The Buddha only points out the way.
It is YOU who must do the job.
Those who enters this unidirectional way,
win by meditation release from Mara’s bondage.
Dhammapada – 276
Do not make the mistake of imagining that the nature of mind is exclusive only to our minds.
It is in fact the nature of everything.
It can never be said too often that to realize the nature of mind
is to realize the nature of all things.
Sogyal Rinpoche
Heaven is calm and clear,
Earth is stable and peaceful.
Beings who lose these qualities die,
While those who emulate them, live.
Calm spaciousness is the
House of spiritual light.
Open selflessness is the
Abode of the Way.
Master Huai-nan-tzu
Looking deeply is to remove the frontier
between our notions and reality.
Dhyana Master Thich Nhat Hanh
Of one thing it is said
"That is bad"
and of another it is said
"That is good."
But there is nothing
inherent in things
that make them good
or bad, for each thing's
self is empty of
independent existence.
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Sutra
There would be no chance at all of getting to know death if it happened only once.
But fortunately, life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change.
Every time I hear the rush of a mountain stream, or the waves crashing on the shore,
or my own heartbeat, I hear the sound of impermanence.
These changes, these small deaths, are our living links with death.
They are death’s pulses, death’s heartbeat, prompting us to let go of all the things we cling to.
Sogyal Rinpoche
Prayer for the mind
This exhausted mind
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought,
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves
In the infinite ocean of samsara.
Rest in natural great peace.
Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
Gratitude isn’t just justified. It is pragmatic.
When you activate gratitude,
you turn off parts of your brain that are working on distress.
Gratitude and compassion together
open the doors to the experience of joy.
Dharma Teacher
Where shall I put my attention today?
What shall I create?
What shall I learn and remember?
What habit shall I strengthen or weaken?
The big question is not, “Can I change?”
The big question is, “Where shall I put my attention this moment?”
Dharma Teacher
Simplicity is something that our fundamental nature inherently possesses.
If we prepare in advance and nurture it within ourselves,
then wherever we happen to be, whether in wealth and high rank,
or poverty and low status, in foreign lands, or in difficult circumstances,
we deal with whatever situation we are in by retaining our simplicity there.
It is not increased when we do great deeds
or reduced when we are dwelling in obscurity.
Wherever we go, we are at peace,
because we have found simplicity.
Master Nie Bao
Stillness is one.
It has no before or after,
No inside or outside.
Master Luo Hongxian
Sometimes westerners have a hard time appreciating the Dharma
because the form in which it has come to us is so eastern.
Priests with shaved heads in oriental robes, incense, prostrations before the altar,
and unfamiliar chants can feel alien.
But those are forms and the Dharma itself is formless.
To reject the Dharma because of its trappings is like refusing to travel a road
because you don’t like the map.
Maha Sthavira Sangharakshita
In truth, there is no singular person.
We are one, together with the Infinite.
The blade of grass, our master,
the pebble in our shoe, our teacher.
Let us learn.
Rev. Dr. So Daiho-roshi
A person should contemplate the workings of the universe
with reverence and introspection.
In this way expression is given to the effects of these laws
upon his own person.
This is the source of a hidden power.
I Ching
Though nothing happens,
we’ve grown old in our busy lives.
We cry and laugh, all in emptiness.
There is originally no self,
so both life and death can be cast aside.
Master Sheng-yen
Peace of Mind
Remember everyone,
'Stay in the present moment!'
With the mind,
either on the past,
thinking of what's transpired,
or on the future,
on what's yet to come,
we're missing life,
one moment at a time.
Dharma Teacher
Silently a flower blooms,
In silence it falls away;
Yet here now, at this moment,
At this place,
The whole of the flower,
The whole of the world
Is blooming.
This is the talk of the flower,
The truth of the blossom;
The glory of life is fully shining here.
Zenkei Shibayama
Giving and receiving are incorrect from a Zen point of view:
nothing was given, nothing received: everything is already One.
Sodaiho Hilbert Roshi
Zen is never about ourselves.
Its about the Universe.
Each moment on the cushion
opens this truth to us: there is no us.
