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March 19, 2015 - March 4, 2018
we practice zazen: to clear our mind of what is related to something else.
the only thing we actually can study in our life is that on which we are working in each moment.
It is almost impossible to talk about Buddhism.
When we practice zazen we just practice zazen, without any gaining idea.
when you do everything without thinking about whether it is good or bad, and when you do something with your whole mind and body, then that is our way.
when you start zazen, there is enlightenment even without any preparation.
the most important thing is this moment, not some day in the future. We have to make our effort in this moment.
only through practice, actual practice, can we understand what Buddhism is.
The eternal exists because of non-eternal existence.
become strong enough to accept difficulty as pleasure,
change your way of thinking a little bit.
If you are suffering, you will have some pleasure in the teaching that everything changes.
“When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality of your state of mind is the activity itself.
When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality
“There is no body and no mind!”
“I have dropped off mind and body.”
when you realize that everything is just a flashing into the vast universe, you become very strong, and your existence becomes very meaningful.
To be independent in this true sense, we have to forget everything which we have in our mind and discover something quite new and different moment after moment.
“Step by step I stop the sound of the murmuring brook.”
this is renunciation.
if you want to stop your thinking you can.
Concentration is not to try hard to watch something.
You should be concentrated on nothing.
If you are concentrated on your breathing you will forget yourself, and if you forget yourself you will be concentrated on your breathing. I do not know which is first.
there is no need to try too hard
eventually you will experience the true existence which co...
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Prajna Paramita Sutra the most important point, of course, is the idea of emptiness.
Bodhidharma’s zazen.
This is Bodhidharma’s understanding of enlightenment.
For a frog, his sitting position is zazen. When a frog is hopping, that is not zazen.
accept things as they are
Our mind should be soft and open enough to understand things as they are. When our thinking is soft, it is called imperturbable thinking. This kind of thinking is always stable. It is called mindfulness. Thinking which is divided in many ways is not true thinking. Concentration should be present in our thinking. This is mindfulness. Whether you have an object or not, your mind should be stable and your mind should not be divided. This is zazen.
we have to believe in something which has no form and no color—something which exists before all forms and colors appear. This is a very important point.
find the reality in each moment, and in each phenomenon.
The meaning lies in the effort itself.
there is no need to understand what Zen is. We are practicing zazen.
We study how to act by sitting,
zazen is all the postures, and each posture is Buddha’s posture.
Whether or not you make yourself peaceful is the point, and whether or not you stick to it.
When you have something in your consciousness you do not have perfect composure. The best way towards perfect composure is to forget everything.
not to leave any trace or shadow of thinking.
eventually your clear, empty mind will last fairly long.
emptiness of mind is not even a state of mind, but the original essence of mind which Buddha and the Sixth Patriarch experienced. “Essence of mind,” “original mind,” “original face,” “Buddha nature,” “emptiness”—all these words mean the absolute calmness of our mind.
You know how to rest physically. You do not know how to rest mentally.
establish your practice in your delusion.” Even though you think you are in delusion, your pure mind is there.
If you have pure mind, essential mind in your delusion, the delusion will vanish. It cannot stay when you say, “This is delusion!”
To have delusion is practice.
This is to attain enlightenment before you realize it.
when you say, “This is delusion,” that is actually enl...
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whether or not you attain enlightenment, just to sit in zazen is enough.
