Week 2021-08: Muso Soseki - Collected Quotes

"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)

"Even if you have not awakened, if you realize that your perceptions and activities are all like dreams and you view them with detachment, not giving rise to grasping and rejecting discrimination, then this is virtually tantamount to awakening from the dream."

"If the wrong person preaches a right teaching, even a right teaching can become wrong. If a right person expounds a wrong teaching, even a wrong teaching can become right." (Muso Soseki)

"It is better to practice a little than talk a lot." (Muso Soseki)

"It would be merciful for people not to come calling and disturb the loneliness of the mountains to which I have returned from the sorrows of the world." (Muso Soseki)

"The breath of life eventually takes leave of all of us; whether we are young or old, if we live we must die. The number of the dead grows; the blossoms of the flowers fade; the leaves of the trees fall. Things are like foam in a dream. As fish gather in tiny pools of water, so life moves on as the days pass by. Parents and children, husbands and wives who passed their lives together, do not remain together. What use is high standing or wealth? Red cheeks in the morning, dead bones in the evening. Not to trust in the things of this perishing world but to enter upon the way of Buddha - thus will one stir up the mind that seeks the ways and believes in the exalted Dharma." (Muso Soseki)

"The central benefit of Zen, in the context of ordinary ups and downs of life,is not in preventing the minus and promoting the plus,but in directing people to the fundamental reality that is not under the sway of ups and downs." (Muso Soseki)

"Those who seek liberation for themselves alone cannot become fully enlightened. Though it may be said that one who is not already liberated cannot liberate others, the very process of forgetting oneself to help others is in itself liberating." (Muso Soseki)

"When a garden is used as a place to pause for thought, that is when a Zen garden comes to life. When you contemplate a garden like this it will form as lasting impression on your heart." (Muso Soseki)

"When it's cold, water freezes into ice; when it's warm, ice melts into water. Similarly, when you are confused, essence freezes into mind; when you are enlightened, mind melts into essence." (Muso Soseki)

"When there is no place that you have decided to call your own, then no matter where you go, you are always heading home." (Muso Soseki)

Week 2021-07: Keizan Jokin - Collected Quotes

"Although we speak of ‘practice,’ it is not a practice that you can do." (Keizan Jokin, "Zazen Yojinki" ["Points to Keep in Mind When Practicing Zazen"], 13th-century)

"entering directly into the ocean of buddha-nature and manifesting the body of the Buddha." (Keizan Jokin, "Zazen Yojinki" ["Points to Keep in Mind When Practicing Zazen"], 13th-century)

"Clear water has no back or front, space has no inside or outside. Completely clear, its own luminosity shines before form and emptiness were fabricated. Objects of mind and mind itself have no place to exist."

"To practice sitting, find a quiet place and lay down a thick mat. Don’t let wind, smoke, rain or dew come in. Keep a clear space with enough room for your knees." (Keizan Jokin, "Zazen Yojinki" ["Points to Keep in Mind When Practicing Zazen"], 13th-century)

"This is symbolized by the full moon but it is this mind which is enlightenment itself." (Keizan Jokin, "Zazen Yojinki" ["Points to Keep in Mind When Practicing Zazen"], 13th-century)

"Zazen clears the mind immediately and lets one dwell in one’s true realm. This is called showing one’s original face or revealing the light of one’s original state. Body and mind are cast off, apart from whether one is sitting or lying down. Therefore one thinks neither of good nor of evil - transcending both the sacred and the profane, rising above delusion and enlightenment - and leaves the realm of sentient beings and Buddhas." (Keizan Jokin, "Zazen Yojinki" ["Points to Keep in Mind When Practicing Zazen"], 13th-century)

"Zazen includes no boundary between sentient beings and Buddha." (Keizan Jokin, "Zazen Yojinki" ["Points to Keep in Mind When Practicing Zazen"], 13th-century)

"Zazen means to clarify the mind-ground and dwell comfortably in your actual nature. This is called revealing yourself and manifesting the original-ground." (Keizan Jokin, "Zazen Yojinki" ["Points to Keep in Mind When Practicing Zazen"], 13th-century)

"Though you find clear waters ranging

to the vast blue skies of autumn,

how can that compare

with the hazy moon on a spring night?

