🆉Week 2025-22: On Zazen

"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,  "Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki" ["The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Record of Things Heard"], cca. 1239)

"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, "Kōmyōzō Zanmai" ["Absorption in the Treasury of Light or Samādhi of the Treasury of Radiant Light", 1278)

"Bodhisattvas who study prajna-wisdom must first have deep compassion for all beings and a deep longing to save all of them. They must practice samadhi meditation with great care. Refusing to practice zazen only for their own emancipation, they must promise to ferry these sentient beings over to the other shore." (Dogen Zenji, "Zazen gi", cca. 13th century)

"First awaken your compassionate mind with a deep longing to save all sentient beings. You must practice samadhi meditation with great care, and promise to ferry these sentient beings over to the other shore, refusing to practice zazen only for your own emancipation." (Dogen Zenji, "Zazen gi", cca. 13th century)

"Zazen is something which makes us want to sit in zazen." (Dogen Zenji, cca. 13th century)

"Just stop your wandering, look penetratingly into your inherent nature, and,
concentrating your spiritual energy, sit in zazen and break through." (Bassui Tokusho, "Deishūshō" ["Mud and Water"], 1386)

"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." (Bankei Yōtaku, "Dharma words" ["Kana Hogo"], 14th century) 

"Beginners should by all means strive for Truth. You must not force yourself to train or do zazen too vigorously before you realize the Truth. If you forcefully let out energy and practice Zen in violent ways, you will become fatigued, lose your energy, and it will all be of no use." (Suzuki Shosan, "Fumoto no Kusawake" ["Parting the Grasses at the Foot of the Mountain"], 1636.

"Since you cannot do real zazen no matter how much I teach you, I think I’ll show you from now on how to use the vigorous energy you have when you are angry." (Suzuki Shosan, "Fumoto no Kusawake" ["Parting the Grasses at the Foot of the Mountain"], 1636)

"You seem to practice 'Empty Shell Zazen' and think that not thinking of anything is 'no-thought, no-mind'. You even start to feel good sitting vacantly. But if you do that kind of zazen you’ll lose your vigorous energy and become sick or go crazy. True 'no-thought, no-mind' zazen is just one thing - to have a dauntless mind." (Suzuki Shosan, "Roankyō" ["Donkey Saddle Bridge"], 1648)

"If we know how to practice Zazen without actually sitting,
What obstacles should there be,
Blocking the Way to Buddhahood?" (Shido Bunan, cca. 17th century) 

"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, "The Shortcut to Zazen ["Zazen no Shokei"], 1904)

"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, "The Shortcut to Zazen ["Zazen no Shokei"], 1904)

"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," The Shortcut to Zazen ["Zazen no Shokei"], 1904)

"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, "The Zen Way to the Martial Arts", 1977)

"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)

"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)

"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)

🆂Week 2025-21: On Self

"Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don't see the self as self, what do we have to fear?" (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)

"Most of the world's religions serve only to strengthen attachments to false concepts such as self and other, life and death, heaven and earth, and so on. Those who become entangled in these false ideas are prevented from perceiving the Integral Oneness." (Lao Tsu, "Hua Hu Ching: Teachings of Lao Tzu", cca. 4th century BC)

"Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment;
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)

"The Sage sees the world as an expansion of his own self
So what need has he to accumulate things?" (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)

"By enlarging one's mind, one can enter into all the things in the world [to examine and understand their principle]. As long as anything is not yet entered into, there is still something outside the mind. The mind of ordinary people is limited to the narrowness of what is seen and what is heard. The sage, however, fully develops his nature and does not allow what is seen or heard to fetter his mind. He regards everything in the world to be his own self. This is why Mencius said that if one exerts his mind to the utmost, he can know nature and Heaven. (1) Heaven is so vast that there is nothing outside of it. Therefore the mind that leaves something outside is not capable of uniting itself with the mind of Heaven. Knowledge coming from seeing and hearing is knowledge obtained through contact with things. It is not knowledge obtained through one's moral nature. Knowledge obtained through one's moral nature does not originate from seeing or hearing." (Chang Tsai, "Zhengmeng" ["Correcting Youthful Ignorance"], 1076)

"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)

"There are myriad different methods of practice, but essentially they amount to no more than overcoming thoughts of yourself. The source of suffering is ego, the thought of self. To know this is reason. Once you know the reason for suffering, your sense of duty evokes effort to extinguish the thought of self with a genuine courageous mind. Fools can’t understand the source of misery and happiness; people without a sense of duty cannot break the bonds of life and death." (Suzuki Shosan, cca. 1630)

