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.
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It’s simple
to become a sage: all
that’s required is to burn up,
die, and cool into
ashes.
Rise early,
then, and set fire to
all you think and feel and
believe. Look beyond the smoke
of that pit into what is left:
emptiness filled with
emptiness.
Breathe it in.
Pour it out. Circulating
the Oneness without stopping,
endlessly renewing your determination,
working steadily day after day and
year upon year, you’ll find
yourself alert, rested,
illuminated.
You
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Wei wu Wei Ching as part of a
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book.
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.
Dualistic thinking is
a sickness. Religion is a distortion.
Materialism is cruel. Blind spirituality is unreal.
Chanting is no more holy than listening to the murmur
of a stream, counting prayer beads no more sacred
than simply breathing, religious robes
no more spiritual than
work clothes.
If you wish
to attain oneness with the tao,
don’t get caught up in spiritual superficialities.
Instead, live a quiet and simple life, free of ideas and
concepts. Find contentment in the practice
of undiscriminating virtue, the only
true power.
Giving to others
selflessly and anonymously,
radiating light throughout the world
and illuminating your own darknesses,
your virtue becomes a sanctuary
for yourself and all beings.
This is what is meant by
embodying the
tao.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
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book.
To Shine One Corner of the World
A student who
had just concluded a thirty-day
zazen retreat with two enthusiastic dharma pals
asked Suzuki Roshi how to maintain the
extraordinary state of mind
he’d attained.
“Concentrate on your
breathing and it will go away,”
Suzuki said.
