Quotes About Zen

The above difference between Eno and Jinshu later came to cause the division of Zen Buddhism into two branches: the Southern School, derived from Hui-neng, and the Northern School, stemming from Shenhsiu. The former advocated direct seeing into one's original Buddha nature—that is, sudden awakening to one's self-nature. The latter taught gradual awakening through perpetual endeavor to keep one's mind clean.

shikan means that the sitter must be totally integrated with sitting itself and sit in a commanding manner.

When viewed in terms of its discipline, Rinzai Zen is distinguished from Soto Zen by its requirement of the realization of the True Self that transcends this five-foot body and fifty-year life span through integration with koan. For instance, there is the koan of mu which derives from Master Joshu's question about the Buddha nature of a dog.

In Master Shibayama Zenkei's Rinzai Zen no Seikaku,72 the styles of the Soto sect and the Rinzai sect are respectively described as honkaku (original awakening) and shikaku (primal awakening). He writes, "It may be said that, as similar as they are, they are different. Rinzai Zen principally stresses discipline for enlightenment, whereas Soto Zen is principally concerned with discipline for descent from the height of enlightenment.

Ashikaga Takauji41 had an evil reputation as a traitor, but it is said that he sat zazen for some time every night and never failed to engage in this daily practice even when he became intoxicated. I think this should be a lesson to students of Zen.

Why do they practice such quietistic and futile Zen just as you do? It is, after all, because they failed to meet any qualified teachers in the beginning and came to indulge themselves in the practice of various inauthentic kinds of Zen. They know nothing about kufu to achieve immovability in movement. They should indeed be called self-indulgent, unenlightened, stubborn, and dense stink bags and pseudo-Zen men.

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

Talking, laughing, quarreling, and moving the limbs should all be integrated into the one and the same samadhi.

our everyday life, filled with noise and lively activities of people, must be the most convenient dojo for kufu to practice Zen in movement.

nirvana, which is another name for samadhi.

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.

At first the power of concentration nurtured during sitting for thirty minutes may be lost in an instant as soon as we stop sitting. But later we will be able to retain it for five or ten minutes by means of hoben and kufu.

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 lay Zen Master Kawajiri Hogin also warns against this empty type of sitting: To begin with, most people who practice zazen consciously try to make themselves empty. This is a grave mistake because you have thoughts about becoming empty, and it is futile to sit however long you may try to do so.

This operating power of our minds is called joriki. It is, in short, the operation of no-self. Master Sogaku writes about it as follows, "The right mind operates at each time and in each place to make you take the right attitude and act properly without deviating from the Way.

As long as you are conscious of your wish to be empty, you will never succeed in becoming empty.

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

in the true sense of the word, "no-thought and no-thinking" means flowing steadily and endlessly in the pure experience of the oneness of self and other.

Nembutsu is the invocation of Buddha's name. It is said, "When I invoke the name of Buddha, there is neither I nor Buddha." This is the true nembutsu. It pertains to the realm of oneness, rather than to that of dualism in which self and Buddha are deemed to be separate as subject and object of invocation respectively. Thus, it is not too much to say that the samadhi of Mahayana Zen Buddhism is the most supreme form of nembutsu.

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.

also mention in the same book that Master Imakita Kosen likewise writes in the fourth chapter of Zenkai Ichiran that the consistent way of a superior man lies nowhere but in saying, "Yes!"7 Master Takuan calls this mind that answers, "Yes!" Immovable Wisdom. I think that this spontaneous response to anything in the affirmative selflessly and with mu-shin (no mind) is "praising the practice of zazen and faithfully following it.

It is into these two schools that Hakuin's Zen is divided at present. The teaching of the Takuju School is characterized by the mysterious symbolism of words, whereas that of the Inzan School is reputed for the severity of its dynamic action.

To sit in order to cure neurosis or to develop hara42 so as not to be frightened by things is really up to each person and probably is not bad. Whether such people will be guided from there to training according to the true way of Zen discipline depends on the ability of the instructor. But, if we recall the original aim of zazen, it is correct to say that zazen has no purpose other than zazen.

The concentration power of zazen, enabling you to walk through a place as busy as downtown Tokyo as if you were walking alone through an uninhabited desert, springs from a deep principle cultivated only in the practice of samadhi with one's eyes open. It is this point that only a person of attainment would know. You must never make light of opening or shutting your eyes.