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Top 30 Shinzen Young Quotes (2025 Update)

Shinzen Young Quote: “Ultimately, meditation can allow us to have happiness independent of conditions and that is one heck of an awesome claim.”

1. “Ultimately, meditation can allow us to have happiness independent of conditions and that is one heck of an awesome claim.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “The ultimate expression of meditation comes when we can feel all the pains of the world, experience them with mindfulness and equanimity so they dissolve into energy, and then recolor that energy and radiate it out as unconditional love, moment by moment, through every pore of our being.”

2. “The ultimate expression of meditation comes when we can feel all the pains of the world, experience them with mindfulness and equanimity so they dissolve into energy, and then recolor that energy and radiate it out as unconditional love, moment by moment, through every pore of our being.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Compassion is to share the pain without sharing the suffering.”

3. “Compassion is to share the pain without sharing the suffering.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “As long as something wants to arise, let it. As long as something wants to last, let it. As soon as something wants to pass, let it.”

4. “As long as something wants to arise, let it. As long as something wants to last, let it. As soon as something wants to pass, let it.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “It’s fine to sometimes use these archetypes as a conduit to get information from the depths, but I recommend that you mostly use them as a conduit to bring clarity and equanimity to the depths. Become fascinated with how they move, and less tripped out with what they mean.”

5. “It’s fine to sometimes use these archetypes as a conduit to get information from the depths, but I recommend that you mostly use them as a conduit to bring clarity and equanimity to the depths. Become fascinated with how they move, and less tripped out with what they mean.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Such a Zen dialogue is basically a contest, but it’s really an anti-contest. It’s a kind of reverse or paradoxical contest. It works like this: two people talk, and the first one who speaks from the ego loses. The one who wants to win is certainly going to lose.”

6. “Such a Zen dialogue is basically a contest, but it’s really an anti-contest. It’s a kind of reverse or paradoxical contest. It works like this: two people talk, and the first one who speaks from the ego loses. The one who wants to win is certainly going to lose.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “If you can’t be disciplined, be clever.”

7. “If you can’t be disciplined, be clever.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Creating a house of cards is difficult because one has to go against entropy to do so. Eliminating a house of cards is simple: just remove any one of the base cards and the house of cards spontaneously tumbles. That’s because the tumbling of the house of cards flows with entropy. Natural events tend to flow with entropy. If enlightenment is natural, it’s reasonable to assume that it flows with entropy. It’s more like collapsing a house of cards, less like having to build one.”

8. “Creating a house of cards is difficult because one has to go against entropy to do so. Eliminating a house of cards is simple: just remove any one of the base cards and the house of cards spontaneously tumbles. That’s because the tumbling of the house of cards flows with entropy. Natural events tend to flow with entropy. If enlightenment is natural, it’s reasonable to assume that it flows with entropy. It’s more like collapsing a house of cards, less like having to build one.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “In India, there is a word that means both “cessation” and “satisfaction” as a single linked concept. The word is nirvana.”

9. “In India, there is a word that means both “cessation” and “satisfaction” as a single linked concept. The word is nirvana.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “The medicine for that is to remember that the main goal in meditation is not to get to certain good states, but rather to eliminate what gets in the way of those good states. If you do that, those good states will be available any time you wish.”

10. “The medicine for that is to remember that the main goal in meditation is not to get to certain good states, but rather to eliminate what gets in the way of those good states. If you do that, those good states will be available any time you wish.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Is meditation really that valuable? Yes it is, because a person’s base level of concentration is, in a sense, the most valuable thing that they have. Anything a person may want will be more easily attained if they are functioning from a high level of effortless focus. The entire range of human endeavors relies on concentration, and if your base level of concentration is elevated through practice, it means that you can function from a continuous state of extraordinary focus every day.”

