Posts Tagged → happiness

do not try to stop your thinking

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.

 

Shunryu Suzuki

zen mind, beginner’s mind

 

buddha nature is your own nature

here is what a buddha is

🪷 and also here 🪷

 

A deep

and sophisticated

understanding of Buddhism,

Taoism, Zen, Ch’an, philosophy,

meditation technique — none of these

is necessary to attain realization.

They are just as likely to

ensnare you in towers

of complicated

thought.

 

Abide

in the simple

understanding that

buddha nature is always,

has always been, will always be,

your own nature. Breathe into

that. Breathe out from it.

That is all.

 

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 25

Paperback / Kindle here

iPad/iPhone

iBooks

 

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see also

Hexagram 25, Wu Wang / Innocence (The Unexpected)

 

the art of peace begins with you

this is the only practice

 

The art of peace

begins with you.
Work on yourself

and your
 appointed task in the art of peace.


Everyone has a spirit that
 can be refined, a body

that
 can be trained in some manner,
 a suitable path

to follow.
 You are here for no other purpose than


to realize your inner divinity and
 manifest your

innate enlightenment.
 Foster peace in your 

own life and
 then apply the art to 

all that you encounter.


 

Morehei Ueshiba

 

let it go in all directions

 

When you hold on to something,

don’t let the smallest hair show. When you let go of

something, let it go in all directions. Meeting in heavy mist,

we turn out to be at the top of a thousand peaks.

Starting at the top of a thousand peaks we

turn out to be in heavy mist.

 

Today I am at Fuyuan Temple

inaugurating this hall and preaching the Dharma.

Yesterday I was outside my hut at Sky Lake ploughing in the clouds.

Thus it is said that the Dharma has no fixed shape but adapts to conditions.

It stirs the wind of perfect stillness and makes effortless

transformation possible. But at this moment,

what is it like?

 

Only after ninety thousand

miles does the P’eng unfold its wings.

Only after a thousand miles does

the crane take flight.

 

Shih-wu, or Stonehouse

Red Pine’s “The Zen Works of Stonehouse”

hard copy @ amazon