forget all about yourself

kodo sawaki roshi

 

Concentration is not

to try hard to watch something.

In zazen, if you try to look at one spot,

you will be tired in about five minutes. This is

not concentration. Concentration means freedom.

So, your effort should be directed at nothing. You should

be concentrated on nothing. In zazen practice we say that

your mind should be concentrated on your breathing,

but the way to keep your mind concentrated

on your breathing is to forget all about

yourself and just to sit and feel

your breathing.

 

…If you

continue this practice,

eventually you will experience the

true existence which comes

from emptiness.

 

Shunryu Suzuki

 

the path to the buddha’s table

ansel adams

 

Life is a dream,

the years pass by like flowing waters.

Glamour and glory are  transient as autumn smoke;

what tragedy — for with the sun set deeply in the

west, still there are those lost among

paths of disillusionment.

 

Our heart

should be clear as ice.

Forget all the worldly nonsense.

Sit calmly, breathe quietly, heart bright

and spotless as an empty mirror.

This is the path to

the buddha’s

table.

 

Loy Ching-Yuen

the book of the heart