"During zazen, brain and consciousness become pure. It's exactly like muddy water left to stand in a glass. Little by little, the sediment sinks to the bottom and the water becomes pure." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"If we achieve satori and the satori shows, like a bit of dogshit stuck to the top of our nose, that is not so good." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"In a fight between a strong technique and a strong body, technique will prevail. In a fight between a strong mind and a strong technique, mind will prevail, because it will find the weak point." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"Harmonizing opposites by going back to their source is the distinctive quality of the Zen attitude, the Middle Way: embracing contradictions, making a synthesis of them, achieving balance." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"If you are not happy here and now, you never will be." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert can pass through them. Close them, and all you can feel is a bit of grit." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"Religions remain what they are. Zen is meditation. Meditation is the foundation of every religion. People today feel an intense need to go back to the source of religious life, to the pure essence in the depths of themselves which they can discover only through actually experiencing it. They also need to be able to concentrate their minds in order to find the highest wisdom and freedom, which is spiritual in nature, in their efforts to deal with the influences of every description imposed upon them by their environment. Human wisdom alone is not enough, it is not complete. Only universal truth can provide the highest wisdom. Take away the word Zen and put Truth or Order of the Universe in its place." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"Think with the whole body." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"Time is not a line, but a series of now-points." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"The body moves naturally, automatically, without any personal intervention or awareness. If we think too much, our actions become slow and hesitant." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"To practice Zen or the Martial Arts, you must live intensely, wholeheartedly, without reserve - as if you might die in the next instant." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"Train the body and develop stamina and endurance. But the spirit of competition and power that presides over them is not good, it reflects a distorted vision of life. The root of the martial arts is not there." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful, unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor imagination take place. It's enough just to be without hypocrisy, dogmatism, arrogance - embracing all opposites." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"We feel our shell keeps us safe, but it crushes us and others, and keeps out light and sun." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"We should learn to think with our fingers." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"What is called zazen is sitting on a zafu [pillow] in a quiet room, absolutely still, in the exact and proper position and without uttering a word, the mind empty of any thought, good or wicked. It is continuing to sit peacefully, facing a wall, and nothing more. Every day." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"You cannot separate any part from the whole: interdependence rules the cosmic order." (Taisen Deshimaru)
"You must concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair." (Taisen Deshimaru)
No comments:
Post a Comment