Sodaiho Hilbert Roshi
Thinking you hold the root,
you hold only a branch, a stem.
Why not let your hand become a hand again
empty as the root you seek?
Peter Levitt
Create the intention of paying attention.
Instead of daydreaming or running your thoughts,
focus your mind on the task at hand.
Dharma Teacher
There is no self.
So if you have self pride
Then you have false pride.
Dharma Master Des Boo-ngoh
Washing my Hands
Water flows over these hands.
May I use them skilfully
to preserve our precious planet.
Gatha of Master Thich Nhat Hahn
Eat with empathy:
As you eat in abundance
and enjoy good company,
think also of those
who have no food to eat
and who have no company.
Radiate love to them
and share the joy with them
in your mind.
Des Boo-Ngoh
I have lived for more than fifty years,
Floating in the sea of birth and death.
There is nothing to grasp.
Shin’etsu (1639-1696)
Feeding the mind
Feeding the mind,
with the mind.
Feeding the mind,
using the mind.
Bhikkhu Samahita
Master Nam Tuyen sais:
“Everyday thought
is the Way”
Commentary:
If it is cold, say: “cold”.
If it is warm, say: “warm”.
Master Tran Thay Tong
Contradictions
That's what you say,
but what does your conscience say?
Have you listened to it lately?
Because that is what will matter,
in the end.
Bhikkhu Samahita
Not from speaking much
is one called wise.
The patient one,
free from anger,
free from fear.
Only such one
is rightly called wise.
Dhammapada - 258
Will you disappear
When you are Empty?
No you will Not disappear.
Your Buddha nature
Will appear
When you
Are Empty.
Dharma Master Des Boo Ngoh
Let the wise one watch over the mind,
So hard to perceive, so artful,
Alighting where it wishes.
A watchfully protected mind
Will bring happiness.
Dhammapada
Limitations gone:
since my mind fixed on the moon,
clarity and serenity
make something for which
there’s no end in sight.
Saigyo (1118 – 1190)
The universal is present in the individual.
Just so, liberation comes from recognizing:
the subtle in the gross,
the unity in diversity,
the similarity in differences,
the truth in untruth,
the light in darkness,
the life in death.
This is real liberation.
Nityananda (d.1961)
Why do I talk here?
Only because you followers of Tao
go galloping around in search of the mind,
and are unable to stop it.
On the other hand,
the ancients acted in a leisurely Way,
appropriate to circumstances as they arose.
Master Lin-chi
For no reason it rains,
Whispers of reality.
How lovely it sings,
Drop by drop.
Sitting and lying I listen
With emptied mind.
I don’t need ears,
I don’t need rain.
Master Chin’gak
Contentment: Dynamic Action
Are you content?
How content?
For how long?
True contentment has no expiry date.
True contentment lasts forever.
True contentment is thus true.
True contentment need not be static.
The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are dynamically at work still,
truly and contentedly helping countless with the Dharma!
Shian
Buddha: Form and Sound
Someone who tries to discern me in form or seek me in sound
is practicing non-Buddhist methods and will not discern the Tathagata.
The Diamond Sutra
The mountain air sparkles as the sun sets,
Birds in flocks return together.
In these things there is a fundamental truth,
But when I start to explain it,
I lose the words.
Ryokan (1758-1831)
A single path upwards.
The thousand sages
Do not assist me.
Jiun Sonja (1718-1804)
Living beings falsely discriminate,
That is the Buddha, this is the world.
For the one who comprehends the Dharma-nature,
There is neither Buddha nor world.
Avatamsaka Sutra
As mind is, so is the Buddha;
As the Buddha is, so are living beings.
One should know that the Buddha’s and mind’s
Essential nature is boundless.
Avatamsaka Sutra
To return to the root is to find the meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment there is going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.
Seng Ts'an
Third Zen Patriarch of China (d. 606 CE)
Accepting the world as it is, our lives as they are is both the beginning and the end.
If we are suffering in this world as it is, should we continue to suffer?
No. We should look deeply into the nature of our suffering,
understand it at its root then cut the root and let it go.
