Week 2021-04: Bankei Yōtaku - Collected Quotes

"An enlightened awareness is within each one of us, right at this moment.
This enlightened awareness is truly unborn and marvellously illuminating; and everything is perfectly managed by it.
Conclusively realise that what is unborn and illuminating is truly awakened and without effort,
rest naturally as the Unborn Mind.
Resting in this way, you are a living Buddha." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"But when you try to stop your rising anger, [your mind] is split between your angry thoughts and your thoughts of stopping them. It’s as if you’re chasing after someone who is running away, except that you’re both the runner and the one pursuing him as well! [...] So the idea of trying to stop [your thoughts] is wrong. Since that’s how it is, when you no longer bother about those rising thoughts, not trying either to stop them or not to stop them, that’s the Unborn Buddha Mind." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"Deep down, fundamentally, we are the 'unborn'. We never came into being and we never go out of being. All of these coming and goings are just pulses in the pattern." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"Don't hate the arising of thoughts or stop the thoughts that do arise. Simply realize that our original mind, right from the start, is beyond thought, so that no matter what, you never get involved with thoughts. Illuminate original mind, and no other understanding is necessary." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"My own struggle was undertaken mistakenly, because I didn’t meet up with a clear-eyed master. Eventually, though, I discovered the Buddha-mind for myself; ever since, I have been telling others about theirs, so they’ll know about it without going through that ordeal, just as those people drink water and quench their thirst without having to go and find it for themselves." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"None of you could say that you heard the sounds because you had made up your minds to hear them beforehand. If you did, you wouldn’t be telling the truth. All of you are looking this way intent upon hearing me. You’re concentrating single-mindedly on listening. There’s no thought in any of your minds to hear the sounds or noises that might occur behind you. You are able to hear and distinguish sounds when they do occur without consciously intending to hear them because you’re listening by means of the unborn Buddha-mind." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"The actual proof of this Unborn which perfectly manages [everything] is that, as you’re all turned this way listening to me talk, if out back there’s the cawing of crows, the chirping of sparrows or the rustling of the wind, even though you’re not deliberately trying to hear each of these sounds, you recognize and distinguish each one. The voices of the crows and sparrows, the rustling of the wind - you hear them without making any mistake about them, and that’s what’s called hearing with the Unborn. In this way, all things are perfectly managed with the Unborn. This is the actual proof of the Unborn. Conclusively realize that what’s unborn and marvelously illuminating is truly the Buddha Mind." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"Trying to suppress delusion is delusion too. Delusions have no original existence; they’re only things you create yourself by indulging in discrimination." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"When you walking along naturally, you're walking in the harmony of the Unborn." (Bankei Yōtaku)

Week 2021-03: Kawajiri Hogin - Collected Quotes

"As for the ordinary man of little capacity, he tries to empty himself and see his own empty self. He is intent on staring at himself only." (Kawajiri Hogin)

"Because zazen is training to realize the One Mind of yourself, it is a mistake to set up an aim outside of yourself [...] Not setting up an aim is the true aim." (Kawajiri Hogin)

"These people outwardly appear to sit in zazen, but actually they are confused in mind, being over-filled with wild imaginations. This kind of zazen is called the zazen practiced daily just to kill time." (Kawajiri Hogin)

"They take trouble to create something called “emptiness” which they regard as separate from their own being. They aspire to this idea of emptiness, and in addition, they try to be empty of mental activity again and again. Thus, their deluded knowledge will keep on increasing so much that it will impede their becoming empty even if they wait for one hundred years. Even if they succeed in becoming empty in this way, it will be to no avail. It is mistaken to believe that to become empty is satori. If to become empty meant satori (enlightenment), human beings would be enlightened every time they wake up in the morning because they become empty every night during their sleep." (Kawajiri Hogin)

"This word kufu is represented by the Chinese characters read kung-fu, which mean a man of physical work in the literal sense of the word. Therefore, kufu alludes to the earnest way each artisan applies himself to the art of his own choice. For instance, a carpenter engaged in hewing with his adze would hurt his own leg if his hand slipped and failed to do his work properly. He cannot afford to turn his attention from his work even for a moment. Likewise, if a fireman even slightly overstepped the plank of the scaffold in walking on it, he would fall to the ground. He must be alert all the time. This state of alertness is called kufu." (Kawajiri Hogin)

"To begin with, most people who practice zazen consciously try to make themselves empty. This is a grave mistake because you have thoughts about becoming empty, and it is futile to sit however long you may try to do so. For instance, suppose there is a bowl of rice. However long you may stare at it wishing it to become empty, the rice will never disappear. And the more you think of some clever way to make it disappear, the harder will it become for you to do so. While you keep on staring at it anticipating its disappearance with increasing impatience, evening will come. On the contrary, however, if you eat the rice right away according to the Dharma instead of wondering whether you should get rid of it or not, it will disappear as quickly as you wish. The same is true of zazen. As long as you are conscious of your wish to be empty, you will never succeed in becoming empty." (Kawajiri Hogin)

"When you are engaged in some work or other, you become one with it. In the intervals of your work, you immediately resume your contemplation on the koan. For instance, when you are smoking by the fireside or doing something like that, you are considered to be in the intervals of your work. At such a time you are absorbed in the contemplation on the koan free from dualistic thoughts and imaginations. This is one example of kufu in movement." (Kawajiri Hogin, "Zazen no Shokei")

Week 2021-02: Torei - Collected Quotes

"Always check your ordinary functioning, and above all cultivate right seeing. What is extremely difficult is to function in accordance with all situations whether deep or shallow, coarse or fine. In order to get this differentiation clear, carefully and minutely study the sayings of the Buddha and patriarchs, and ardently strive to attain that wonderful place. This is called 'The Single Eye of Passing the Barrier'."

