🅿Week 2025-27: On Practice (unsourced)

"Attainment by causes and conditions, practice and realization, is called the outward view." (Pai-chang)

"Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go on its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you." (Sheng-yen)

"Before and after practicing Judo or engaging in a match, opponents bow to each other. Bowing is an expression of gratitude and respect. In effect, you are thanking your opponent for giving you the opportunity to improve your technique." (Jigoro Kano)

"Do not be in a hurry or try to push your practice. If you become peaceful, then accept it,; if you don’t become peaceful, then accept that also. This is the nature of the mind. We must find our own practice and persevere." (Ajahn Chah)

"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)

"Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking. Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down. When coming out of sitting, don't think that you're coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures. If you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly. You will have a steady awareness within yourself." (Ajahn Chah)

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." (Bruce Lee)

"In eating, sleeping, fearing, and copulating, men and beasts are alike;

Man excelleth the beast by engaging in religious practices.

So why should a man, if he be without religion, not be equal to the beast?" (Nagarjuna, [attributed] "The Staff of Wisdom")

"Just detach from all sound and form, but do not dwell in detachment, and do not dwell in intellectual interpretation - this is practice." (Pai-chang)

"Listening is a very deep practice. [...].You have to empty yourself. You have to leave space in order to listen [...] especially to people we think are our enemies - the ones we believe are making our situation worse. When you have shown your capacity for listening and understanding, the other person will begin to listen to you, and you have a change to tell him or her of your pain, and it’s your turn to be healed. This is the practice of peace." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"One should not have a glance or attitude that lets others know that one is practicing martial arts." (Shinryuken Masamitsu Toda [in Masaaki Hatsumi's "Essence of Ninjutsu: The Nine Traditions", 1988])

"Practice all movements slow and fast, soft and hard; the effectiveness of Jeet Kune-Do depends on split-second timing and reflexive action, which can be achieved only through repetitious practice." (Bruce Lee)

"Practice is not a matter of years and months. It is a matter of concentration." (Koichi Tohei)

"The happiness which comes from long practice, which leads to the end of suffering, which at first is like poison, but at last like nectar - this kind of happiness arises from the serenity of one's own mind." (Bhagavad Gita)

"The past is an illusion. You must learn to live in the present and accept yourself for what you are now. What you lack in flexibility and agility you must make up with knowledge and constant practice." (Bruce Lee)

"The pine fought the storm and broke. The willow yielded to the wind and snow and did not break. Practice Jiu-Jitsu in just this way." (Jigoro Kano)

"To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness." (Confucius)

"The Truth is realized in an instant; the Act is practiced step by step." (Seungsahn Haengwon)

"We must know that it is not enough just to see what the Mind is, we must put into practice all that makes it up in our daily life. We may talk about it glibly, we may write books to explain it, but that is far from being enough. However much we may talk about water and describe it quite intelligently, that does not make it real water. So with fire. Mere talking of it will not make the mouth burn. To know what they are means to experience them in actual concreteness. A book on cooking will not cure our hunger. To feel satisfied we must have actual food. So long as we do not go beyond mere talking, we are not true knowers." (Takuan Soho)