Will we continue to experience pain? Yes. Will we suffer? No.
Sodaiho Roshi
To work with changes now, in life:
That is the real way to prepare for death.
Life may be full of pain, suffering, and difficulty, but all of these are opportunities
handed to us to help us move toward an emotional acceptance of death.
It is only when we believe things to be permanent
that we shut off the possibility of learning from change.
Sogyal Rinpoche
Those who do not live in the single Way fail in both activity and passivity, assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality;
to assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking, and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
Seng Ts'an
Third Zen Patriarch of China (d. 606 CE)
Master Sengtsan is teaching us not to think?
No. He is teaching that thought is only thought and that thought is not reality.
We should not be confused by names.
Because we have a name for something does not mean we know its true reality.
True reality is beyond words and phrases.
Likewise, to say this also misses the mark.
Things are both this and that simultaneously.
We live in a relative and absolute world together.
Still, when we experience purely without adding thoughts and feelings about the experience,
then we are truly living in the moment and, as the Master says,
there is nothing we cannot know.
Sodaiho Roshi
When one truly dies and leaves his own body,
he can go freely wherever he likes.
In the midst of profound darkness
or when the doors and windows are shut,
one enters a state of freedom.
The body is like a dream.
When we see this and awake,
not a trace remains.
Master Takuan (1573-1645)
Who is heroic?
“Being a hero isn't about being honoured.
It's about taking the gifts we've been given and helping as many people as we can.”
Good point - that applies to the heroic Bodhisattva path too.
The “gifts” though , are ultimately self-earned -
the blessings from learning and practising the Dharma - as “given” by the Buddha.
These gifts are for sharing too.
If not, the Buddha would had kept the Dharma he realised to himself,
and not urged anyone to share it.
The best gifts multiply when given or shared -
they are never lessened in the process.
Such is the power of truth, the gift of the Dharma -
the gift that excels all other gifts.
Shian
Practicing meditation teaches us
to let go.
What enters when everything opens?
Life itself.
Harvey Sodaiho Roshi
We are constantly identified with our bodies.
We think, “This is me” or “I am my body, I am these thoughts.
I am these feelings, I am these desires,
I am this wealth, these beautiful possessions that I have, this personality.”
That is where we go wrong.
Sister Medhanandi
When we deeply appreciate each moment,
a moment becomes eternal.
In the Zen way,
the everyday becomes our prayer.
Harvey Sodaiho Roshi
How can He smile so happily?
Do not compare him with others;
His worldliness is not worldly,
His joy springs from his own True Nature.
Master Fugai Ekun (1568-1654)
What is meant by the term "illusion"?
Is that phenomena do not exist independently of other phenomena,
that their appearance of independent existence is illusory.
This is all that is meant by "illusion,"
not that something is not really there.
Tenzin Gyatso, XIV Dalai Lama
Just as the soft rains fill the streams,
Pour into the rivers,
And join together in the oceans,
So many the power of every moment
Of your goodness flow forth to awaken
And heal all beings;
Those here now,
Those gone before,
Those yet to come.
Traditional Buddhist Blessing
When the mind is at ease and spirit is at peace,
Understanding is gained.
There is nothing left to comprehend.
Who can say that the realm of Tao is far from us?
How tranquil it is!
Like the beginning of Heaven and Earth.
Ni Tsan (1301-1374)
Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent.
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Sutta Nipata
Life is a treasure.
Only when exploited mindfully,
life can produce light and heat
to brighten up oneself and others.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen
Calm and clear personal experience
is the only way to be sure
of anything experienced.
Otherwise,
our views on people, matters and things
are only superficial.
Sound like meditation?
The ultimate truth is found
only by the deeply meditative!
Shian
As there is no eternal hell,
there is no total spiritual defeat
other than to abandon spiritual practice.
Stonepeace
Karma and perceptions
Even within the human realm, all of us have our own individual karma.
Human beings look much the same, but we perceive things utterly differently,
and we each live in our own unique, separate, individual world.
As Kalu Rinpoche says:
“If a hundred people sleep and dream,
each of them will experience a different world in his dream.
