‘Even though our day-to-day activity is incomplete, without it there’s no Buddha’s mind, no Buddha’s enlightenment. If we don’t practice, Buddha’s enlightenment ended twenty-five hundred years ago. Because of our incomplete practice, right here at this Dharma position, Buddha’s enlightenment is here. Otherwise Buddha’s enlightenment is only recorded in the sutras.’ (The Mountains and Waters Sutra)
‘Each moment is a fresh moment that we can enact to the best of our ability. Each moment is another birth of continuous practice. This is living being-time. This is the shared being-time between ourselves and all beings. Again, this is not abstract. It must be enacted while we wait in line at the supermarket […]
‘Recently a woman came to see me with a difficulty in her life, which was that she was starting an affair with her husband’s best friend. She wanted me to take a position, but my response was the only one I can imagine: “Hm. Yeah. Ah. No kidding.” And there’s always “Wow.” I keep that […]
‘True home is not an object to acquire or item to check off a to-do list. Nor is it a marker of enlightenment. Our true home is in this moment, and this moment is passing and we are changing. If there were no change, none of us would have come into being. Home is a […]
‘Actually, if you are a Zen student, then you should be very– or you should be always alert. How to be alert is– alert is, as much as possible to– to be attentive to your surrounding, without having personal preference, or without being involved in your own feeling. That is very important point.’ (from the Suzuki […]
‘”It knows without touching things” [from Hongzhi’s Zazenshin]. Knowing, here, of course does not mean perception. For perception is of little measure. It does not mean understanding, for understanding is artificially constructed. Therefore, this knowing is not touching things. And not touching things is real knowing. Such knowing should not be measured as even universal knowledge. It […]
‘Practice letting go of your thoughts again and again until you taste very deeply what ego consciousness is.’ (The Light That Shines Through Infinity)
