When you say, “Wait a moment,” you are bound by your karma; when you say “Yes I will,” you are free.
So the secret is just to say ‘Yes!’ and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself, always yourself, without sticking to an old self.
The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.
To be different is to have value. In this sense all things have equal, absolute value. Each thing has absolute value and thus is equal to everything else.
To express yourself as you are, without any intentional, fancy way of adjusting yourself, is the most important thing.
Time goes from present to past.
When he bowed to all those buddhas, the buddhas he bowed to were beyond his own understanding. Again and again he did it.
I think you’re all enlightened, until you open your mouths.
Life without zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it dosen’t tell time.
To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.
In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner – not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.
You may say that things happen just by chance, but I don’t feel that way.
The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the experts, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all possibilities.
To have some deep feeling about Buddhism is not the point; we just do what we should do, like eating supper and going to bed. This is Buddhism.
If you want to read a letter from the Buddha’s world, it is necessary to understand Buddha’s world.
We should not be just a fan of dragons; we should always be the dragon himself. Then we will not be afraid of any dragon.
Without ignoring the objective side of the truth, it has to be subjective as well, Buddha’s whole teaching just for you, something you can taste. Not something to believe in but to discover, to experience.
From True Emptiness The Wondrous Being Appears.
If your practice is good, you may become proud of it. What you do is good, but something more is added to it. Pride is extra. Right effort is to get rid of something extra.
Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.