Everyone’s dream might be said to be true,
but it would be meaningless to ascertain that only one person’s dream was the true world
and all others were fallacies.
There is truth for each perceiver according to the karmic patterns
conditioning his perceptions.”
Sogyal Rinpoche
If you break open
The cherry tree,
There is not a single flower.
But the skies of spring
Bring forth the blossoms!
Ikkyu (1394-1481)
To practice Zen, you need deep roots.
People with deep roots are rare.
Zen depends completely on yourself.
It’s very hard, especially now.
Master Sheng-hi
Don’t do anything whatsoever with the mind.
Abide in an authentic, natural state (of consciousness).
One’s own mind, unwavering, is reality.
The key is to meditate like this, without wavering;
Experience the great reality beyond extremes.
Niguma
For twenty seven years
I’ve always sought the Way.
Well, this morning we passed
Like strangers on the road.
Master Kokuin (10th century)
My hut isn’t quite six feet across
Surrounded by pine, bamboos, and mountains.
An old monk hardly has room for himself
Much less for a visiting cloud.
Shih-wu (1272-1352)
As you deepen the skilful means in practicing the Dharma, you will meditate:
My physical body, composed of the four elements,
was obviously born from my father and mother.
At some unspecified time it is sure to decompose.
What then was my original face before my father and mother were born?
Master T’aego
As long as you are subject
To a life bound by force of habit,
You are not free from the burden of the body.
Kuei-Shan (771-854)
Something has existed before
Heaven and earth.
Shapeless and silent
In its origin,
Yet the master of every
Image and form,
It can never wither
With the passing of time.
Bankei (1622-1693)
The mind of a holy person is like a mirror,
Which neither grasps nor resists;
It receives and lets go.
That is why the sage encompasses
The world without hurt.
Master Chuang-tzu
Who I am is not important.
I am just another man.
Look at yourself,
I am you with a different history
and set of circumstances.
Rev. Fudo Michael Koppang
I sit quietly,
Listening to the falling leaves.
A lonely hut, a life of renunciation.
The past has faded,
Things are no longer remembered.
My sleeve is wet with tears.
Ryokan (1758-1831)
Where subject and object are realized
As a single sphere
Happiness and sorrow mingle as one.
Whatever circumstances I encounter,
I am free in the blissful realm
Of self-awakening Wisdom
Milarepa
Listening to snow
Cold night, no wind, bamboo making noises,
Noises far apart, now bunched together,
Filtering the pine-flanked lattice.
Listening with ears is less fine
Than listening with the mind.
Beside the lamp I lay
Aside the half scroll of sutra.
Master Daito
The wind is the breath of heaven and earth.
Into every corner it unfolds and reaches.
Without choosing between high or low,
Exalted or humble, it touches everywhere.
Master Song Yu
Rebirth: who dies?
Who dies?
No one really,
since there is rebirth.
Other than freedom from birth and death,
what matters more than death
is to secure a better rebirth.
Yet a better “rebirth” can happen in this life now
when you become kinder and wiser,
which also helps you get a better future life.
Master Shian
Changing water in a vase
Water keeps the flower fresh.
The flower and I are one.
When the flower breathes, I breathe.
When the flower smiles, I smile.
Dhyana Master Thich Nhat Hanh
Many paths lead from
The foot of the mountain.
But at the peak
We all gaze
At the single bright moon.
Master Ikkyu
Cutting a Flower
May I cut you, little flower,
gift of Earth and Sky?
Thank you, dear bodhisattva,
for making life so beautiful.
Dhyana Master Thich Nhat Hanh
Just detach from all sound and form,
And do not dwell in detachment,
And do not dwell in intellectual understanding,
This is practice.
Master Baizhang
I pray for all of us,
oppressor and friend,
that together we may succeed
in building a better world,
through human understanding and love.
I pray that in doing so
we may reduce the pain
and suffering of all sentient beings.
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama
Everything is as it is.
It has no name
other than the name we give it.
It is we who call it something;
we give it a value.
We say this thing is good or it's bad,
but in itself, the thing is only as it is.
