Zen-a-day - Oct 28

Saturday 25 October 2008
When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself from it.
- Dōgen

Sunday 26 October 2008
A monk asked Hung-t'ung: "What would you say when both the mind and its objects are forgotten?"
"A three-legged toad carries an elephant on its back."
- Zen mondo

Monday 27 October 2008
A buddha is just someone with no concerns.
- Te-shan

Tuesday 28 October 2008
Where was the sound of Tommy Ramone hitting the first rim shot on Teenage Lobotomy before you heard it?
- Contemporary koan

Zen-a-day - Oct 24

Friday 24 October 2008
Smiling serenely,
    the Buddha points to
       a little stinkworm.
- Issa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday 29 September 2008
My boat and I . . . enter the lake,
turn as night falls toward the west
where I watch the south star over the mountain,
and the rising mist, hovering over the water,
and the low moon slanting through the trees:
And there I choose to forget every worldly matter
and be only an old man out fishing.
- Chi-wu Ch'ien

Tuesday 30 September 2008
Yantou and Xuefeng were snowed in on Tortoise Mountain. Day after day, while Xuefeng stayed up and meditated, Tantou slept. By the third day Yantou sat up and said: "Get some sleep. What are you, a roadside shrine?"
Xuefeng said: "My heart isn't at peace. I can't fool myself."
Yantou gave a great yell and said: "Don't you know that the family treasure doesn't come in through the gate? Let the teaching flow out from your heart to cover the earth and sky!"
Xuefeng achieved sudden enlightenment and cried: "Tortoise Mountain has finally awakened!"
- Zen mondo

Zen-a-day - Oct 23

Thursday 23 October 2008
Miso with the smell of miso is not good miso. Enlightenment with the smell of enlightenment is not the real enlightenmnet.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 27 September 2008
A skeptic walks up to a Zen master and asks:
"Is there life after death?"
"How should I know?" the master replied.
"But you're a Zen master!"
"Yes," the Zen master says, "but not a dead one."
- Zen mondo

Sunday 28 September 2008
From birth to death
it's just like this.
- Zen saying

Zen-a-day - Oct 22

Wednesday 22 October 2008
If you can draw the stone rightly, everything within reach of art is also within yours.
- John Ruskin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 25 September 2008
Art is frozen Zen.
- R. H. Blyth

Friday 26 September 2008
The fact is, the universe has chosen you as the vehicle through which to experience the uncanny thrill of cutting up cabbage for dinner, the wonder that is inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, the fabulous spectacle of watching your clothes dry at a coin-op laundromat where the radio is stuck on an E-Z listening station and an old lady keeps staring at you for no discernible reason. The universe has demanded that you be you. Ain't no avoidin' it.
- Brad Warner

Zen-a-day - Oct 21

Tuesday 21 October 2008
Hofuku, seeing a monk, struck a pillar outside the temple. Then he struck the monk, who cried out with pain. "Why doesn't the piller cry out?" Hofuku said.
The monk had no answer.
- Zen mondo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday 23 September 2008
When it is wniter, speak cold; when it is summer. speak hot.
- Chao-chou

Wednesday 24 September 2008
To ask the hard question is simple.
- W. H. Auden

Zen-a-day - Oct 20

Monday 20 October 2008
Frost across the river . . .
all I'd hoped for lost
in the gathering autumn night.
Among the reeds and flowers,
a thousand miles alone.
But moonlight fills the boat.
- Ching An

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday 21 September 2008
Whenever I start working on a song, I immediately try to forget everything, to empty my hands and head of anything that may be hanging over from another sond or album. I try to approach it like, "This is the first time I've ever played a guitar. What am I going to do?"
- U2's The Edge

Monday 22 September 2008
Once a visitor asked Master Yan-uan: "What is the real body of the great Sun Buddha?"
Yang-uan's assistant groaned at the impossible question, but not the master. He said matter-of-factly: "Please pass me the water pitcher."
The visitor went to fetch the pitcher.
"Now would you put it back," Yan-uan said, after the visitor brought the pitcher.
Anxious to get back to his important question, the visitor hurriedly returned the pitcher and then asked again: "What is the real body of the great Sun Buddha?"
"That old Buddha died a long time ago," Yang-uan said.
- Zen mondo

