Q0307

Mazu Daoyi

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Ordinary mind is the Way.
Thinker Mazu Daoyi
School Zen Buddhism
Source Record of Mazu
Theme Self
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Record of Mazu, within the tradition of Zen Buddhism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of self, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Mazu Daoyi's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Mazu Daoyi. (n.d.). Ordinary mind is the Way. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0307

MLA: Mazu Daoyi. “Ordinary mind is the Way..” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0307.

Chicago: Mazu Daoyi. “Ordinary mind is the Way..” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0307.

Same theme

More on self

  1. A friend is another self.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. I searched for myself.
  4. It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
  5. Claim yourself for yourself.

Browse the self theme