everything born in this world is empty

hasui kawase

 

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.

 

Ikkyu

wikkyu

 

zazen perfects the human being

this is zazen

 

Scholar’s studies

can become an obstacle,

making the mind difficult to control.

The effect of zazen is to let your mind and

body really listen to you. Quiet sitting is good.

Zazen can reasonably be taken as far

as one chooses—one can advance

by the light discovered

within it.

 

There’s no deception

in it. It’s a natural need in a human

being’s life.It’s the call by the Universe

to a human being’s true nature.

Zazen perfects the

human being.

 

The mission of humans is

to cease producing the waves of thought that

have occurred up until now as a result of egotism.

When that is done, a human being is

born for the first time.

 

Katō Kōzan

everyone is originally pure, not different from the buddha