I want to
make myself an empty
room: quiet whitewashed walls
with slant sunshine and a fresh
breeze through open
windows.
Posts Tagged → beauty
the kingship of the dervish
Fleeting time
and the changes of matter
make all the kings of the earth but
transitory kings, ruling over transitory kingdoms;
this is because of their dependence upon their environment
instead of their imagination. But the kingship of the dervish,
independent of all external influences, based purely on
his mental perception and strengthened by the forces
of his will, is much truer and at once unlimited
and everlasting. Yet in the materialistic view
his kingdom would appear as nothing,
while in the spiritual conception
it is an immortal and
exquisite realm
of joy.
daito says this is zazen
How boring to
sit idly on the floor, not meditating,
not breaking through. Look at the horses
racing along the Kamo River!
That’s zazen!
don’t long for heavens or fear hells
Don’t
seek a Buddha,
don’t seek a teaching,
don’t seek a community.
Don’t seek virtue, knowledge,
intellectual understanding, and
so on. When feelings of defilement
and purity are ended, still don’t hold
to this non-seeking and consider it right.
Don’t dwell at the point of ending, and
don’t long for heavens or fear hells.
When you are unhindered by
bondage or freedom, then
this is called liberation
of mind and body in
all places.
everything born in this world is empty
Students,
sit earnestly in zazen,
and you will realize that everything
born in this world is ultimately empty,
including oneself and the original face of existence.
All things indeed emerge out of emptiness. This original
formlessness is “Buddha,” and all other similar terms — Buddha-
nature, Buddhahood, Buddha-mind, Awakened One, Patriarch,
God — are merely different expressions for the same
emptiness. Misunderstand this and you
will end up distracted
for eons.