Quotes About Focus

Halfhearted effort does not produce half results; it produces no results.

The question is, do we have to be ten times smarter than the competition? Absolutely not. All we need is the nose and the rewards are ten times bigger. It's a lot easier to improve one per cent in hundred different areas than to improve hundred per cent in any one area. That is the winning edge!

To live without an aim is to wander in a wilderness

When you bow, you should just bow; when you sit, you should just sit; when you eat, you should just eat.

You should not have any remains after you do something. But this does not mean to forget all about it. In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do.

But if you make your best effort just to continue your practice with your whole mind and body, without gaining ideas, then whatever you do will be true practice.

when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely... You should burn yourself completely.

If you want to discover the true meaning of Zen in your everyday life, you have to understand the meaning of keeping your mind on your breathing and your body in the right posture in zazen.

For the beginner, practice without effort is not true practice.

Our way to practice is one step at a time, on breath at a time.

Another mistake will be to practice for the sake of the joy you find in it. Actually, when your practice is involved in a feeling of joy, it is not in very good shape either. Of course this is not poor practice, but compared to the true practice it is not so good.

Concentration is not to try hard to watch something... Concentration means freedom... In zazen practice we say your mind should be concentrated on your breathing, but the way to keep your mind on your breathing is to forget all about yourself and just to sit and feel your breathing.

In zazen practice we say your mind should be concentrated on your breathing, but the way to keep your mind on your breathing is to forget all about yourself and just to sit and feel your breathing.

So if you do something, you should be observant, and careful, and alert.

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. The

When you do something, just to do it should be your purpose.

If you are not concerned about what you do, you will not say so. When you sit, you will sit. When you eat, you will eat. That is all. If you say, "It doesn't matter," it means that you are making some excuse to do something in your own way with your small mind.

When there is no gaining idea in what you do, then you do something.

Practice does not mean that whatever you do, even lying down, is zazen. When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice.

When your mind is wandering about elsewhere you have no chance to express yourself. But if you limit your activity to what you can do just now, in this moment, then you can express fully your true nature, which is the universal Buddha nature.

Try always to keep the right posture, not only when you practice zazen, but in all your activities.

We must make some effort, but we must forget ourselves in the effort we make... So it is necessary for us to encourage ourselves and to make an effort up to the last moment, when all effort disappears.

So try always to keep the right posture, not only when you practice zazen, but in all your activities. Take the right posture when you are driving your car, and when you are reading. If you read in a slumped position, you cannot stay awake long. Try. You will discover how important it is to keep the right posture. This is the true teaching.

When we do something with a quite simple, clear mind, we have no notion or shadows, and our activity is strong and straightforward. But when we do something with a complicated mind, in relation to other things or people, or society, our activity becomes very complex.