By: Tseng Tsan (7th Century CE)
“The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.”
From Hsin Shin Ming (Trust in Mind)
By: Eihei Dogen
If the dharma has not yet fully come into one’s body and mind, one thinks it is already sufficient. On the other hand, if the dharma fills one’s body and mind, there is a sense of insufficiency. It is like going out in a boat in the middle of the ocean with no mountains. Looking in the four directions one only sees a circle; no distinguishing forms are seen. Nevertheless, this great ocean is neither a circle nor has directions. The wondrous features of this ocean that remain beyond our vision are inexhaustible. It is like a palace; it is like a jeweled necklace. It is just that, as far as my vision reaches for the time being, it appears to be a circle. The myriad dharmas are also just like that. Though they include all forms within and beyond the dusty world, clear seeing and understanding only reach as far as our penetrating insight.
From Dogen’s Genjokoan, in Flowers Fall: A Commentary on Zen Master Dogen’s Genjokoan, Hakuun Yasutani
“Sitting still in Way’s company.”
By: Shohaku Okumura
We usually think this meditation practice is to attain some kind of enlightenment or awakening, but Dogen said we should just sit without any expectation, even enlightenment, because we practice in order to get enlightenment and that is desire, our egocentric desire is still working there in search of truth. So from the very very beginning, we, in Dogen’s expression, “throw ourselves into the Way without expecting any reward.”
[My] teacher, Sawaki Kodo Roshi, said Zazen, this sitting meditation, is “good for nothing.” That is what I [also] recommend to people. Zazen without expectation or without a gaining mind or “Zazen is good for nothing” is a kind of a Koan. Even I, when I started to practice, had some expectation; …without expectation or goal, we cannot start to practice. Here is a kind of conflict; we usually call this a “way seeking mind.” Without this way seeking mind (or in Buddhist terms bodhicitta) we cannot start to practice. But the teaching is you should not even expect the answer. So here is a conflict; as we continue, this becomes a really serious question.
Sometimes we have to face a dead end. Deep in my heart I think to practice “good for nothing Zazen” is the most authentic practice in [the] Buddhist tradition. That’s why I’m OK, that’s why my life is meaningful. One day I found myself sitting alone. … I sat by myself and I found deep peace. That means, I don’t need to be a good boy. I can be just sitting. And I found that is really “Zazen that is good for nothing.” Before that I intellectually understood it, that it is good for nothing as a Buddhist philosophy. But because of what I felt [that day sitting alone] my life is OK and meaningful. When I couldn’t continue in that way, I felt my life is not valuable. But I [have] found that that is [our] ground: we need to practice without a desire to be a good boy, not only in the secular, mundane way, but even as a Buddhist. I became free from my desire to be a good Buddhist. Finally, I think I found [the] real meaning of “zazen is good for nothing” or “practice without expectation or gaining mind.” So just be there with this body and mind.
When we sit, we don’t really listen to anything, we don’t pay any attention. Even if the birds are singing, and we are sitting, if I listen to their singing, and think these are the birds, then it’s not Zazen any more. Even when I do this, there is a separation between a person sitting and the sound. There is an interesting koan story in Zen, (and Dogen liked this [koan],) a teacher asked a student, showing, pointing to the wind bell, and the teacher asked does the wind make the sound, or does the bell make the sound? Then the student said my mind makes the sound without wind or bell. That means when the wind blows, the wind bell makes a vibration. When that vibration of the air reaches my ear, then it becomes sound. So before the vibrations reaches my ear, there is no sound. Sound is only inside of our mind. But Dogen said that is not true. Even if my mind is working, if the wind doesn’t blow, and the wind bell doesn’t shake, and the air doesn’t vibrate, then there is no sound. So all of them are making the sound, that means the entire universe is making the sound. So there is no subject who listens or sound that is heard, that is what Dogen called Total Function. We are part of it, so there is no such person who is listening, no sound that comes to me, but this entire world is making that sound through this person, and this person is only a tiny part of it.
This is from the dharma talk, “Zen Master Shohaku Okumura Explains Why Meditation is Good for Nothing,” which can be found at: https://www.upworthy.com/zen-master-explains-why-meditation-good-for-nothing?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2
By Seido Martin:
We recall specifics and have sincere regret. Everything from petty gossip to the taking of life is seen clearly for what it is. While atonement does not erase responsibility for the consequences of our actions, it cleanses the heart and allows us to return to the land of the living, unburdened and humbly willing to transform habitual patterns based in greed, hate and delusion to generosity, love and clarity.
But something interesting happens as we deepen our awareness of the complete interdependence of self and other. No longer is it so easy to harbor resentment for the injuries done to us and be “at one” with what we have also done to others. If we heal our own wounded parts with compassion, we realize the uselessness of harboring resentment towards those who have harmed us. We are the victims of our own resentment. This frees us up to see that they, like us, also suffer from this human “beginningless” greed, hate and delusion. If we look deeply enough, we are really looking in a mirror at the one who injured us. We are not two. This doesn’t “excuse” any behavior or prohibit response to injustice, but instead reestablishes the capacity to love and act rather than remain blind and stuck. We accept the reality of all that has occurred.
