Quotes About Awareness

the mind of nondiscriminating discrimination which Master Bankei calls the Unborn Buddha Mind. He writes, "To see and hear things without any preparation to see and hear them is called Unborn Mind.

there are large number of people—so-called believers—who misunderstand the concept of "no-thought and no-thinking" (Jpn. munen muso).

Further, to have concentration without wisdom is to idly come to a standstill in an empty world.

Thinking that a koan is something to be thought about and solved objectively is out of keeping with Zen teachings.

As long as we make the Truth and the Absolute our primary objects without transcending the duality of subject and object, we are not said to be in zazen, even if we formally sit in strict conformity to its requirements.

kufu means, as I have already explained, being without any suki (opening or flaw in terms of swordsmanship) or yudan (carelessness) and to become the thing itself.

Just as in the phrase jyo-e enmyo (full and clear perception in the wisdom of concentration), jyo (concentration) necessarily gives birth to e (wisdom) and e (wisdom) must be based on jyo (concentration).

Where were you facing yesterday?" "Well, my nose doesn't hurt a bit today." This answer must have highly pleased Baso. He praised Hyakujo, saying, "Now you understand. You know about today very well." He meant that Hyakujo truly realized the whereabouts of life.

Otherwise, no matter how clear our perception, it is nothing but worldly knowledge and discriminating knowledge and can never be called wisdom.

Seeing one's true self-nature in itself is samadhi, and samadhi in itself is seeing one's true self-nature.

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

However, this Land of Lotus Blossoms does not exist outside us.

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.

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.

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.

Hogin further writes that by doing so "such a man practices zazen in the wrong way." Here lies the mistake of the believers of "no-thought and no-thinking." These people forget that the true meaning of the phrase comes alive when they become one with susoku and koan.

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.

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.

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.