Tahui
‘This Mind can put names on everything, but nothing can put a name on it’ (Swampland Flowers)
Month: April 2018
Dogen
The true person is Not anyone in particular; But, like the deep blue color Of the limitless sky, It is everyone, everywhere in the world.
Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
‘Multiplicity in oneness does not mean that preferences, opinions, likes, dislikes, or even hate cease to be present. Everything is here. Challenges arise when we cling to one extreme among multiplicities, unwilling to acknowledge the presence of difference. It isn’t always necessary to engage that difference, but giving it an “inner bow” allows us to […]
Shodo Harada
‘In Zen we do not compliment and flatter and build someone up. In Zen we teach the student to do what has to be done.’ (The Path to Bodhidharma) I can think of a number of old zen stories where the teacher has refused to flatter an important person who was looking for the teaching, and […]
Suzuki Roshi
‘You may think that you are very warm-hearted, but when you try to understand how warm, you cannot actually measure. Yet when you see yourself with a warm feeling in the mirror or the water, that is actually you. And whatever you do, you are there.’ (Not Always So) Although this comes from a different chapter […]
Uchiyama Roshi
‘Reality itself exists before we divide and name delusion and enlightenment. We are practicing this reality right here and right now.’ (Commentary on The Wholehearted Way) Uchiyama is echoing another contemporary Japanese master who I quoted on Saturday.
Dogen
‘Here is a story. An ancient raised a fan and said, “Even though this has a thousand kinds of uses, after all there are not two types of wind.” The teacher Dogen said: I, Kosho, am not like this. Even though it has a thousand kinds of uses, I further see ten thousand types of […]