It's not absolute;
it's just as it is.
Ajahn Sumedho
Whoever understands dependent origination
understands the Dharma.
Whoever understands the Dharma
understands the dependent origination.
Majjhima Nikaya 28
Although we have been made to believe
that if we let go, we will end up with nothing,
life itself reveals again and again the opposite:
that letting go is the path to real freedom.
Sogyal Rinpoche
Kuei-shan asked Yun-yen:
“What is the seat of enlightenment?”
Yun-yen said,
“Freedom from artificiality.”
Kuei-shan (771-854)
Natural mind like the Autumn moon
Reflected on a clear jade lake.
Nothing like it
How to explain it?
Han Shan (627–649)
In your life of Zen disciples,
if you come to a great difficulty,
like a big mountain in Nepal
that looks like it has no passageway,
you will know there is always a way to get through.
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Possessions
A story from the Buddha's time tells of the Buddha sitting by the side
of the road with some of his monks
when a farmer came by, looking very
distressed.
"Did you see a herd of cows pass this way?" he asked.
"No!" said the Buddha, “I’m sorry”.
"Oh dear!" said the farmer,
" I have lost all of my cows and last year
there was no rain and my crops failed.
I'm so unhappy. My life is ruined".
After he had gone, the Buddha turned to his monks and said,
"Monks, aren't you fortunate that you don't own any cows?".
Dharma Teacher
Buddha said:
What you are is what you have been,
what you will be is what you do now.
Padmasambhava said:
If you want to know your past life,
look into your present condition;
if you want to know your continuation,
look at your present actions.
Rigpa Glimpse
Trying to find a Buddha or enlightenment
is like trying to grab space.
Space has a name, but no form.
Patriarch Bodhidharma
As long as you seek for something,
you will get the shadow of reality
and not reality itself.
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Do not make the mistake of imagining
that the nature of mind is exclusive only to our minds.
It is in fact the nature of everything.
It can never be said too often that
to realize the nature of mind
is to realize the nature of all things.
Dharma Teacher
Confused by thoughts,
we experience duality in life.
Unencumbered by ideas,
the enlightened see the one Reality.
Patriarch Hui Neng
It is present everywhere.
There is nothing it does not contain.
However only those who have previously
planted wisdom - seeds will be able
to continuously see it
Master Dogen
Buddha: Consider others as yourself.
Jesus: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Buddha: One who acts on truth is happy, in this world and beyond.
Jesus: You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.
Credits: Heartland Sangha
Careful!
Even moonlit dewdrops,
If you’re lured to watch,
Are a wall before the truth.
Master Sogyo (18th century)
A rose is a rose, beauty and thorns ...
Only the rose doesn't worry about it.
Anonymous
Though different forms are perceived, they are in essence empty;
yet in the emptiness one perceives forms.
Though different sounds are heard, they are empty;
yet in the emptiness one perceives sounds.
Also different thoughts arise; they are empty,
yet in the emptiness one perceives thoughts.
Dudjom Rinpoche
The purpose of Zen
Is to enable people to immediately transcend
the ordinary and the holy,
just getting people to awaken on their own,
forever cutting off the root of doubt.
Master Fayan
The river of Zen is quiet,
Even in the waves;
The water of stability is clear,
Even in the waves.
Master Xuedou
Earth, mountains, rivers
Hidden in this emptiness.
In the emptiness
Earth, mountains, rivers revealed.
Spring flowers, winter snows:
There’s no being nor non-being,
Nor denial itself.
Master Saisho (15th century)
This pure mind,
which is the source of all things,
shines forever with the radiance of its own perfection.
But most people are not aware of it,
and think that mind is just the faculty
that sees, hears, feels, and knows.
Blinded by their own sight, hearing, feeling, and knowing,
they don't perceive the radiance of the source.
If they could eliminate all conceptual thinking,
this source would appear,
like the sun rising through the empty sky
and illuminating the whole universe.
Huang Po
Taking the First Steps of the Day!
Walking on the Earth
is the true miracle!
Each mindful step
reveals the wondrous Dharmakaya.
