When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything.
People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to sit in the cross- legged position, or to attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.
Life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore, nor actual difficulty in our life.
When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality of your state of mind is the activity itself. When you are concentrated on the quality of your being, you are prepared for the activity.
A Master who cannot bow to a disciple cannot bow to Buddha.
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.
You should rather be grateful for the weeds you have in your mind, because eventually they will enrich your practice.
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.