Atonement’s broadest function comes when the separate self drops away and we take responsibility “for it all” — the pollution in the river, the school shooting in the next county, the corruption in the government — you, me, and all suffering beings contained in the entire ungraspable arising of causes and conditions arising as Now. There is no past but what is contained in this moment. From this place, atonement points to the perfection that transcends the limited self. It is complete, whole and leaves nothing out. While this proposition may seem overwhelming at first, it is actually one of the most profoundly freeing actions we can take. To be “at one” with this world as it is readies the heart to care and respond to the suffering before us. While the rational mind cannot grasp the extent of its power, we can taste its liberation right from the start the first time we atone together.
Seido Martin is the Guiding Teacher at Zen West - Empty Field in Eugene, Oregon. She is a dharma friend of Ava Stanton. Check out their website at https://www.emptyfieldzendo.org/ , which is a great resource.
By: Carl Jung
Are we related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of [one’s] life…If we understand and feel that here in this life we already have a link with the infinite, desires and attitudes change.
From the Sayings of Layman P’ang:
The Layman was sitting in his thatched cottage one day studying the sūtras. "Difficult, difficult," he said; "like trying to scatter ten measures of sesame seed all over a tree." "Easy, easy," Mrs. P’ang said; "like touching your feet to the ground when you get out of bed." "Neither difficult nor easy," Ling Zhao (their daughter) said; "on the hundred grass tips, the great Masters’ meaning."
Note: Layman P’ang (740-808) was a celebrated lay Buddhist in the Chinese Chan (Zen) tradition. He was a successful merchant with a wife, son, and daughter. The family's wealth allowed them to devote their time to study of the Buddhist sutras, in which they all became well-versed. P’ang's daughter Ling Zhao was particularly adept, and sometimes, as in this case, seems more advanced and wise than her parents. After P’ang retired from his profession, he worried about the spiritual dangers of his wealth, so he placed all of his possessions in a boat which he then sunk in a river. The family then led an itinerant lifestyle, wandering about and visiting Buddhist masters and supporting themselves by making and selling bamboo utensils. P’ang studied under, among other masters, Shitou, the author of Harmony of Difference and Equality.
By: Eihei Dogen
“Even if we don’t have lofty temple buildings, if we practice, the place can be called a dojo of ancient buddhas.”
“We hear that ancient people practiced on the ground or under a tree. Such places are sacred forever. A single person’s continuous practice creates a dojo for many buddhas.”
Commentary by Shohaku Okumura: “We don’t need a formal zazen hall. When we vow to establish a dojo or sangha we should not forget this.”
The sailor cannot see the north, but knows the needle can.
By: Katagiri Roshi
Being told that it’s impossible,
One believes, in despair, “Is that so?”
Being told that it is possible,
One believes, in excitement, “That’s right.”
But whichever is chosen,
It does not fit one’s heart neatly.
Being asked, “What is unfitting?”
I don’t know what it is.
But my heart knows somehow.
I feel an irresistible desire to know.
What a mystery “human” is!
As to this mystery:
Clarifying
Knowing how to live
Knowing how to walk with people
Demonstrating and teaching,
This is the Buddha.
From my human eyes
I feel it’s really impossible to become a Buddha.
But this “I,” regarding what the Buddha does,
Vows to practice
To aspire
To be resolute,
And tells me, “Yes, I will.”
Just practice right here, now
And achieve continuity
Endlessly
Forever.
This is living in vow.
Herein is one’s peaceful life found.
By: Ken McLeod
If compassion is the wish that others not suffer, one approach, certainly, is to address material and emotional needs—struggles with poverty, hunger, illness, and fear in all of their innumerable combinations, as well as the many ways in which people are treated as less than human. This form of compassion seeks to alleviate suffering and pain as much as possible and takes expression in society as kindness, care, and justice.
To bring an actual end to suffering is another matter entirely. Suffering comes to an end only when a person is so in touch with life that he or she is completely at peace, regardless of physical or emotional circumstances. The wish to help others find that kind of peace is a very different form of compassion.
Bodhicitta evolves out of this second kind of compassion. Bodhicitta, as awakening mind, is the intention to awaken to life in order to help others awaken to life. It is not simply a feeling or an emotion or a sentiment. It has a vertical dimension that runs at right angles to our social conditioning and embraces a knowing, a seeing, into the nature of experience itself. It may grow out of a compassion that sees to alleviate suffering, but it is qualitatively different.
Bodhicitta permeates every aspect of Mahayana teaching and practice. Broadly speaking, it is a quality (many might say it is the quality) that moves us in the direction of awakening.