11. “Is meditation really that valuable? Yes it is, because a person’s base level of concentration is, in a sense, the most valuable thing that they have. Anything a person may want will be more easily attained if they are functioning from a high level of effortless focus. The entire range of human endeavors relies on concentration, and if your base level of concentration is elevated through practice, it means that you can function from a continuous state of extraordinary focus every day.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “It took me twenty years to hone my current definition of Gone.”

12. “It took me twenty years to hone my current definition of Gone.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Often meditation works this way: we measure its value in terms of the suffering that would have happened but didn’t – thanks to the fact that we have a practice.”

13. “Often meditation works this way: we measure its value in terms of the suffering that would have happened but didn’t – thanks to the fact that we have a practice.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Freedom should be manifested within clear ethical guidelines and an egalitarian feedback structure. Informed.”

14. “Freedom should be manifested within clear ethical guidelines and an egalitarian feedback structure. Informed.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Each day is peppered with a holy glow.”

15. “Each day is peppered with a holy glow.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “I learned that impermanence is not merely something that you experience in your sensory circuits. It also informs your motor circuits. It’s a kind of effortless energy that you can “ride on” in daily life. It imparts a bounce to your step, a flow to your voice, and a vibrancy to your creative thought. I also learned about the expansion-contraction paradigm for how consciousness works.”

16. “I learned that impermanence is not merely something that you experience in your sensory circuits. It also informs your motor circuits. It’s a kind of effortless energy that you can “ride on” in daily life. It imparts a bounce to your step, a flow to your voice, and a vibrancy to your creative thought. I also learned about the expansion-contraction paradigm for how consciousness works.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Five decades ago, some very kind people in Japan slipped me the secret: you can dramatically extend life – not by multiplying the number of your years, but by expanding the fullness of your moments.”

17. “Five decades ago, some very kind people in Japan slipped me the secret: you can dramatically extend life – not by multiplying the number of your years, but by expanding the fullness of your moments.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Most growth modalities – from nineteenth-century psychoanalysis to twentieth-century Scientology, and just about everything in between – share a common paradigm. It goes something like this: we store influences from the past in the subconscious, those influences inappropriately affect our behavior and perception in the present, and our job is to somehow remove those distorting influences.”

18. “Most growth modalities – from nineteenth-century psychoanalysis to twentieth-century Scientology, and just about everything in between – share a common paradigm. It goes something like this: we store influences from the past in the subconscious, those influences inappropriately affect our behavior and perception in the present, and our job is to somehow remove those distorting influences.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “He then said something even more mind-boggling. “As a general principle, any positive state that you experience within the context of silent sitting practice, you must try to attain in the midst of ordinary life.”

19. “He then said something even more mind-boggling. “As a general principle, any positive state that you experience within the context of silent sitting practice, you must try to attain in the midst of ordinary life.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Sometimes a person can become stunningly proficient with regard to certain dimensions of spiritual empowerment while under-emphasizing other aspects. In my way of thinking, the ultimate reason to experience liberation is to better serve others. And a sine qua non for effectively serving others is to be a decent person by the ordinary canons of society, or as my father would have put it, a mensch. Freedom should be manifested within clear ethical guidelines and an egalitarian feedback structure.”

20. “Sometimes a person can become stunningly proficient with regard to certain dimensions of spiritual empowerment while under-emphasizing other aspects. In my way of thinking, the ultimate reason to experience liberation is to better serve others. And a sine qua non for effectively serving others is to be a decent person by the ordinary canons of society, or as my father would have put it, a mensch. Freedom should be manifested within clear ethical guidelines and an egalitarian feedback structure.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “You forget about all those things – you’re just dominated by the vanishing-ness of things. It’s just Gone, Gone, Gone. That, once again, leads to a figure-ground reversal. You are about to become Gone. Good, go with that.”

21. “You forget about all those things – you’re just dominated by the vanishing-ness of things. It’s just Gone, Gone, Gone. That, once again, leads to a figure-ground reversal. You are about to become Gone. Good, go with that.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “You simply notice which part of your void-triggered bum-out is emotional body sensation, which part is mental images, and which part is mental talk. Keep those clearly delineated.”

