"Arouse your entire body with its three hundred and sixty bones and joints and its eighty-four thousand pores of the skin. Summon up a spirit of great doubt and concentrate on this word 'mu'. In order to do so, hold to the problem from morning to night without letting it go even for one second, and become one with the word 'mu' (void) with all your strength." (Mumon Ekai, "The Gateless Gate" ["Mumonkan"], 1228)
"[Nansen:] The Way is not a matter of knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion; not knowing is confusion. When you have really reached the true Way beyond doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as space. How can it be talked about on the level of right and wrong?" " (Mumon Ekai, "The Gateless Gate" ["Mumonkan"], 1228)
"It cannot be helped that your thoughts arise and perish. Doubt your own mind thoroughly in accord with your thought. It is in order to be aware of the truth of being that you doubt profoundly. When you try to know what is unknown, your wandering mind will lose its way, and you will be at a loss. It is then that you are said to be in zazen. They say that to doubt in this way is kufu. In kufu you are to doubt thoroughly, whether you are on your feet or not, and whether you are asleep or awake, for you are well aware of your own unenlightenment." (Bankei Yōtaku, "Dharma words" ["Kana Hogo"], 14th century)
"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties." (Sir Francis Bacon, "The Advancement of Learning", 1605)
"No doubt you see the sword about to strike you, but do not let your mind 'stop' there. Have no intention to counterattack him in response to his threatening move, cherish no calculating thoughts whatsoever. You simply perceive the opponent’s move, you do not allow your mind to 'stop' with it, you move on just as you are toward the opponent and make use of his attack by turning it on to himself. Then his sword meant to kill you will become your own and the weapon will fall on the opponent himself." (Takuan Soho, "Fudōchi Shinmyōroku" ["The Unfettered Mind"], cca. 1630)
"[…] first, you should concentrate on the principle of life and death, with an unbending will, without doubt or hesitation, using neither cleverness nor calculation; if you can keep your mind calm, dignified and free in its normal state, you can respond without constraint even to constantly changing conditions." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)
"True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance." (Robert Dodsley, "The Œconomy of Human Life", 1750) [attributed to Akhenaton)
"There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience." (Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 1781)
"Genuine insight into one's True Nature only emerges in the midst of Great Doubt and Great Faith; it is not the result of accumulated learning and discrimination. When the time is ripe, it appears of itself. Following this ripening process step by step is the purpose of this book. It is relatively easy to accomplish the important matter of insight into one's True Nature, but uncommonly difficult to function freely and clearly (according to this understanding), in motion and in rest, in good and in adverse circumstances. Please make strenuous and vigorous efforts towards this end, otherwise all the teachings of Buddha and patriarchs become mere empty words, rather than the living Dharma. Tread the path of sincere practice with uninterrupted concentration, and once things have become clear, then it is the time to take up and penetrate the sayings (of the Sutras and Masters)." (Torei Enji, "The Inexhaustible Lamp" ["Shumon Mujinto Ron"], cca. 1800)
"Knowing is possible only when one knows little. As one comes to experience more, one gets gradually assailed by doubts. [...] No phenomenon can be explained, taken merely by itself. Only many, surveyed in their connection, and methodically arranged, finally yield something that can pass for theory." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1828)
"That calmness of mind, that serenity of temper, that composure and quietness of demeanor, which are the first essentials of Cha-no-yu, are without doubt the first conditions of right thinking and right feeling. The scrupulous cleanliness of the little room, shut off from sight and sound of the madding crowd, is in itself conducive to direct one’s thoughts from the world." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)
"Passion is always a mystery and unaccountable, and unfortunately there is no doubt that life does not spare its purest children and often it is just the most deserving people who cannot help loving those that destroy them." ("Hermann Hesse, "Gertrude", 1910)
"When we raise ourselves through meditation to what unites us with the spirit, we quicken something within us that is eternal and unlimited by birth and death. Once we have experienced this eternal part in us, we can no longer doubt its existence. Meditation is thus the way to knowing and beholding the eternal, indestructible, essential center of our being." (Rudolf Steiner, 1923)
"We want to have certainties and no doubts - results and no experiments - without even seeing that certainties can arise only through doubt and results only thorough experiment." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)
"Everyone has the right to doubt everything as often as he pleases and the duty to do it at least once. No way of looking at things is too sacred to be reconsidered. No way of doing things is beyond improvement." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970)
"Meditation is like going to the bottom of the sea, where everything is calm and tranquil. On the surface of the sea there may be a multitude of waves but the sea is not affected below. In its deepest depths, the sea is all silence. When we start meditating, first we try to reach our own inner existence, our true existence- that is to say, the bottom of the sea. Then when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt, worry and all the earthly turmoils just wash away, because inside us is solid peace. Thoughts cannot touch us, because our mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. Like fish in the sea, they jump and swim but leave no mark. When we are in our highest meditation, we feel that we are the sea, and the animals in the sea cannot affect us. We feel that we are the sky, and all the birds flying past cannot affect us. Our mind is the sky and our heart is the infinite sea. This is meditation." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose,"Child's Heart and a Child's Dreams", 1986)
"When you cease doubting, you have stopped moving forward." (Paulo Coelho, "Brida", 1990)
"Nothing is so uncertain as one 's own common sense or knowledge. Regardless of one's fragile knowledge one must single-mindedly devote oneself to training, especially in times of doubt." (Masaaki Hatsumi, "Essence of Ninjutsu: The Nine Traditions", 1998)
"Do not doubt your own basic goodness. In spite of all confusion and fear, you are born with a heart that knows what is just, loving, and beautiful." (Jack Kornfield, "The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace", 2002)
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