“Zen is not some fancy, special art of living. Our teaching is just to live, always in reality, in its exact sense. To make our effort, moment after moment, is our way. In an exact sense, the only thing we actually can study in our life is that on which we are working in each moment. We cannot even study Buddha’s words.”
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“So we should be concentrated with our full mind and body on what we do; and we should be faithful, subjectively and objectively, to ourselves, and especially to our feelings. Even when you do not feel so well, it is better to express how you feel without any particular attachment or intention. So you may say, “Oh, I am sorry, I do not feel well.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Earth, mountains, rivers, hidden in this nothingness.
In this nothingness, earth, mountains, rivers revealed.
Spring flowers, winter snows.
There's no being or non-being, nor denial itself.”
“Travel is such a wonderful experience! Especially when you forget you are traveling. Then you will enjoy whatever you see and do. Those who look into themselves when they travel will not think about what they see. In fact, there is no distinction between the viewer and the seen. You experience everything with the totality of yourself, so that every blade of grass, every mountain, every lake is alive and is a part of you. When there is no division between you and what is other, this is the ultimate experience of traveling.”
Source: Lieh-tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living
“Zen is magic. It gives you the key to open the miraculous. And the miraculous is in you and the key is also in you.”
Source: Zen: The Path of Paradox
“Before I could turn to look up, a voice boomed from the heavens: "What the heck is going on down there?”
Source: Rip Tide
“14. Muddy Road
Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling.
Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unble to cross the intersection.
"Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carriedher over the mud.
Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he could no longer restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"
"I left the girl there," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?”
Source: Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection Of Zen And Pre-Zen Writings
“Do not seek for the truth, only stop having an opinion.”
“A pity it is evening, yet
I do love the water of this spring
seeing how clear it is, how clean;
rays of sunset gleam on it,
lighting up its ripples, making it
one with those who travel
the roads; I turn and face
the moon; sing it a song, then
listen to the sound of the wind
amongst the pines.”
“I must go there today -
Tomorrow the plum blossoms
Will scatter.”
Source: Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems of Ryokan
“Heart-Mind, left to its natural state, is vast as a panorama of Nature.”
Source: The School of Soft Attention