22. “You simply notice which part of your void-triggered bum-out is emotional body sensation, which part is mental images, and which part is mental talk. Keep those clearly delineated.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “There is one possible negative effect from working with vanishing and the related themes of emptiness and no self. In extreme cases, the sense of Goneness, emptiness, and no self may be so intense that it creates disorientation, terror, paralysis, aversion, or hopelessness. Unpleasant reactions such as these are well documented.”

23. “There is one possible negative effect from working with vanishing and the related themes of emptiness and no self. In extreme cases, the sense of Goneness, emptiness, and no self may be so intense that it creates disorientation, terror, paralysis, aversion, or hopelessness. Unpleasant reactions such as these are well documented.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Today’s enlightenment is tomorrows mistake.”

24. “Today’s enlightenment is tomorrows mistake.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “The Tibetans have an exclamatory cry reserved just for when that window opens. The cry is Emaho! which might be loosely rendered “Oh my God! Who would have thought it’s this simple!”

25. “The Tibetans have an exclamatory cry reserved just for when that window opens. The cry is Emaho! which might be loosely rendered “Oh my God! Who would have thought it’s this simple!”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “The relative rest states – a blank mental screen, a defocused external gaze, physical relaxation, emotional neutrality, physical silence, mental quiet – may begin to pervade your sensory experience as the result of noticing vanishings.”

26. “The relative rest states – a blank mental screen, a defocused external gaze, physical relaxation, emotional neutrality, physical silence, mental quiet – may begin to pervade your sensory experience as the result of noticing vanishings.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “There are two reasons why I currently teach within the framework of mindfulness. The first is that mindfulness is the least culture-bound of the three Buddhist practice traditions. It is relatively easy to extract it from the cultural and doctrinal matrix within which it arose and to present it as an evidence-based, secular, and culturally neutral process. The second reason is that the general method of mindfulness shares some features with the general method of modern science. I.”

27. “There are two reasons why I currently teach within the framework of mindfulness. The first is that mindfulness is the least culture-bound of the three Buddhist practice traditions. It is relatively easy to extract it from the cultural and doctrinal matrix within which it arose and to present it as an evidence-based, secular, and culturally neutral process. The second reason is that the general method of mindfulness shares some features with the general method of modern science. I.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “They made a profound impression on me. I sensed that they knew about some sort of “secret sauce,” a way to be deeply happy regardless of conditions. And I sensed that they would willingly share it with me but would never force it upon me. I would have to take the initiative if I wanted to experience it for myself.”

28. “They made a profound impression on me. I sensed that they knew about some sort of “secret sauce,” a way to be deeply happy regardless of conditions. And I sensed that they would willingly share it with me but would never force it upon me. I would have to take the initiative if I wanted to experience it for myself.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “On one hand, deeper and deeper meditative states become available. On the other, you are able to maintain those states throughout more and more complex activities of life. We might refer to the first dimension of growth as depth and the second dimension of growth as breadth.”

29. “On one hand, deeper and deeper meditative states become available. On the other, you are able to maintain those states throughout more and more complex activities of life. We might refer to the first dimension of growth as depth and the second dimension of growth as breadth.”

— Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young Quote: “Prior to that, the things I had read about in my Buddhist studies seemed to me to be nothing but mythological ruminations and philosophical conjectures, elaborated by scholars with too much time on their hands. Now, for the first time, I realized that they were not just concocting speculations. They were trying to describe something that human beings actually experience. After a couple of weeks, the experience faded into a pleasant memory, but it left me with a permanent intellectual shift.”

30. “Prior to that, the things I had read about in my Buddhist studies seemed to me to be nothing but mythological ruminations and philosophical conjectures, elaborated by scholars with too much time on their hands. Now, for the first time, I realized that they were not just concocting speculations. They were trying to describe something that human beings actually experience. After a couple of weeks, the experience faded into a pleasant memory, but it left me with a permanent intellectual shift.”

— Shinzen Young

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