Dhyana Master Thich Nhat Hanh
The Sage sees Emptiness
In the Forms
Because He has been
Able to let go
Of all forms.
Ordinary practitioners
Work hard on
Seeing Emptiness
In Forms
And when Emptiness
Is realized
Myriads of forms arise.
It is most important
At that time
That the practitioner
Can let go
Of the Forms.
Desmond Chiong
Two smiles:
1) The smile that one has before meditation
is very different from
2) the smile one has after the meditation.
Be sure
you choose
and stay with
the right kind of smile.
Desmond Chiong
Material things and mental phenomena come and go
Like clouds in the blue sky.
Greed, anger and ignorance; these three forms
Appear and disappear like a mirage on the ocean.
Yoka-daishi (d. 713)
When one realizes completely the Dharmakaya,
he distinguishes no object.
He is the source of all things,
And his true nature is another name of the endless and beginless Buddha.
Yoka-daishi (d. 713)
Just know your own mind,
and you will grasp countless teachings
and infinite subtle meanings without even seeking.
That is why the World Honoured once said,
“Observing all sentient beings,
I see they are fully endowed with the knowledge
and virtues of Buddhas.”
He also said,
“All living beings,
and all sorts of illusory events,
are all born in the completely awake subtle mind
of those who realize reality as it is.”
Master Chinul
Attaining the heart
Of the Sutras,
Are not even the sounds
Of the bustling marketplace
A preaching of the Dharma?
Master Dogen (1200-1253)
At present, our body is undoubtedly the centre of our whole universe.
We associate it, without thinking, with our self and our ego.
Because our body seems so convincingly to exist,
our “I” seems to exist, and “you” seem to exist,
and the entire illusory, dualistic world we never stop projecting around us
looks ultimately solid and real.
When we die,
this whole compound construction,
falls dramatically to pieces.
Rigpa Glimpse
If all we know of mind is the aspect of mind that dissolves when we die,
we will be left with no idea of what continues.
No knowledge of the new and deeper reality of the nature of mind.
So it is vital for us all to familiarize ourselves with the nature of mind,
while we are still alive.
Rigpa Glimpse
From the world of passions,
Returning to the world of passions.
There is a moment’s pause.
If it rains, let it rain,
If the wind blows, let it blow.
Ikkyu (1394-1481)
Search back into your own vision.
Think back to the mind that thinks.
Who is it?
Master Foyan
The learning of the sages
For a thousand years
Is just recognized in a moment
Of spiritual illumination.
Wang Ji (1498-1583)
What is this mind?
Who is hearing these sounds?
Do not mistake any state for
Self-realization, but continue
To ask yourself even more intensely,
What is it that hears?
Master Bassui (1338-1500)
The human mind is
Empty and illuminated:
Its essence is profoundly clear.
Originally it is leaping
With life:
How could it be held fast?
Wang Ji (1498-1583)
The Diamond Cutter Scripture says,
“Do not grasp truth, do not grasp untruth,
and do not grasp that which is not untrue.”
It also says,
“The truth that the Buddhas find
has no reality or unreality.”
Pai-chang (720-814)
Relativity: Small vs Big
To make a circle smaller,
circle it.
Comments:
To create a small circle without drawing one,
simply draw a bigger circle around any circle.
The only way something is defined is in relation to something else.
Even the absolute is something that is simply “not of the relative” in comparison.
Dharma Teacher
The birds have vanished into the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
Until only the mountain remains.
Li Po (701–762)
When the moon
Of your mind becomes
Clouded over with confusion,
You are searching
Around for the light outside.
Hozoin Gakuzengo Inye
Just this moment
Your whole life is just this moment,
but you think it's something else.
That's where suffering comes from -
made by thinking about the “non-now”.
Zen Master Dae Kwang
The true person is
Not anyone in particular;
But like the deep blue color
Of the limitless sky,
It is everyone,
Everywhere in the world.
Master Dogen
Who do you think YOU are?
You are the other person.
Dhyana Master Thich Nhat Hanh
You are
So
I am!
