The ancient Masters slept
without dreams and woke up without worries.
Their breath came from deep inside them. They didn’t cling
to life, weren’t anxious about death. They emerged without desire
and reentered without resistance. They came easily; they went easily.
They didn’t ask where they were from; they didn’t ask where
they were going. They took everything as it came,
gladly, and walked into death without fear.
They accepted life as a gift, and
they handed it back
gratefully.
You eat to satisfy your hunger
and drink to quench your thirst. You wear clothes
to keep warm and go home to be with your families. You cultivate
the tao to reach the place even the buddhas can’t describe.
And you practice zen to find the place even
the patriarchs can’t enter.
But if you rely on the
doors and walls of others and you listen
to their instruction and accept their drivel,
you’ll never stand on your own. I put it like
this: Good medicine tastes bitter.
True words sound harsh.
Red Pine’s “The Zen Works of Stonehouse”
postsecret / all the blessings
Suffering is a
special kind of knowledge.
There is something in human life
that it is impossible to convey and preserve
in any other way, especially among us.
That is how the world is made;
that is how we are
made.
zen is not something to get excited about
When you are practicing zazen, do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. It something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out. It will not stay long. When you try to stop your thinking, it means you are bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything. It appears as if something comes from outside your mind, but actually it is only the waves of your mind, and if you are not bothered by the waves, gradually they will become calmer and calmer. In five or at most ten minutes, your mind will be completely serene and calm. At that time your breathing will become quite slow, while your pulse will become a little faster.
It will take quite a long time before you find your calm, serene mind in your practice. Many sensations come, many thoughts or images arise, but they are just waves of your own mind. Nothing comes from outside your mind. Usually we think of our mind as receiving impressions and experiences from outside, but that is not a true understanding of our mind. The true understanding is that the mind includes everything; when you think something comes from outside it means only that something appears in your mind. Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.
The universal body
of reality is so subtle that you
do not hear it when you deliberately
listen for it, and you do not see it when you
look at it. As for the pure knowledge that
has no teacher, how can it be attained
by thought or study?