Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
Rate it:
28%
Flag icon
You must be true to your own way until at last you actually come to the point where you see it is necessary to forget all about yourself.
28%
Flag icon
By bowing we are giving up ourselves.
28%
Flag icon
To give up ourselves means to give up our dualistic ideas.
28%
Flag icon
Usually to bow means to pay our respects to something which is more worthy of respect than ourselves. But when you bow to Buddha you should have no idea of Buddha, you just become...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
30%
Flag icon
Each bow expresses one of the four Buddhist vows. These vows are: “Although sentient beings are innumerable, we vow to save them. Although our evil desires are limitless, we vow to be rid of them. Although the teaching is limitless, we vow to learn it all. Although Buddhism is unattainable, we vow to attain it.” If
31%
Flag icon
Zen practice is the direct expression of our true nature.
31%
Flag icon
When you give up, when you no longer want something, or when you do not try to do anything special, then you do something.
31%
Flag icon
When there is no gaining idea in what you do, then you do something.
37%
Flag icon
Our effort in our practice should be directed from achievement to non-achievement.
37%
Flag icon
From achievement to non-achievement means to be rid of the unnecessary and bad results of effort.
37%
Flag icon
“Dharma-ridden,”
37%
Flag icon
You are involved in some idea of practice or attainment, and you cannot get out of it.
40%
Flag icon
To leave a trace is not the same as to remember something. It is necessary to remember what we have done, but we should not become attached to what we have done in some special sense.
40%
Flag icon
If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do.
40%
Flag icon
Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ashes.
42%
Flag icon
“Dana prajna paramita.” Dana means to give, prajna is wisdom, and
42%
Flag icon
paramita means to cross over, or to reach the other shore.
42%
Flag icon
Prajna paramita, the true wisdom of life, is that in each step of the way, the other shore is actually reached.
42%
Flag icon
sila prajna paramita,
42%
Flag icon
kshanti prajna paramita,
42%
Flag icon
virya prajna p...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
42%
Flag icon
dhyana prajna p...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
42%
Flag icon
prajna pa...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
42%
Flag icon
“To give is nonattachment.”
42%
Flag icon
is, just not to attach to anything is to give.
43%
Flag icon
Not to be attached to
43%
Flag icon
something is to be aware of its absolute value.
43%
Flag icon
three kinds of creation. The first is to be aware of ourselves
43%
Flag icon
When we emerge from nothing, when everything emerges from nothing, we see it all as a fresh new creation. This is nonattachment.
43%
Flag icon
The second kind of creation is when you act, or produce or prepare something
43%
Flag icon
third kind is to create something within yourself, such as education, ...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
43%
Flag icon
That is why we have so many problems in this world. When we forget the fundamental source of our creating,
43%
Flag icon
And we should forget, day by day, what we have done; this is true nonattachment. And we should do something new.
47%
Flag icon
ichigyo-zammai, or “one-act samadhi.” Sammai (or samadhi) is “concentration.” Ichigyo
47%
Flag icon
is “one practice.”
48%
Flag icon
if you are attached to the teaching, or to the teacher, that is a big mistake.
48%
Flag icon
You have a teacher for yourself, not for the teacher.
49%
Flag icon
It is necessary to talk about what our body is and what our activity is so that we may not make any mistake about them.
50%
Flag icon
to talk about ourselves is actually to forget about ourselves.
50%
Flag icon
To study ourselves is to forget...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
50%
Flag icon
When we forget ourselves, we actually are the true activity of the big existence, or reality itself.
50%
Flag icon
Zen stories, or koans,
53%
Flag icon
not to go seeking for something outside of yourself.
53%
Flag icon
Instead of gathering knowledge, you should clear your mind.
54%
Flag icon
accept knowledge as if you were hearing something you already knew.
54%
Flag icon
If you want to appreciate something fully, you should forget yourself.
54%
Flag icon
translation of the Japanese word nin is “patience,”
55%
Flag icon
the state of emptiness always have open the possibility of accepting things as they are.
55%
Flag icon
ultimate fact we do not mean something eternal or something constant, we mean things as they are in each moment.
58%
Flag icon
We cannot speak in a positive and a negative way at the same time.