“To me Zen is a communal practice of individual deep inquiry.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“In his earlier writings Dōgen is adamant that Zen practice and realization is available to anyone, regardless of whether they are monastics or laypeople, male or female, old or young, clever or stupid. He was extremely progressive in his attitude toward women, which in Japan is woefully behind the egalitarian ideals of the West, even today. Yet in his later writings Dōgen seems to have changed his mind and started to believe that only temple-bound monks — male and female, so at least he didn't change his mind about that part — could possibly attain the Buddhist truth.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“Trying to understand the meaning of life in terms of the human brain's activities is like trying to understand the ocean by going to the shore and scooping out a bucket of water and analyzing it.”
Source: There Is No God and He Is Always with You: A Search for God in Odd Places
“Much of the contemporary American atheistic movement seems to be treating atheism like a new kind of religion. ... It's just that some atheists are so damn evangelical about their nonreligion they might as well be ringing doorbells and handing out leaflets.”
Source: There Is No God and He Is Always with You: A Search for God in Odd Places
“The Buddha was not full of shit when he said the cause of suffering could be uprooted and that you can put an end to it once and for all. There is a way out of this mess humanity has found itself in. It’s just that the answer to the cause of suffering — and the way to end it — are nothing at all like what you think they are or imagine they should be.”
Source: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma
“At every moment of every day, no matter how I feel about the situation, whether it is mind-blowingly thrilling or completely brain-numbing, I am the totality of the universe experiencing the fullness of itself. Even if I don't notice it.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“We are both individuals and expressions of the universe. These are not mutually exclusive.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“Keeping the precepts and observing pure moral conduct is the habit of Buddhists. But even those who haven’t formally received the precepts or have broken them can benefit from doing zazen.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“Zazen is a physical practice as much as it a mental one.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“When I teach zazen I often tell people that it’s kind of like a yoga class where there is only one posture and you hold it for a very long time.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“A quiet room is best for zazen. We shouldn’t eat or drink too much, or too little. Put aside everything else. Don’t think of good or bad. Don’t judge your practice. Stop ruminating and deliberating about stuff. Don’t try to become a Buddha.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“People always get worried about whether they’re doing zazen right. But basically if you’re doing it at all, you’re probably doing it right — even if your thoughts won’t stop, even if you’re sleepy or irritable, even if it just feels boring.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“One funny thing about zazen is that, unlike most other forms of meditation, we keep our eyes open. This is a way of acknowledging the outside world as part of our practice and as a part of us. If we close our eyes and shut out the outside world, we get a little unbalanced. We can start to believe that what we are is limited to that which is enveloped in what Dōgen likes to call our “skin bag.” Or, conversely, the lack of visual input leads us deeper into the world of our own fantasies and abstractions. By opening our eyes, we are letting in that light that Dōgen says we should shine inward. So although we are shining our light inward, we also accept that there is no hard line that divides ourselves from the outside world, or the rest of the universe.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“In zazen we practice the oneness of reality.”
Source: Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“The very sense of wondering is God wondering.”
Source: There Is No God and He Is Always with You: A Search for God in Odd Places
“Here is what one sexual abuse survivor told me about his practice:
"I tend to go into these four-day funks of self- destruction. My therapist showed me a diagram with baseline emotions for people who have not suffered trauma, and superimposed over it a diagram of baseline emotions for pople who have. Apparently people who have suffered severe traume build neuropathways that lead them to predict traumatic events and then react to them, even if they aren't happening, and the fucks people up their entire lives. She believes it's my yoga practice and daily zazen that keeps my funks to four, maybe five days, instead of lasting for months, or even years. She went on to explain a bit about neurogenesis and studies being done right now about building new neuropathways. I think zazen is beneficial for trauma survivors because it instills in them enough calm and insight to not react in ways that have long-term self-destructive effects. On top of which it builds new neuropathways, rewiring conditioned reactions to trauma, both real and imaginary."
We human beings generally subject our brains to a lot of abuse. WE create neural pathways where they are not needed by constantly rehashing pleasurable or painful experiences in order to more fully develop our sense of self.”
Source: Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything In Between
“This is always and inevitably the case. No one gets away with murder. No one gets away with anything. You can't escape the consequences of your immoral acts any more than someone who drops a big-ass amp directly on his foot can escape having broken toe-bones. Your life and the life of everyone else in the universe are one seamless whole. To cause another living being pain isn't evil-it's just stupid. Because that being is you.”
Source: Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality
“Real morality is based on a single criterion: right action, appropriate action, in the present moment and present situation.”
Source: Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality
“Buddhists have a long-standing tradition of believing that at some level we always know what the best course of action is in any given situation. We just have to be quiet enough to let that course of action present itself to us. And we need the confidence to act when life shows us what we need to do.”
Source: Sex, Sin, and Zen: Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between
“the only real time as far as Buddhism is concerned is right now. Right now there is no old age or death because old age and death are descriptions of things as they are now when we compare them to things as they used to be.”
Source: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma
“Zen practice is about not getting high on anything and in so doing getting high on absolutely everything. We then find that everything we encounter - bliss or nonbliss - possesses a tremendous depth and beauty that we usually miss.”