From: Bodhicitta Explained (Tricycle magazine, Summer 2018)
By: Norman Fischer
Real altruism isn’t self-sacrifice for the benefit of others, a guilt-driven sense that we should be good, we should be nice, we should be kind. It is the profound recognition that self and others are not fundamentally different, only apparently different. Because of this the range of activity and feeling of bodhicitta is much wider than we would expect. A whole world of altruism and its effects upon up before us. We now see that the only we that we could lover ourselves is by loving others, and the only way that we could truly love others is to love ourselves. The difference between self-love and love of others is very small, once we really understand. Taking this truth into our hearts and actions is truly life changing. And once we open to it, it becomes impossible to go back. It becomes impossible to fool ourselves anymore with selfishness and resentment. To be sure, we will probably have plenty of selfish and resentful feelings, but now we know them for what they are, and they are far less compelling, because we have seen for ourselves how stupid, how childish and blind such feelings actually are.
From: Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong
By: Taigen Dan Leighton
A key aspect of Bodhisattva practice is the commitment or dedication to the way of awakening and to carrying out this commitment and practice for the benefit of all. The aspiration to care for and to awaken all beings (in Sanskrit called bodhicitta, literally “enlightening mind”) is considered mysterious and auspicious. This heartfelt care for suffering beings and fundamental questioning into the meaning of our lives arises unaccountably amid the multitude of psychological conditionings in our experience, known and unknown…
Although bodhisattva qualities may unfold over great stretches of time, the initial aspiration of beginners seeking the Way is said to be identical in nature and value to that of an advanced bodhisattva.
By C.G. Jung
The serious problems of life are never fully solved. If ever they should appear to be so, it is a sure sign that something has been lost. The meaning and the purpose of a problem seem to lie not in its solution but in our working at it incessantly. This alone preserves us from stultification and petrification.
By Charlotte Selver
I don’t want to take away from you your discoveries. I don’t want to give you pre-chewed knowledge. I think you have enough of that. You have to get going yourself. One thing you probably have noticed—not only in what we say but in what we do in class: that the emphasis is on finding out for yourself. Not saying, “This is right,” and “This is wrong,” you know. Not giving instruction as to how to accomplish something, but giving the person an occasion to find out for himself. This is very basic in our work! Giving the honor to the person to explore, and not to teach him how things “ought” to be.
By Rev. Issho Fujita
Meditation practices which emphasize something psychological—thoughts, perceptions, feelings, visualizations, intentions, etc.—all direct our attention to cortical-cerebral functions, which I will loosely refer to as “Head.” Most meditation, as we conventionally understand it, is a work that focuses on the Head. In Oriental medicine we find the interesting idea that harmony among the internal organs is of greatest importance. All the issues associated with Head are something merely resulting from a lack of harmony among the internal organs, which are the real bases of our life.
Because of our highly developed cortical-cerebral function, we tend to equate self-consciousness, the sense of “I,” with the Head—as if the Head is the main character in the play and the body is the servant following orders from the Head. However from the point of view of Oriental medicine this is not only a conceit of the Head, but is a total misconception of life. Head is just a small part of the whole of life, and need not hold such a privileged position.
While most meditation tends to focus on the Head, zazen focuses more on the living holistic body-mind framework, allowing the Head to exist without giving it any pre-eminence. If the Head is overfunctioning, it will give rise to a split and unbalanced life. But in the zazen posture it learns to find its proper place and function within a unified mind-body field. Our living human body is not just a collection of bodily parts, but is an organically integrated whole. It is designed in such a way that when one part of the body moves, however subtle the movement may be, it simultaneously causes the whole body to move in accordance with it.
The entire article may be found in the Spring 2002 issue of Insight Journal, a publication of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
To harden into a Buddha is wrong.
Ikkyu (1394-1481)
By Zen Master Sokei An
Your body is not bounded by the surface of your skin, you know. The sun and the moon are your body. The ocean and rivers are your body. The whole universe is your body. The Buddha based his religion upon this Mind, this consciousness. Sometimes you call it “one-body.” Then you observe that your mind is as boundless as the sky, and the endless universe, and your present state, this moment is here…that is all. All the teachings are in your heart, they are inherent, the intrinsic law of your nature. You cannot find this anywhere outside yourself.
You should not be tilted sideways, backwards, or forwards. You should be sitting straight up as if you were supporting the sky with your head. This is not just form or breathing. It expresses the key point of Buddhism. It is a perfect expression of your Buddha nature. If you want true understanding of Buddhism, you should practice this way. These forms are not a means of obtaining the right state of mind. To take this posture is itself the purpose of our practice. When you have this posture, you have the right state of mind, so there is no need to try to attain some special state.
By Jane Hirschfield
It was like this:
you were happy, then you were sad,
then happy again, then not.
It went on.
You were innocent or you were guilty.
Actions were taken, or not.
At times you spoke, at other times you were silent.
Mostly, it seems you were silent—what could you say?
Now it is almost over.
Like a lover, your life bends down and kisses your life.
It does this not in forgiveness—
between you, there is nothing to forgive—
but with the simple nod of a baker at the moment
he sees the bread is finished with transformation.
Eating, too, is a thing now only for others.
It doesn’t matter what they will make of you
or your days: they will be wrong,
they will miss the wrong woman, miss the wrong man,
all the stories they tell will be tales of their own invention.
Your story was this: you were happy, then you were sad,
you slept, you awakened.
Sometimes you ate roasted chestnuts, sometimes persimmons.