Quotes About Contemplation

Kawajiri Hogin writes in his Zazen no Shokei, "When you are engaged in some work or other, you become one with it. In the intervals of your work, you immediately resume your contemplation on the koan. For instance, when you are smoking by the fireside or doing something like that, you are considered to be in the intervals of your work. At such a time you are absorbed in the contemplation on the koan free from dualistic thoughts and imaginations. This is one example of kufu in movement.

The publication Koan Kaito Shu15 (The Collection of Answers to Koan)

When all are seated, the jikijitsu claps the taku (wooden clappers) once, followed by the four successive rings of the small metal bell called inkin at measured intervals. This is the sign of shijo, which means the beginning of samadhi or zazen. In the ensuing period of quietness, the slightest movement of our bodies, even coughing, is forbidden.

Thinking that a koan is something to be thought about and solved objectively is out of keeping with Zen teachings.

The word "doubt" may be interpreted as "becoming the object of doubt itself.

It is especially desirable to let the concentrated state of mind, samadhi, operate in our everyday activities.

Hearing this, Master Eno scolded Shisei, "To calm the mind and contemplate is a Zen disease and not Zen. To what avail is it in principle to sit for a long time and suffer physical pain?

The concrete methods of adjusting the mind are called susoku-kan and koan kufu21 in Japanese.

it is important to take care to adjust our breathing to our koan as we inhale and exhale properly, saying to ourselves, "Mu." This method is what is called "nentei.

Kinhin means walking in the Zen hall after sitting in Zen meditation for some time. We walk meditatively with our hands held against our chests. The closed right hand held lightly against the chest is covered with the left hand, and both of the arms are held up horizontally.

If possible, we should sit as often as we can every day. In case it is impossible for us to sit many times a day, we must find ways to sit in the intervals of our work or while riding buses and trains on our way to and from work in addition to sitting once a day before going to bed.

If we in the West, where so much of the world's political and economic power reside, are going to find a way to make the changes that are necessary to ensure that our children's children can live on this planet, we have to learn how to participate fully in our own lives, how to remember and experience the interconnectedness of all spirit and matter. I seek wisdom in a life that combines contemplation and action.

Thinking is the toughest kind of work which is why so many people avoid it.

That man is intellectually of the mass who, in face of any problem, is satisfied with thinking the first thing he finds in his head. On the contrary, the excellent man is he who contemns what he finds in his mind without previous effort, and only accepts as worthy of him what is still far above him and what requires a further effort in order to be reached.

Pensar es un movimento natatorio para salvarse de la perdición en el caos

Thinking Christians think in believing and they believe in thinking.

For any follower of Jesus Christ who follows this path on the quest for meaning, the statement is true: A Christian thinks in believing and believes in thinking.

Christians," as that crusty old philosopher Bertrand Russell used to quip, "would sooner die than think—in fact they do.

Real thought takes courage more than intelligence.

I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being.

I also like to take my glasses off and look at people. The faces around me, all of them, seem kind and pretty and smiling. What's more, when my glasses are off, I don't ever think about arguing with anyone at all, nor do I feel the need to make snide remarks. All I do is just blankly stare in silence.

I absentmindedly fantasize as I rest my chin in my hand. But in the end I can do nothing.

Göze batmadan, pek çok insan?n yürüdü?ü yoldan sessizce gitmek en ak?ll? yol.

To become a spectator of one's own life is to escape the suffering of life.