Meditation Off the Cushion

Cooks enact the Buddhist Way by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.

~Eihei Dogen

Hua Yen

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

~Hakuin

The Way

Since ancient times, these words have been spoken in both India and the deva world: "One who falls to the ground uses the ground to stand up. One who ignores the ground and tries to stand cannot." The meaning is that those who fall down on the earth stand up on the earth; it is impossible to get up without using the earth.

Some people interpret this as great enlightenment, which is the desirable way to become free from body and mind. Thus, when being asked how buddhas attain the way, they say that it is like those who fall to the ground and use the ground to stand up.

 ~Eihei Dogen 

Zen

A student once asked Zen Master Seon Nakagawa, " I'm very discouraged. What should I do?"

The Master answered his student, "Encourage others." 

Zen in America

Americans in general are lovers of freedom and equality; for this reason, they make natural Zen students. There are eight aspects of American life and character that make America fertile ground for Zen:

American philosophy is practical.

American life does not cling to formality.

The majority of Americans are optimists.

Americans love nature.

They are capable of simple living, being both practical and efficient.

Americans consider true happiness to lie in universal brotherhood.

The American conception of ethics is rooted in individual morality.

Americans are rational thinkers.

~Nyogen Senzaki, in the first half of the 20th century

Zen

Zen is not a puzzle. It cannot be solved by wit. It is spiritual food for those who want to learn what life is and what our mission is.

~Nyogen Senzaki

Knowing Enlightenment

If we were to divide zazen into two parts, practice and experience, we could consider each part separately. We could say that we practice in order to achieve enlightenment. But your perceptions cannot be the standard of enlightenment, because deluded human sentiment cannot reach the standard of enlightenment. Basically, you cannot know your own enlightenment because whatever you call enlightenment can't be enlightenment.

~Master Dogen, as translated (paraphrased) by Brad Warner

The Buddha Way

Without practice, the buddha way cannot be attained.

Without study, it remains remote.

                                                                         ~Dogen

Seek Nothing Else

There is a simple way to become a buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Seek nothing else.

~Dogen

Live Life

Singing and dancing are the voice of the Dharma.

                                                                  ~Hakuin

The Thought of Buddhas For Sentient Beings

All Buddhas' compassion and sympathy for sentient beings are neither for their own sake nor for others. It is just the nature of Buddha-Dharma.

Isn't it apparent that insects and animals nurture their offspring, exhausting themselves with painful labors, yet in the end have no reward when their offspring are grown? In this way, the compassion of small creatures for their offspring naturally resembles the thought of all Buddhas for sentient beings.

~Zen Master Dogen

Buddhas

Buddhas are made,


                                   not born.


                                                                                                       ~Zen Master Ikkyu

Wordless Understanding

A perception, sudden as blinking,
that subjects and objects are one,
will lead to a deep mysterious wordless understanding;
and by this understanding
will you awake to the truth of Zen.

                                                    ~Zen Master Huang Po

Love Letters

Every day, priests minutely examine the law
and endlessly chant profound sutras.
Before this, though, they should first
read the love letters sent by the Wind and the Rain,
the Snow and the Moon.

                                                    ~Zen Master Ikkyu

Understanding is Freedom

We are imprisoned by our ideas of good and evil.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Gender Equality

Before becoming free from delusion, men and women are equally not free from delusion. At the time of becoming free from delusion and realizing the truth, there is no difference between men and women.

~Master Dogen

Enlightenment

If you speak of "achieving enlightenment," you may think that you don't usually have enlightenment. If you say, "Enlightenment comes," you may wonder where it comes from. If you say, "I have become enlightenment," you may suppos that enlightenment has a beginning.

~Master Dogen

A Zen Poem

All worries and troubles
    have gone from my breast
and I play joyfully
    far from the world
For a person of Zen
    no limits exist
The blue sky must feel
    ashamed to be so small

                                ~Muso Soseki

On Zen

There is a reality even prior to heaven and earth;
Indeed, it has no form, much less a name;
Eyes fail to see it;
It has no voice for ears to detect;
To call it Mind or Buddha violates its nature,
For it then becomes like a visionary flower in the air;
It is not Mind, nor Buddha;
Absolutely quiet, and yet illuminating in a mysterious way,
It allows itself to be perceived only by the clear-eyes.
It is Dharma truly beyond form and sound;
It is Tao having nothing to do with words.

                                                              ---Dai-o Kokushi---