Quotes About Practice

There is no particular way in true practice. You should find your own way, and you should know what kind of practice you have right now.

you will find the worst horse is the most valuable one. In your very imperfections you will find the basis for your firm, way-seeking mind... But those who find great difficulties in practicing Zen will find more meaning in it. So I think that sometimes the best horse may be the worst horse, and the worst horse can be the best one.

To take this posture itself is the purpose of our practice.

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.

While you are continuing this practice, week after week, year after year, your experience will become deeper and deeper, and your experience will cover everything you do in your everyday life.

Our effort in our practice should be directed from achievement to non-achievement.

Pleasure is not different from difficulty. Good is not different from bad. Bad is good; good is bad. They are two sides of one coin. So enlightenment should be in practice. That is the right understanding of practice, and the right understanding of our life. So to find pleasure in suffering is the only way to accept the truth of transiency.

So even though you have some difficulty in your practice, even though you have some waves while you are sitting, those waves themselves will help you.

But the way of practice is just to be concentrated on your breathing with the right posture and with great, pure effort.

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

Our way is not to sit to acquire something; it is to express our true nature. That is our practice.

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

In Hinayana Buddhism, practice is classified in four ways. The best way is just to do it without having any joy in it, not even spiritual joy. This way is just to do it, forgetting your physical and mental feeling, forgetting all about yourself in your practice.

But do not give up your practice; continue it, knowing your weakness.

After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little.

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.

It will take quite a long time before you find your calm, serene mind in your practice.

Instead of only criticizing your culture, you should devote your mind and body to practicing this simple way. Then society and culture will grow out of you.

It is when your practice is rather greedy that you become discouraged with it. So you should be grateful that you have a sign or warning signal to show you the weak point in your practice.

So even though you have some difficulty in your practice, even though you have some waves while you are sitting, those waves themselves will help you. So you should not be bothered by your mind. You should rather be grateful for the weeds, because eventually they will enrich your practice.

Even when you practice zazen alone, without a teacher, I think you will find some way to tell whether your practice is adequate or not.

W]hen your practice is calm and ordinary, everyday life itself is enlightenment.

We can say either that we make progress little by little, or that we do not even expect to make progress. Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each moment is enough.

Although Buddhism is unattainable, we vow to attain it.If it is unattainable, how can we attain it? But we should! That is Buddhism.