八風吹不動 is an ancient Buddhist phrase from about 1000 years ago.

Literal meaning: “The Eight Winds cannot move [me].”

The original famous anecdote is from Song Dynasty China, involving the poet-official 蘇東坡 (Su Dongpo / Su Shi, 1037–1101) and Zen master 佛印 (Foyin).

Su Dongpo wrote 八風吹不動，一屁打過江
“The Eight Winds cannot move me; Yet one fart blows me across the river.”

Foyin’s irreverent reply exposed Su Dongpo’s ego, which is kind of a classic Zen/Chan teaching story.

There is a shorter Japanese Zen version, 八風不動, which drops the middle character. Often romanized as happū fudō. The romanization of 八風吹不動 is arguably happū fukedomo ugokazu or happū sui fudō.

八風不動 is the short version, popularized in Japanese Zen Buddhism, of the original Chinese phrase 八風吹不動.

Literal meaning: “Unmoved by the Eight Winds”

The origin is Chinese, but it was later adopted into Japanese Zen. Here’s a little backstory:

The original famous anecdote is from Song Dynasty China, involving the poet-official 蘇東坡 (Su Dongpo / Su Shi, 1037–1101) and Zen master 佛印 (Foyin).

Su Dongpo wrote 八風吹不動，一屁打過江
“The Eight Winds cannot move me; Yet one fart blows me across the river.”

Foyin’s irreverent reply exposed Su Dongpo’s ego, which is kind of a classic Zen teaching story.

不怕风浪大就怕桨不齐 is a Chinese proverb that literally translates as: Do not fear strong winds [and] high waves; what [one should] worry about whether or not you're rowing in unison.

Figuratively, this means: However difficult the task, the key to success lies in making collective efforts.

I like to translate this as “Don't sweat the details, just get together and get it done.”

風雲變幻 is a Chinese proverb that means “wind of change” or “changeable situation.”

The first character, 風, means wind, but when combined with the second character, 風雲, you have weather, winds and clouds, nature, or the elements. Colloquially, this can refer to an unstable situation or state of affairs.

The last two characters, 變幻, mean change or fluctuate.