When it comes down to it, government is simply an abandonment of responsibility on the assumption that there are people, other than ourselves, who really know how to manage things. But the government, run ostensibly...

So, without telling any of my Zen-snob buddies, I liked to pretend everything was the Pure Land, that my life was already perfect as it was.

The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?

Humility is just as much the opposite of self-abasement as it is of self-exaltation. To be humble is not to make comparisons. Secure in its reality, the self is neither better nor worse, bigger nor...

What we can change is our perceptions, which have the effect of changing everything.

When angry, count to Zen.

Love always wins over hate

It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.

Có một thi sĩ làm thơ hô hào những nhà sáng tác, những ca sĩ từ bỏ lối sáng tác và ca hát đau thương đứt ruột. Ông ta viết những c u này, tôi...

Before we were born we had no feeling; we were one with the universe. This is called “mind-only,” or “essence of mind,” or “big mind,” After we are separated by birth from this oneness, as...

They asked a wise man: Why don’t we ever hear you backbiting and slandering?He said: I’m still not happy with myself to start with others.

re-living” the past in our minds, thus dishonouring the present moment. The young monk wasted hours distressing himself with judgment, speculation, anxiety, resentment and ultimately self-perpetuated unhappiness as a direct result of not being mindful.

Umasi kept walking, out of sight and into the glittering night. Meahwhile, Zen lay alone, defeated on the cold ground, knowing that he had truly been left behind. Then the memories returned, and for the...

Because even among contrarians, I’m a contrarian. But all of this is just words of bronze, third place rhetoric. What do I really mean when I say we want to shock society into awareness? Do...

Like vanishing dew,a passing apparitionor the sudden flashof lightning — already gone –thus should one regard one’s self.

For us life is a fact, no less, and, above all, no more.

A pity it is evening, yetI do love the water of this springseeing how clear it is, how clean;rays of sunset gleam on it,lighting up its ripples, making itone with those who travelthe roads; I...

We will be entering the beautiful world of a Zen master’s no-mind. Sosan is the third Zen Patriarch. Nothing much is known about him- this is as it should be, because history records only violence....

What you know can never be the beyond. Whatever you experience is not the beyond. If there is any beyond, this movement of ‘you’ is absent. The absence of this movement probably is the beyond,...

What is personal death?Asking this question and pausing to look inward – isn’t personal death a concept? Isn’t there a thought-and-picture series going on in the brain? These scenes of personal ending take place solely...

Sharpen your sword daily , and let it serve your true master: YOU. You and the Master are one

The thinking brain influences the body’s responses and it makes a neat little loop.

He knows not where he’s going,For the ocean will decide,Its not the destination,It’s the glory of the ride

You can be happy if you are willing to let go of your past and leave yourself unencumbered so you can fly freely.

The Buddha is found in other people – even the ones we do not like very much.

Shigemori’s body of work is a compelling manifesto for continuous cultural renewal.

Every hour of your life that ticks by, there are numerous points and moments when you can choose to pause – and be aware of your mental and physical state. At any given point, you...

I grow into these mountains like a moss. I am bewitched. The blinding snow peaks and the clarion air, the sound of earth and heaven in the silence, the requiem birds, the mythic beasts, the...

What makes human life–which is inseparable from this moment–so precious is its fleeting nature. And not that it doesn’t last but that it never returns again.

There were so many beliefs which we had about the world, which then influenced everything, everything, about how we saw the world and interacted in the world and were with others. Everything. It was profound...

You know you have arrived when you have stopped caring about the destination

The brush must draw by itself. This cannot happen if one does not practice constantly. But neither can it happen if one makes an effort.

If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

Consider your own place in the universal oneness of which we are all a part, from which we all arise, and to which we all return.

Like wind– In it, with it, of it. Of it just like a sail, so light and strong that, even when it is bent flat, it gathers all the power of the wind without hampering...

The effects you will have on your students are infinite and currently unknown; you will possibly shape the way they proceed in their careers, the way they will vote, the way they will behave as...

Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain.

The truth is love doesn’t cost a dime and it can move mountains… but hate destroys everything it comes in contact with.

Do not seek for the truth, only stop having an opinion.

There is nowhere to arrive except the present moment.

Oh, I am sorry, I do not feel well.

The essence of your mind is not born, so it will never die. It is not an existence, which is perishable. It is not an emptiness, which is a mere void. It has neither colour...

A boddhisattva is someone who is on the way to becoming a buddha. All of us become boddhisattvas as soon as we start to take our Zen work seriously and the work we do contributes...

Almost everything that I’ve ever worried about has never happened ..

Search not for happiness outside yourself, for nothing could be further from the truth.

Canning is a whole world of a thing to do. It requires that you get out of your head. It’s a Zen thing. You cannot be wondering about your inadequacies and how they drove Bob...

The present is always the best, even when its rough.

When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops,...

We are all part of a universal game. Returning to our essence while living in the world is the object of the game. The earth is the game board, and we are the pieces on...

You will bring yourself the suffering you need to bring yourself so that you may awaken.