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Quote by Mehmet Murat Ildan

“Student: When looking at a perfect mountain view, I see a mountain, but my friend sees God! What is the reason for this, master? Master: What do you see when you look at me? Student: Of course I see you, master! Master: Okay, so there's nothing wrong with your eyes! But recommend a pair of glasses to your friend!”

Quote by Mehmet Murat Ildan

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Mehmet Murat Ildan
Mehmet Murat Ildan

Mehmet Murat Ildan is a renowned Turkish writer born on May 16, 1965. His works span various literary forms including novels, essays, and poetry, and have gained widespread popularity among readers. more

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“Student: Master, I did exactly as you said, climbed the stairs, wandered through narrow streets, talked to many different people, read books, but still did not gain wisdom! Master: Oh yeah, then do the opposite of what I said, maybe it will work! Student: You're mocking me, master! Master: No! If one path did not lead you to success, you will try another path, that's what I'm telling you!”

Mehmet Murat Ildan QuotesZenZen StoriesZen StoryZen Quotes
Author:Mehmet Murat Ildan
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“As I read deeper in the Zen poets, I soon stumbled upon Ikkyū, the fifteenth-century sword-wielding monk of Daitokuji, who had entered a temple at the age of six and gone on to express his contempt for the corrupt monasteries of his time in famously controversial poems. Like the Sixth Dalai Lama, in his way, Ikkyū had been a patron - and a laureate - of the local taverns, and of the pretty girls he had found therein; and like his Tibetan counterpart, or John Donne in our own tradition, he had deliberately conflated the terms of earthly love with those of devotion to the Absolute. The very name he gave himself, "Crazy Cloud", had played subversively on the fact that "cloud water" was a traditional term for monks, who wandered without trace, yet "cloud rain" was a conventional idiom for the act of love. His image of the "red thread" ran through the austere surroundings of his poems as shockingly as the scarlet peonies of Akiko. And in his refusal to kowtow to convention, the maverick monk had turned every certainty on its head: whores, he said, could be like ideal monks - since they inhabited the ideal Zen state of "no min" - while monks, in selling themselves for gold brocade, were scarcely different from whores. Many of his verses trembled with this ambiguity. One couplet, taken one way, was translated as "Making distinctions between good and evil, the monk's skill lies in knowing the essential condition of the Buddha and the Devil"; taken another way, it meant: "That girl is no good, this one will do; the monk's skill is in having the appetite of a devilish Buddha.”

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Book:The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto
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“While there is nothing wrong with thinking big and chasing your dreams, it is also sad when you realize that most of us tend to forget how to “live in the moment.” We become so overwhelmed by our own thoughts and feelings of the past and the future that we forget all about how precious the present is.”

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Book:Zen: The Secrets You Need to Know to Achieve the Zen Mindset and Happiness in Life
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