Some people want it pure white,

but sweep as you will,

you cannot empty the mind." (Keizan Jokin)

Week 2021-06: Bassui Tokusho - Collected Quotes

"At work, at rest, never stop trying to realize who it is that hears.
Even though your questioning becomes almost unconscious,
you won't find the one who hears, and all your efforts will come to naught.
Yet sounds can be heard, so question yourself to an even profounder level.
At last every vestige of self-awareness will disappear and
you will feel like a cloudless sky.
Within yourself you will find no 'I', nor will you discover anyone who hears.
This Mind is like the void, yet it hasn't a single spot that can be called empty.
This state is often mistaken for Self-realization.
But continue to ask yourself even more intensely, 'Now who is it that hears?' (Bassui Tokusho)

"Buddha-Nature, the Self of all beings, is the simple Truth.
From Buddhas to insects, it is the seer, hearer, and mover." (Bassui Tokusho)

"Cast off what has been realized. Turn back to the subject that realizes to the root bottom and resolutely go on." (Bassui Tokusho)

"It cannot be helped that your thoughts arise and perish. Doubt your own mind thoroughly in accord with your thought. It is in order to be aware of the truth of being that you doubt profoundly. When you try to know what is unknown, your wandering mind will lose its way, and you will be at a loss. It is then that you are said to be in zazen. They say that to doubt in this way is kufu. In kufu you are to doubt thoroughly, whether you are on your feet or not, and whether you are asleep or awake, for you are well aware of your own unenlightenment." (Bassui Tokusho, "Kana Hogo")

"Just stop your wandering, look penetratingly into your inherent nature, and,
concentrating your spiritual energy, sit in zazen and break through." (Bassui Tokusho)

"[...] keep asking with all your strength, 'What is it that hears?'
Only when you have completely exhausted the questioning
will the question burst;
now you will feel like a man come back from the dead.
This is true realization." (Bassui Tokusho)

"Look directly! What is this? Look in this manner and you won’t be fooled!" (Bassui Tokusho)

"Seeing one's own nature is buddhahood." (Bassui Tokusho)

"The essence of your mind is not born, so it will never die. It is not an existence, which is perishable. It is not an emptiness, which is a mere void. It has neither color nor form. It enjoys no pleasures and suffers no pains." (Bassui Tokusho)

"Those who seek the Buddha outside their own minds are like children of rich parents who have forgotten their home." (Bassui Tokusho)

"Those who wish to break the cycle of rebirth must know the way of becoming a Buddha. The way of becoming a Buddha is the way of enlightenment. Before one’s father and mother were born and before one’s own body was formed, one’s mind existed unchanged until now, as the ground of all sentient beings. This is also called one’s original countenance. This mind is pure from the beginning. When the body is born, it is without the form of life, and when the body dies, it is without the form of death. Neither does it have the form of man or woman, of good or evil. Because there is nothing to which it can be compared, it is called Buddha nature. From this mind there arise ten thousand images, like waves on a vast great sea or forms reflected in a mirror." (Bassui Tokusho)

"What is this mind? Who is hearing these sounds?
Do not mistake any state for self-realization,
but continue to ask yourself even more intensely,
'What is it that hears?'" (Bassui Tokusho)

"When the mind is deluded, as many ignorant thoughts as sands of the Ganges arise;
when enlightened, this mind gives birth to infinite wonderful meanings." (Bassui Tokusho)

"When you decide to come here, you do so by yourself.
When you ask a question, you do so by yourself.
You do not depend upon another.
Nor do you use the teachings of the Buddha . [...]
The written word, reason and duty, discrimination and understanding [...]
none of these can reach this Zen." (Bassui Tokusho)

"Who is hearing? Your physical being doesn't hear, nor does the void.
Then what does?
Strive to find out.
Put aside your rational intellect - give up all techniques.
Just get rid of the notion of self." (Bassui Tokusho)

Week 2021-05: Ikkyu Sojun - Collected Quotes

"Don’t pick up tea leaves, but practice zazen.
Don’t read sutras, but practice zazen.
Don’t clean the house, but practice zazen.
Don’t ride on horseback, but practice zazen.
Don’t make fermented beans, but practice zazen.
Don’t sow tea seeds, but practice zazen." (Ikkyu Sojun)

"Every day, priests minutely examine the Law
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by the wind and rain,
the snow and moon." (Ikkyu Sojun)

"Like vanishing dew,
a passing apparition
or the sudden flash
of lightning - already gone -
thus should one regard one’s self." (Ikkyu Sojun)

"Look at the cherry blossoms!
Their color and scent fall with them,
Are gone forever,
Yet mindless
The spring comes again." (Ikkyu Sojun)

"Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon." (Ikkyu Sojun)

"Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind.
A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure.
Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of the clouds;
Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs night after night." (Ikkyu Sojun)