Source: Sex, Sin, and Zen: Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between
“True nonattachment is understanding that you are fundamentally attached to everything and, through that understanding, dropping your attachment to the view that you are detached from that which you encounter. At the same time, real nonattachment means not clinging to things or people. It means dropping the idea that if you don't have this or if you can't get that, your life will be a catastrophe.”
“The real goal of Zen is to find a way of life that's easy and undramatic. Strong attachments lead to upset and drama.”
Source: Sex, Sin, and Zen: Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between
“Leaving home' to me means adopting the attitude that the pursuit of the truth is more vital than the pursuit of what society — your home — tells you is important.”
Source: Sex, Sin, and Zen: Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between
“Zazen isn't about blissing out or going into an alpha brain-wave trance. It's about facing who and what you really are, in every single goddamn moment. And you aren't bliss, I'll tell you that right now. You're a mess. We all are.”
Source: Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality
“Buddhism doesn't promise to fulfill our desires. Instead it says, 'You feel unfulfilled? That's okay. That's normal. Everybody feels unfulfilled. You will always feel unfulfilled. There is no problem with feeling unfulfilled. In fact, if you learn to see it the right way, that very lack of fulfillment is the greatest thing you can ever experience.' This is the realistic outlook.”
Source: Sex, Sin, and Zen: Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between
“Buddhism is all about finding your own way, not imitating the ways of others or even the ways of Buddha himself.”
Source: Sex, Sin, and Zen: Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between
“Do what you do as well as you possibly can. That's Buddhist morality.”
Source: Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality
“Everything you have, whether it's money or stuff, is an obligation. It is as much your duty to care for and nurture any object you own as it would be if that object were your child. All possessions come with responsibilities. More possessions equals greater responsibility.”
Source: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma
“You can't live in paradise—but you are living right here. Make this your paradise or make this your hell. The choice is entirely yours. Really.”
Source: Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality
“we ourselves are not something apart from our circumstances. What we are and where we are are one and the same.”
“Compassion is the ability to see what needs doing right now and the willingness to do it right now.”
Source: Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality
“It may look like we're doing nothing when we sit zazen. But actually we are exposing ourselves to ourselves.”
Source: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma
“The problem is the way we let our desires stand in the way of our enjoyment of what we already have.”
Source: Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality
“Those who hope for purity and righteousness always try and destroy that which disturbs them. They think the disturbance comes from outside themselves. This is a serious problem. Wars, suicide bombings, and all sorts of other nasty things start from the premise that we can destroy 'evil' outside ourselves without dealing with the evil within.”
Source: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma
“Just know that your expectations are only thoughts in your head, and keep on doing what you do.”
Source: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma
“No matter what we predict for our futures, we're always wrong anyway. The only sensible thing to do is to live this life as it is right now. Leave what happens after you die till after you die.”
Source: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma
“Your role is to do and say the things that need to be done and said from your unique perspective.”
Source: Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma
“The truth comes when you can see that your self-image is just a convenient reference point and nothing more, and that you as you had imagined yourself do not exist.”
Source: Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality
“Since then, my approach to all things spiritual is rather cynical you could say. When somebody present something to me as spiritual, my first instinct is to be cynical and think, "oh yeah, one of those again." You see so much of it see in "spiritual culture" and people get very excited about it. It's all very "hoo haw."”
“So I'm skeptical and cynical about the whole thing and it's only if something seems to be genuine that I would pursue it. That's why I've stuck with Zen for so long and not gone on to some other path with it.”
“What attracted me to Zen was my first teacher, Tim McCarthy. He was extremely genuine. It wasn't even really a Zen thing, that sort of came along later.”
“So I was first exposed to this guy Tim McCarthy, and he's talking about Zen, but deeper than that he was a genuine person. I thought maybe he's someone I can trust and follow this thing he's talking about all the time.”
“I guess what attracted me about the philosophy aspect was that it was realistic. It didn't go off into the realm of imagination land, which I find a lot of religious teachings, actually almost every religious teaching does. I keep meaning to write this up as a blog post, but lately, while driving in my car I've been listening to a religious station that comes on out of Cleveland from the Moody Bible Institute.”
“There's fantasies about what heaven is like and who Satan is and why you shouldn't masturbate or why you should vote Republican. It's funny because it's an election year and their news broadcasts are constantly talking about "Vote Republican". I think that they think they're being subtle about it, but that's definitely not the case. So I'm like, "What does this have anything to do with the nice advice you were giving about how to live your life, how to get along with your spouse etc?"”
“So what I liked about Zen was that it never goes off into the realm of imagination land, or if it does occasionally, the good teachers will openly address it specifically as only imagination. Both of my teachers were very good at that.”
“At times, Zen does get into some Buddhist Cosmology. Nishijima Roshi, my main teacher would talk about that and almost every time immediately say that it was only one way of looking at it. Whenever addressing realms of Heaven or Hell, he'd also address that it was just a psychological state.”
“I was very attracted to the way that Zen did not go into the imagination land. And now I've forgotten what your first question was and how we were going to tie this together.”
“I guess that all figures into my approach because once I start hearing the imagination land stuff (that's my new phrase now I guess) I tend to tune out or start laughing at it like, "Haha, you guys really believe there is a heaven."”
“It's crazy to me how concerned people get with what it looks like and what you can do there. People may as well be talking about JRR Tolkien or Star Trek or something.”