"Sincerity does not only complete the self; it is the means by which all things are completed. As the self is completed, there is human-heartedness; as things are completed, there is wisdom. This is the virtue of one's character, and the Way of joining the internal and external. Thus, when we use this, everything is correct." (Yamamoto Tsunetomo, "Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai", cca. 1716)

"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," The Shortcut to Zazen ["Zazen no Shokei"], 1904)

"The higher nature in man always seeks for something which transcends itself and yet is its deepest truth; which claims all its sacrifice, yet makes this sacrifice its own recompense. This is man's dharma, man's religion, and man's self is the vessel which is to carry this sacrifice to the altar." (Rabindranath Tagore, "Sādhanā: The Realization of Life", 1913) 

"There is in the body a current of energy, affection and intelligence, which guides, maintains and energizes the body. Discover that current, and hold onto it unswervingly. Be aware of the spark of life that weaves the tissues of your body and stay with it. It is the only reality that the body has. It is like looking at a burning incense stick; you see the stick and the smoke first; when you notice the fiery point, you realize it has the power to consume mountains of sticks and fill the universe with smoke. Timelessly the Self actualizes itself, without exhausting its infinite possibilities. In the incense stick simile, the stick is the body, and the smoke is the mind. As long as the mind is busy with its contortions, it does not perceive its source. The Guru comes and turns your attention to the spark within."  (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", 1973)

"When we are absorbed in other things, in the not-self, we forget the self. There is nothing unnatural about it. But, why forget the self through excess of attachment? Wisdom lies in never forgetting the self as the ever-present source of both the experiencer and his experience." (Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", 1973)

"Ultimately, physical, psychological and spiritual mastery are one and the same. The egoless self is open, flexible, supple, fluid and dynamic in body, mind and spirit." (Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "The Spirit of Aikido", 1981)

"Perceiving your own voice means perceiving your true self or nature. When you and the sound become one, you dont hear the sound; you are the sound." (Seungsahn Haengwon, [Interview] 1985)

"When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness. And when we stop clinging, we can begin to be happy." (Ajahn Chah, "No Ajahn Chah: Reflections", 1994)

"Love creates a communion with life. Love expands us, connects us, sweetens us, ennobles us. Love springs up in tender concern, it blossoms into caring action. It makes beauty out of all we touch. In any moment we can step beyond our small self and embrace each other as beloved parts of a whole." (Jack Kornfield, "The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace", 2002)

"We realize - often quite suddenly - that our sense of self, which has been formed and constructed out of our ideas, beliefs and images, is not really who we are. It doesn't define us, it has no center. [...] The way they perceive the world suddenly changes, and they find themselves without any sense of separation between themselves and the rest of the world." (Adyashanti, "The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment", 2008)

"Narrow mindedness prevents one from seeing the truth. Your mind must be wide open. Observing reality from one’s standpoint will only reveal half the truth because one’s ego obstructs the view. The self must be discarded to be able to see the true nature of reality. Discarding the self requires skill." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"[...] in Zen one awakens to one’s True Self and takes firm hold of it." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)

🆂Week 2025-20: On Karma

"Karma is the enjoyment of appropriate objects by the five senses of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, assisted by the mind together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a peculiar contact between the organ of sense and its object, and the consciousness of pleasure which arises from that contact is called Kama." (Vātsyāyana Mallanaga, 3rd. century) 

"As no cause remains without its due effect from greatest to least, from a cosmic disturbance down to the movement of your hand, and as like produces like, Karma is that unseen and unknown law which adjusts wisely, intelligently, and equitably each effect to its cause, tracing the latter back to its producer." (Helena P Blavatsky, "The Key to Theosophy", 1889)

"Belief in karma ought to make the life pure, strong, serene, and glad. Only our own deeds can hinder us; only our own will can fetter us. Once let men recognize this truth, and the hour of their liberation has struck. Nature cannot enslave the soul that by wisdom has gained power and uses both in love." (Annie Besant, "Karma", 1895)

"Karma brings us ever back to rebirth, binds us to the wheel of births and deaths. Good Karma drags us back as relentlessly as bad, and the chain which is wrought out of our virtues holds as firmly and as closely as that forged from our vices." (Annie Besant,. "Karma", 1895)

"Each man has a mission in life, which is the result of all his infinite past Karma." (Swami Vivekananda, 1897)

"We have to go back to philosophy to treat things as they are. We are suffering from our own karma. It is not the fault of God. What we do is our own fault, nothing else. Why should God be blamed?" (Swami Vivekananda, "Worshipper and Worshipped" , 1900)

"Jnana, bhakti, yoga and karma - these are the four paths which lead to spiritual freedom. One must follow the path for which one is best suited. But in this age, special stress should be laid on karma yoga." (Swami Vivekananda, "The Complete Works" Vol. 5, 1907)

