The teaching which is written on paper is not the true teaching. Written teaching is a kind of food for your brain. Of course it is necessary to take some food for your brain, but it is more important to be yourself by practicing the right way of life.
How much ‘ego’ do you need? Just enough so that you don’t step in front of a bus.
Hell is not punishment, it’s training.
For Zen students, a weed is a treasure.
When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice.
Don’t move. Just die over and over. Don’t anticipate. Nothing can save you now because you have only this moment. Not even enlightenment will help you now because there are no other moments. With no future, be true to yourself and express yourself fully. Don’t move.
When you live completely in each moment, without expecting anything, you have no idea of time.
Tai Shimano visited Shunryu Suzuki. “How are you feeling these days?” Suzuki replied, “They have a new name for me: Cancer!”
When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say “inner world” or “outer world” but actually, There is just one whole world.
Real Freedom is to not feel limited when wearing this Zen robe, this troublesome formal robe. Similarly, in our busy life we should wear this civilization without being bothered by it, without ignoring it, without being caught by it.
If you try to observe the precepts, that is not true observation of precepts. When you observe the precepts without trying to observe the precepts, that is true observation of the precepts.
When you sit, everything sits with you.
When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything.
If you cannot bow to Buddha, you cannot be a Buddha. It is arrogance.
Because all existence is founded upon the ever-present state of union, everything already exists in a state of tranquility. However, this state of tranquility is masked from us by our assumption that there is a separation, that there is a problem.
We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.
Zazen practice and everyday activity are one thing. We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.
Even though you have pain in your legs, you can do it. Even though your practice is not good enough, you can do it.
As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice; there is no other way of life than this way of life.