Quotes About Spirituality

This body is a tent which for a space Does the pure soul with kingly presence grace; When he departs, comes the tent-pitcher, Death, Strikes it, and moves to a new halting-place.

The path to God goes through that most difficult of beings, the human being

Eventually there will be a time when the pursuing self and the pursued mu are brought into oneness. It is then that mu becomes the self, and the self becomes mu. Both will then be smashed and transcended simultaneously.

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

Sanzen is classified into sosan (mandatory interviews for those with koan) and dokusan (individual interviews).

All beings are primarily Buddhas," can be called the primary statement of the essence of Buddhism. According to scholars of religion, religion means the completion of the individual as the Whole.

Accordingly, if we put it in extreme terms, all types of Zen other than Patriarchal Zen are inauthentic. However, in a positive sense, it may be said that Zen Outside the Way (Gedo Zen), Common Zen (Bompu Zen), Zen of the Mouth and Head (Koto Zen), Literary Zen (Moji Zen), Zen for Health (Kenko Zen), Zen for Medical Treatment (Ryoyo Zen), and all the rest exist within the realm of Patriarchal Zen.

With regards to the methods of attaining the essence of religion, there are generally two types as described by Imazu Kogaku:1 the meditation type and the prayer type.

The prayer type of religions are characterized by the idea that the Whole (God) exists outside the one who prays. In the meditation type, the individual is regarded as primarily identical with the Whole (God). This distinction is easy to understand.

Some of you may practice zazen all alone at home with this book of mine as a guide. If you do, you must be well prepared for suffering. If there is no suffering, your sitting will be futile and you will find it difficult to continue zazen.

the differences between the Soto and the Rinzai sects seem to be due to differences between two major types of human beings,

Nirvana is not pessimistic or negative like going to one's death the way most people think of it. Rather, it means gaining eternal life and entering the state of absolute security.

Soku is the most suitable kind of breathing for those of us who sit in meditation. What kind of breathing is it? It is described as the breath coming in and going out without any break, as if existent and yet non-existent. This description of soku is not complete, but I am sure it corresponds to the lower abdominal breathing (tanden-soku) discussed earlier.

As for those of us who breathe with the tanden, the frequency of our breathing ranges from two or three to five or six times per minute.

When people with only a shallow experience define Zen simply as a way to promote health or a way for human development, it is an embarrassment for Zen even though Zen has these aspects.

Sin and the child of God are incompatible. They may occasionally meet, but they cannot live together in harmony .

In our perception all life is equal, and that includes the birds, animals, things that grow, things that swim. All life is equal in our perception.

We've got to think now, in real terms, for that seventh generation . . . We've got to get back to spiritual law if we are to survive.

Sometimes I think there are only two instructions we need to follow to develop and deepen our spiritual life: slow down and let go.

Every act I live while I am fully awake can not help but be both prayer and lovemaking.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

And sometimes, I allow myself to imagine that each moment in which we love well by simply being all of who we are and being fully present allows us to give back something essential to the Sacred Mystery that sustains all life.

Once in a while, we are given moments of real grace.

Most spiritual practises have been developed - and, in the past, were sustained - in community. But most of us do not live in community. Although my students and friends and I share many of these practices, we are only occasionally in proximity to one another. Doing a daily practice alone is difficult. It requires not so much a heroic discipline as a deep commitment to life, a willingness to dedicate our lives to something larger than ourselves.