Quotes About Sogen

Gedo Zen as religious discipline following teachings based on a perspective outside of Buddhism.

Modern world history began with the discovery of the Self and attained its summit in the eventual awareness of the Absolute Self.

Likewise in our Zen sect, although we boast of having no words or phrases, we cannot help the profuse amount of literature because it expresses compassion or what we call "grandmotherly concern.

Some people contend that this means the complete integration of subject and object whenever they meet. This interpretation is interesting in content, but it is not necessarily substantiated by anything in the literature of Zen.

Vimalakirti elsewhere preached that "enza" meant acting like ordinary men of the world without deviating from the Buddhist Way and Dharma. Thus, "enza" means living neither in mind nor outside it, mastering the thirty-seven teachings without being agitated by various opinions, and entering Nirvana65 without getting rid of desires and agonies.

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.

Now, when we go into samadhi through meditation, our thoughts become pacified. This means that the first five kinds of consciousnesses and the sixth consciousness have stopped their operations. When the operation of the conscious mind stops, that of the seventh consciousness called Mana-vijnana prevails to create makyo. Therefore, makyo may be regarded as something resulting from the power of concentration.