If you

are trying to attain

enlightenment, you are creating

and being driven by karma, and you are

wasting your time on your black cushion.

The most important things in our practice are

our physical posture and our way of breathing.

We are not so concerned about a deep understanding

of Buddhism. As a philosophy, Buddhism is a very deep,

wide, and firm system of thought, but zen is not concerned

about philosophical understanding. We emphasize practice.

We should understand why our physical posture and

breathing exercise are so important. Instead of

having a deep understanding of the teaching,

we need a strong confidence in our teaching,

which says that originally we have

Buddha nature. Our practice

is based on this

faith.

 

Shunryu Suzuki

 

Hexagram 55: FÊNG /

ABUNDANCE

 

In

the search 

for enlightenment, 

there is an ever-present 

certainty that there is more to do, 

someone else who holds the 

secret, another state to 

attain.

 

In the 

finding of it, 

there is the comical

revelation that not one

of those things was 

ever true.

 

小畜

Hexagram 9: HSIAO CH’U /

THE TAMING POWER OF THE SMALL

 

The

best effort 

one can make is the 

gentlest effort: wei wu wei. 

Quietly, persistently direct the 

mind toward emptiness. When 

all thoughts and ideas have 

dissipated, then make no 

further effort. Just 

breathe. 

 

This

is the only

practice required of a 

human, the best one, the one 

that perfectly purifies

our lives.

 

Wei wu Wei Ching

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sue bird & megan rapinoe, espn body issue

 

Those

who wish to

embody the Tao

should embrace all things.

To embrace all things means first

that one holds no anger or resistance

toward any idea or thing, living or

dead, formed or formless.

Acceptance is the very

essence of the

Tao.

 

To embrace

all things means also

that one rids oneself of any

concept of separation; male and

female, self and other, life and

death. Division is contrary

to the nature of

the Tao.

 

Foregoing

antagonism and

separation, one enters into

the harmonious oneness

of all things.

 

from Hua hu Ching, Chapter 3

 

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We’re

increasingly

constrained by computers…

a pixelated abridgement of reality that make

us blind to the complexity of the natural world…

our physical movements have been almost

entirely removed as a factor in our

own existence. Now all we

seem to do is press

buttons.

 

Alexander Langlands

 

 

The

heavens allowed me

To settle myself

On a small piece of land

Looking into the distance

Digging far down

I delight in my own freedom

All who come here

Feel the lids fall

From their eyes

This view

Of the world without end

There is nowhere

to hide

 

Muso Soseki

 

 

In the

pursuit of learning, 

every day something is added. 

In the pursuit of tao, every day something

is dropped. Less and less is done,

until one arrives at

non-action. 

 

When

nothing is done, 

nothing is left undone. 

The world is won by letting

things take their own course. 

If you still have ambitions,

it’s out of your

reach. 

 

from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 48

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Do you wish

to free yourself of mental

and emotional knots and become one

with the Tao? If so, there are

two paths available

to you. 

 

The first is

the path of acceptance.

Affirm everyone and everything.

Freely extend your goodwill and virtue

in every direction, regardless of circumstances.

Embrace all things as part of the Harmonious

Oneness, and then you will begin

to perceive it. 

 

The second path

is that of denial. Recognize that

everything you see and think is a falsehood,

an illusion, a veil over the truth. Peel all the veils away,

and you will arrive at the Oneness. Though these

paths are entirely different, they will deliver

you to the same place: spontaneous

awareness of the Great

Oneness. 

 

Once you

arrive there, remember:

it isn’t necessary to struggle to

maintain unity with it.

All you have to do is

rest in it. 

 

from Hua hu Ching, Chapter 48

 

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Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for

iPad, Phone, Kindle, Nook,

or Android

 

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