"Ever since the degeneration of discipline for enlightenment, they do not pay any respect to the transmission of Dharma from their masters; they have dualistic opinions of their enlightenment and kensho (seeing one’s own self-nature); they discuss the merits and demerits of each other and indulge in their own knowledge deviating from the Way of the ancients."  (Torei Enji, "Shumon Mujinto Ron")

"Genuine insight into one's True Nature only emerges in the midst of Great Doubt and Great Faith; it is not the result of accumulated learning and discrimination. When the time is ripe, it appears of itself. Following this ripening process step by step is the purpose of this book. It is relatively easy to accomplish the important matter of insight into one's True Nature, but uncommonly difficult to function freely and clearly (according to this understanding), in motion and in rest, in good and in adverse circumstances. Please make strenuous and vigorous efforts towards this end, otherwise all the teachings of Buddha and patriarchs become mere empty words, rather than the living Dharma. Tread the path of sincere practice with uninterrupted concentration, and once things have become clear, then it is the time to take up and penetrate the sayings (of the Sutras and Masters)." (Torei Enji, "The Inexhaustible Lamp")

"Have deep faith in the Advanced Practice; work now with utmost effort and do not allow yourselves to slacken. Penetrate one by one the barriers set up by the Buddha and patriarchs. This is not an easy task, but reflecting on the reality within yourselves again and again in Sanzen, get the Nanto Koans of the old masters clear. In them is hidden the essence of the patriarchal transmission. But unless this is done by diligent practice under a qualified teacher, little will be gained." (Torei Enji, "The Inexhaustible Lamp")

"If we wish to attain the Buddha Way, we must by all means have great faith." (Torei Enji, "Shumon Mujinto Ron")

"One has to know (how to) practise with Faith in the Heart" (Torei Enji, "The Inexhaustible Lamp")

"One should be aware of the errors of little knowledge and insight" (Torei Enji, "The Inexhaustible Lamp")

"Students mistakenly affirm their present circumstance as if it was proof of their enlightenment. Because of this, the number of those who fall into the evil group of deluded people is not small." (Torei Enji)

"The strength and its functioning vary greatly according to the depth or shallowness of insight, and the corresponding freedom of action. It is for this reason that now as in the past students with the same insight and training differ as to strength and virtue." (Torei Enji, "The Inexhaustible Lamp")

"You students of the Way, if your power of concentration matures, your suffering will gradually subside, and pleasant phenomena will reveal themselves now and then. They are called good phenomena." (Torei Enji, "Shumon Mujinto Ron")

Week 2021-01: Koun Ejo - Collected Quotes

"Do not continue to conceive of yourself in terms of obstructions and limitations, squeezing out thoughts of self and poverty, of being a deluded being. This is the demonic defilement of the Wheel of Reality turned by the Buddhas." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)

"There can be no self in practising the path of the unfabricated, the Treasury of Luminosity, or views of self at all. Self and views are different names for the same thing, the face of a ghost or the face of a spirit. There is just this luminosity. It is not a matter of establishing any opinions about anything at all, from the views of self and what belongs to self or to ideas about the Buddha and the Dharma." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)

"What we call the Treasury of Luminosity is the source of all Buddhas, the true nature of all beings, the Total Body of all things, the treasury of the Radiance of subtle perceptions and complete Awakening. The three bodies of the Buddhas, the four wisdoms, and the practice of each particle containing the infinite particles of Totality are all found here." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)

"You cannot grasp it; you cannot throw it away. It is unattainable. Although it is unattainable, it penetrates this whole body. From the highest heaven to the deepest hell, all realms are illuminated perfectly. This is wondrous and inconceivably subtle luminosity." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)

"You students, are you trying to learn zazen or are you trying to learn sitting Buddhahood? If you are learning zazen, Zen is not sitting and lying down. If you are learning sitting Buddhahood, Buddha is not a fixed form. According to the teaching of non-attachment or non-settling down, you should not adopt this or reject that. You students, if you try to become a sitting Buddha you kill the Buddha, and if you become attached to sitting you will not reach that principle." (Koun Ejo)

"You students! Are you trying to learn zazen or are you trying to become a Buddha? If you are trying to learn zazen, you must not be taken up by the form called 'sitting' because Zen is something beyond sitting and lying down. Again, if you say you are trying to become a Buddha, you cannot become a captive to the one set form called 'sitting' because Buddha is something absolute." (Koun Ejo)