"Every act of charity, every thought of sympathy, every action of help, every good deed, is taking so much of self-importance away from our little selves and making us think of ourselves as the lowest and the least, and, therefore, it is all good. Here we find that Jnâna, Bhakti, and Karma - all come to one point." (Swami Vivekananda, "Vedanta Philosophy", 1912)

"Destiny, or karma, depends upon what the soul has done about what it has become aware of." (Edgar Cayce), [Reading 311-7] 1931)

"Since karma is meeting self, we acquire karma as we meet self in our many attitudes and emotions; when we serve in loving kindness and patience or hold resentful malicious thoughts What we do to our fellow man we do to our Maker our karma or problem is within self." (Edgar Cayce, [reading 3S77-1] 1939)

"Since karma is meeting self, we acquire karma as we meet self in our many attitudes and emotions; when we serve in loving kindness and patience or hold resentful malicious thoughts What we do to our fellow man we do to our Maker our karma or problem is within self." (Edgar Cayce,"Edgar Cayce's Story of Karma", 1973)

"One has to reap the fruits of his karma. The law of karma is inevitable and is accepted by all the great philosophies of the world: 'As you sow, so shall you reap.'" (Swami Rama, "Living with the Himalayan Masters" 1978)

"To follow and demonstrate the path of Truth, Simplicity and Love is man's supreme duty and the highest Yoga. Diligent work is a quality of this path, for laziness is death on earth. Only by work can one claim victory over karma. All must strive to do their duty in the best way possible and not wander from that duty. Service to humanity is the first duty." (Haidakhan Babaji, 1982)

"Therefore, you must never be disappointed in life and you must remember that what even God cannot achieve, you can achieve through hard work. Karma is a thing, which can even change the course laid down by God." (Haidakhan Babaji, 1984)

"If you are engaged in doing good deeds and go on doing good acts, you will have good sleep, good appetite and bad thoughts will not cross your mind. Otherwise, you will always be criticizing others. In inaction, your minds will always be engaged in thinking critically of others. Karma - activity - is the only thing which can drive out all evils." (Haidakhan Babaji, 1984)

"Through this principle, the creative process of the spirit is without limit. Within the circle, the ki of the universe is guided in the processes of creation, evolution, and protection. The movement of karma in this world is the circle of balance. The Budo of Aikido is the circle of protection. The circle of the spirit is the source of ki. The spirit of the circle joins spirit, mind, and matter through Aiki and nourishes life. The spirit of the circle contains and creates unlimited technique for it holds all the ki of the universe. This is the circle of the spirit in Aikido. Without it there is no glory, no wisdom, no integrity, no truth, no possibility of uniting spirit and substance. Without it the restorative functions of the body cease to exist. It is the ever-evolving cycle of kokyu." (Morihei Ueshiba, [attributed in Mitsugi Saotome, "The Principles of Aikido", 1989])

"It is the interplay between our experience and how we respond to it that makes karma devastating or helpfully invigorating." (Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, "Dancing with Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Catechism", 1993)

"Karma is not fate, for man acts with free will, creating his own destiny. The Vedas tell us, if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of our actions and their concomitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which determines our future." (Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, "Dancing with Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Catechism", 1993)

"Life is one karma, an ecology of cause and effect, and nature’s balance operates to maintain a rich quality of life for all. Life is diverse. Each life group and each member within the group has its own indispensable function; all share different responsibilities. Selfishness is not allowed in the highly developed feedback system of communication. It is a most elegant system of checks and balances, which nothing in the biosphere escapes. The law is absolute; the harmony of the system must not be threatened."(Mitsugi Saotome, "Aikido and the Harmony of Nature", 1993)

"Karma is often wrongly confused with the notion of a fixed destiny. It is more like an accumulation of tendencies that can lock us into particular behavior patterns, which themselves result in further accumulations of tendencies of a similar nature... But is is not necessary to be a prisoner of old karma." (Jon Kabat-Zinn", "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life"1994)

"The universe that we inhabit and our shared perception of it are the results of a common karma. Likewise, the places that we will experience in future rebirths will be the outcome of the karma that we share with the other beings living there. The actions of each of us, human or nonhuman, have contributed to the world in which we live. We all have a common responsibility for our world and are connected with everything in it." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], "For the Benefit of All Beings: A Commentary on the Way of the Bodhisattva", 1994)

"Irrespective of whether we are believers or agnostics, whether we believe in God or karma, moral ethics is a code which everyone is able to pursue." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], "The Spirit of Tibet, Vision for Human Liberation", 1996)