When you are not
I will also
Be Not
When you realize
You are Not
Tell me
And I will know then
I am Not.
Dharma Teacher Desmond Doo Ngoh
If enlightenment is not where you are standing,
where will you look?
Zen Saying
Buddhism
Is a Religion
To do.
Do SIla, morality
Do Samadhi, meditation
Do Panna, wisdom
If you study
Without doing
You are no Buddhist yet.
Dharma Teacher Desmond Doo Ngoh
Doubt is not a disease but merely a symptom
of a lack of what we in our tradition call the View,
which is the realization of the nature of mind,
and so of the nature of reality.
Rigpa Glimpse
The sound
Of water
Says
What I think.
Chuang Tzu
To know what you know
And to know
What you don’t know,
That is real wisdom.
Confucius
Awareness will give you your life back.
You can then decide what to do with it.
You will become more like the sky than the storm.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
No self
Never did the Buddha say that
we take what is self to be no-self (anatta).
It's always something that is no-self (anatta)
that is taken to be a self.
Ajahn Brahmavanso
How do you touch?
The water a cow laps turns into milk.
The water a snake licks changes into poison.
What are you turning what you touch, into?
Zen Saying
Mind has no colour,
Is neither long nor short,
Doesn’t appear or disappear;
It is free from both purity and impurity;
It was never born and can never die;
It is utterly serene.
This is the form of our original mind,
Which is also our original body.
Master Hui-hai (8th cent)
The teaching of the mind ground
Is the basis of Zen study.
The mind ground is
The great awareness
Of being as is.
Master Fayan
Entering the Meditation Hall
Entering the meditation hall,
I see my true self.
As I sit down,
I vow to cut off all disturbances.
Dhyana Master Thich Nhat Hanh
Each day the sun comes up,
we are offered the opportunity to become a Buddha.
Yet these days are numbered.
It is up to you not to waste your time.
Rev. Harvey So Daiho
What is a great spiritual practitioner?
A person who lives always in the presence of his or her own true self,
someone who has found and who uses continually
the springs and sources of profound inspiration.
As the modem English writer Lewis Thompson wrote:
“Christ, supreme poet, lived truth so passionately
that every gesture of his, at once pure Act and perfect Symbol,
embodies the transcendent.”
To embody the transcendent is why we are here.
Rigpa Glimpse
Spiritual cultivation
is to master one's mind.
It is necessary to test one's capacity
under extremely angry,
joyful or dangerous situations.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen
Motivated by attachment
Actions motivated by attachment,
aversion, or ignorance,
regardless of any external appearances,
are simply not Buddhist practices.
Lorne Ladner
Kuei-shan asked Yun-yen,
“What is the seat of enlightenment?”
Yun-yen said,
“Freedom from artificiality.”
Kuei-shan (771-854)
The substance of a sage
Is nameless and cannot be spoken of;
The empty door of truth as it really is
Cannot be tarried in.
Pai-chang (720–814)
We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King,
Nobel Peace Prize 1964
You are dying now by the second.
So you had better start living now by the second.
Dharma Teacher
We often wonder: “How will I be when I die?”
The answer to that is that whatever state of mind we are in now,
whatever kind of person we are now,
that’s what we will be like at the moment of death, if we do not change.
This is why it is so absolutely important to use this lifetime to purify our mindstream,
and so our basic being and character, while we can.
Rigpa Glimpse of the Day
The realm of non-thinking
Can hardly be fathomed by cognition.
In the sphere of genuine suchness
There is neither “I” nor “other.”
Master Yunmen (864-949)
Spring has its hundred flowers,
Autumn has its many moons.
Summer has cool winds,
Winter its snow.
If useless thoughts do not
Cloud your mind,
Each day is the best of your life.
Wu-Men-Hui-Kai (1183–1260)
Nothing is more valuable than life.
The most important thing is to respect life and help people.
The greatest tragedy in life is suffering.
If there were no suffering, society would be perfect.
When everyone is happy, only then am I happy.
When everyone is healthy, only then am I healthy.
When human suffering ends, my suffering ends.
Master Cheng-Yen
