Enlightenment Prison Contact Pathways

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Love is the only rule in self-discovery. If you've forgotten that rule, you've forgotten everything. It's not what you can get; it's what you can give.”

Ifs Giving Self Happiness Love Is Buddhism Discovery Forgotten Self Discovery

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Let the rain of unhappy and tragic experiences fall, as sometimes it inevitably must, even in the lives of the enlightened masters. If your mind has become one with nirvana, you will remain happy at all times.”

Ifs Mind Sometimes Happiness Fall Masters Buddhism Rain Unhappy All Time Tragic Enlightened

Book:Surfing the Himalayas: conversations and travels with Master Fwap

Source: Surfing the Himalayas: conversations and travels with Master Fwap

“Happiness is not the same as pleasure. Pleasure is an immediate experience, very transient in nature, that's enjoyable, and if we experience a great deal of it - there's a sense of satiation.”

Ifs Happiness Pleasure Deals Buddhism Enjoyable Transient Satiation

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Sometimes it is hard to see in life. If the fog rolls in we can't see anything. Most people get caught up in life that they forget the purpose of life is to be happy.”

People Ifs Sometimes Hard Happiness Life Is Purpose Forget Buddhism Caught Purpose Of Life Caught Up Fog

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Happiness is something that you don't postpone. If you are postponing happiness - it is something you will probably never experience much of.”

Ifs Happiness Buddhism Postponing

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Everything you do in meditation is amplified. If you meditate for five minutes with your complete mind focused on happiness, that is like focusing on happiness for several hours as you are walking around.”

Ifs Mind Happiness Hours Five Meditation Minutes Buddhism Walking Focused Five Minutes

Author:Frederick Lenz

“What we focus on we become. If you are just focusing on unhappy things, you will become unhappy. If you focus on happy states of mind, then it will grow in you.”

Ifs Mind States Happiness Grows Focus Buddhism Unhappy State Of Mind

Author:Frederick Lenz

“The fulfillment of desire does not necessarily make you happy because there is a satiation factor. You can get some apple pie and eat it. If this is what makes you happy, why not eat ten?”

Ifs Doe Happiness Desire Buddhism Ten Factors Fulfillment Apples Why Not Pie Make You Happy Apple Pie Satiation

Author:Frederick Lenz

“How can you possibly be happy if you think you're a person? Because we all know, just by definition, that people are definitely not happy because they take everything too seriously. They take themselves seriously.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Persons Happiness Buddhism Definitions Not Happy

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Happiness only comes when you let go of who you think you are. If you think you're wealthy and powerful and noble and truthful or horrible and demonic, whatever it may be, it's all a waste of time. Take it from the Zen Master. He knows.”

Ifs Thinking Knows May Happiness Powerful Masters Buddhism Letting Go Waste Noble Horrible Wealthy Wasting Time Truthful Demonic Zen Master

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If you are not as happy as you used to be, chances are you are not meditating properly. You may be trying to skip steps. You are using power incorrectly. Your motives are not pure. You don't vibrate quickly.”

Ifs Trying May Happiness Used Chance Steps Buddhism Pure Used To Be Motive Chances Are Meditating Skip Vibrate

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If you're a sniveler, a whiner, a complainer, you will never be happy. We all have that side. Get a little stoical and just take the pain.”

Ifs Littles Pain Happiness Sides Buddhism Complainers Whiners

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If we immerse ourselves in the ultimate good, we will have this silly smile on our face or perhaps just inside our hearts. That is what illumination is.”

Ifs Heart Happiness Faces Buddhism Ultimate Silly Illumination

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Plants can help you they have a very strong vibrational force. If you've made friends with several of them, they will come and aid you when you've reached that critical moment and you're at a crossroads of knowledge.”

Ifs Made Moments Helping Strong Force Nature Buddhism Plant Critical Aids Very Strong Crossroads Critical Moments

Author:Frederick Lenz

“I'm not speaking metaphorically, plants that you have in your house, or if you've ever made friends with a tree somewhere, there is a moment that these beings can aid you.”

Ifs Made Moments House Nature Tree Buddhism Plant Aids

Author:Frederick Lenz

“If you thrive on the city energy it is necessary to leave the city frequently and to walk in parks, to get away from people. You are more sensitive than you realize. Find a spot that makes you happy.”

People Ifs Energy Nature Realizing Walks Cities Buddhism Spots Sensitive Parks Thrive Get Away Make You Happy Walks In The Park

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Sex is life: The act of creation in pleasure, the loss of oneself in another, the coming together of opposites in a temporary union of yin and yang, that creates something other than either. What is life if not this?”

Ifs Together Sex Loss Pleasure Creation Buddhism Opposites Unions Oneself Sexuality Temporary Coming Together What Is Life Yang Yin And Yang

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Don't focus so much on your relationships. Have fun with them. Or if you don't have them, you don't want them, have fun with that.”

Ifs Want Fun Focus Buddhism Sexuality Having Fun Our Relationship

Author:Frederick Lenz

About the Author

Born: February 9, 1950
Died: April 12, 1998
Known for: Author
Quotes: 4397

Related Topics

Buddhism Ifs People Mind World Enlightenment Meditation Yoga Way Rama Awareness Self Teacher Thinking Light Energy Enlightened Inspirational States Karma

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Surfing the Himalayas: conversations and travels with Master FwapRelated source material

Surfing the Himalayas: A Spiritual AdventureRelated source material

Snowboarding to Nirvana: A NovelRelated source material

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