"Karma is not something complicated or philosophical. Karma means watching your body, watching your mouth, and watching your mind. Trying to keep these three doors as pure as possible is the practice of karma." (Thubten Yeshe, "The Bliss of Inner Fire: Heart Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa", 1998)

"The balance between karma and akarma gives holistic vision.. Lots of discussions regarding Karmayoga. No work can be completed without karma. That is the truth. Everybody accepts this truth. Our world is one of incompleteness. Where there is incompleteness, there is relativity. Both karma and akarma are relative. No work is completed without akarma." (Mahāprajña, "Thought at Sunrise", 1998)

"The idea of karma is that you continually get the teaching that you need to open your heart." (Pema Chödrön, "Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion" 2002)

"Karma is simply the wholeness of a cause, or first action, and its effect, or fruition, which then becomes another cause. In fact, one karmic cause can have many fruitions, all of which can cause thousands more creations. Just as a handful of seed can ripen into a full field of grain, a small amount of karma can generate limitless effects." (Khandro Rinpoche, "This Precious Life" 2003)

"Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results." (Sakyong Mipham, "Ruling Your World: Ancient Strategies For Modern Life", 2005)

"Karma is the root cause of success and failure in every aspect of life." (Zhi Gang Sha, "Divine Soul Mind Body Healing and Transmission System" Special Edition, 2009)

Past and future exist only in our memory. The present moment, though, is outside of time, it's Eternity. In India, they use the word 'karma,' for lack of any better term.

"It isn't what you did in the past that will affect the present. It's what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future." (Paulo Coelho, "Aleph", 2011)

⚛Week 2025-19: Fritjof Capra - Collected Quotes

"If physics leads us today to a world view which is essentially mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning, 2,500 years ago. […] Eastern thought and, more generally, mystical thought provide a consistent and relevant philosophical background to the theories of contemporary science; a conception of the world in which scientific discoveries can be in perfect harmony with spiritual aims and religious beliefs. The two basic themes of this conception are the unity and interrelation of all phenomena and the intrinsically dynamic nature of the universe. The further we penetrate into the submicroscopic world, the more we shall realize how the modern physicist, like the Eastern mystic, has come to see the world as a system of inseparable, interacting and ever-moving components with the observer being an integral part of this system." (Fritjof Capra, "The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism", 1975)

"Whenever the Eastern mystics express their knowledge in words - be it with the help of myths, symbols, poetic images or paradoxical statements-they are well aware of the limitations imposed by language and 'linear' thinking. Modern physics has come to take exactly the same attitude with regard to its verbal models and theories. They, too, are only approximate and necessarily inaccurate. They are the counterparts of the Eastern myths, symbols and poetic images, and it is at this level that I shall draw the parallels. The same idea about matter is conveyed, for example, to the Hindu by the cosmic dance of the god Shiva as to the physicist by certain aspects of quantum field theory. Both the dancing god and the physical theory are creations of the mind: models to describe their authors' intuition of reality."   (Fritjof Capra, "The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism", 1975)

"The new paradigm may be called a holistic world view, seeing the world as an integrated whole rather than a dissociated collection of parts. It may also be called an ecological view, if the term 'ecological' is used in a much broader and deeper sense than usual. Deep ecological awareness recognizes the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that, as individuals and societies we are all embedded in (and ultimately dependent on) the cyclical process of nature." (Fritjof Capra & Gunter A Pauli, "Steering Business Toward Sustainability", 1995)

"The more we study the major problems of our time, the more we come to realise that they cannot be understood in isolation. They are systemic problems, which means that they are interconnected and interdependent." (Fritjof Capra, "The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems", 1996)

"The shift of paradigms requires an expansion not only of our perceptions and ways of thinking, but also of our values. […] scientific facts emerge out of an entire constellation of human perceptions, values, and actions-in one word, out of a paradigm-from which they cannot be separated. […] Today the paradigm shift in science, at its deepest level, implies a shift from physics to the life sciences." (Fritjof Capra, "The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems", 1996)

"What is sustained in a sustainable community is not economic growth, development, market share, or competitive advantage, but the entire web of life on which our long-term survival depends. In other words, a sustainable community is designed in such a way that its ways of life, businesses, economy, physical structures, and technologies do not interfere with nature’s inherent ability to sustain life." (Fritjof Capra, "Ecoliteracy: The Challenge for Education in the Next Century", 1999)

"One of the key insights of the systems approach has been the realization that the network is a pattern that is common to all life. Wherever we see life, we see networks." (Fritjof Capra, "The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living", 2002)

"Whenever we encounter living systems – organisms, parts of organisms, or communities of organisms – we can observe that their components are arranged in network fashion. Whenever we look at life, we look at networks." (Fritjof Capra, "The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision", 2014)