Zen-a-day - Oct 19

Sunday 19 October 2008
Change in all things is sweet.
- Aristotle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 19 September 2008
The mind, the Buddha, living creatures - these are not three different things.
- Avatamasaka Sutra

Saturday 20 September 2008
One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books.
- John Muir

Zen-a-day - Oct 18

Saturday 18 October 2008
Since everything is but an apparition
perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection,
one may as well burst out in laughter.
- Long Chen Pa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday 17 September 2008
Roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of existence.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday 18 September 2008
Don't Draw another's bow, don't ride another's horse, don't mind another's business.
- Ta-hui

Zen-a-day - Oct 17

Friday 17 October 2008
Truth is always truth, untruth is always untruth. This is what matter, this is right desire.
- The Buddha

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday 15 September 2008
A leaf falls,
    Totsu! Another leaf falls
       carried by the wind.
- Ransetsu's Death Poem

Tuesday 16 September 2008
If you seek, how different is that from pursuing sound and form? If you don't seek, are you different from earth, wood, or stone? You must seek without seeking.
- Fo-yan

Zen-a-day - Oct 16

Thursday 16 October 2008
True humility is contentment. There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.
- Henri-Frédéric Amiel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 13 September 2008
It is a task to come to see the world as it is.
- Iris Murdoch

Sunday 14 September 2008
Once a government official and student named Rikko Taifu visited Nansen and said: "Your disciple understands Buddhism a little."
"How is it during the entire twenty-four hours?" Nansen asked.
Rikko replied: "He goes withoug even a shred of clothing."
Nansen said: "That fellow is still standing outside in the hall. He has not realized any of the Tao. A virtuous ruler does not use clever rejoinders."
- Zen mondo

Zen-a-day - Oct 15

Wednesday October 15 2008
All people have their own living road to heaven. Until they walk on this road, they are like drunkards who cannot tell which way is which.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 11 September 2008
Strike the midnight bell at noon.
- Zen saying

Friday 12 September 2008
Master Nansen was washing clothes. A monk asked: "Is the master still doing such things?"
Master Nansen, holding up his clothes, asked: "What is to be done with them?"
- Zen mondo

Zen-a-day - Oct 14

Tuesday 14 October 2008
The ink painting of wind
    blowing through pines -
       who hears it?
- Ikkyu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday 9 September 2008
If the teaching doesn't fell like it's forcing something upon you, it's not good teaching.
- Shunryu Suzuki

Wednesday 10 September 2008
It's harder to see than it is to express.
- Robert Henri

Zen-a-day - Oct 13

Monday 13 October 2008
The water a cow laps turns into milk. The water a snake licks changes into poison.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday 7 September 2008
However innumerable sentient beings, I vow to save them.
However inexhaustible the passions, I vow to extinguish them.
However immeasurable the dharmas, I vow to master them.
However incomparable the Buddha's truth, I vow to attain it.
- The Four Vows

Monday 8 September 2008
For all thses years, my certain Zen:
Neither I nor the world exist.
The sutras neat within a box,
My cane hooked upon the wall,
I lie at peace in the moonlight
Or, hearing water splashing on the rock,
Sit up: none can purchase pleasure such as this:
Spangled across the step-moss, a million coins.
- Shutaku

Zen-a-day - Oct 12

Sunday 12 October 2008
Zen places all objects of belief with one single thing: reality itself. We believe onlt in this universe. We don't believe in the afterlife. We don't believe in the sovereignty of nations. We don't believe in money or power or fame. We don't believe in our idols. We don't believe in our positions or our possessions. We don't believe we can be insulted, or that our honor or the honor of our family, our nation or our faith can be offended. We be don't believe in Buddha.
We just believe in reality. Just this.
- Brad Warner

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 5 September 2008
I really love my barrel-making job; connecting each board into one round barrel.
- Zen saying

Saturday 6 September 2008
There are years that ask questions and years that answer.
- Zora Neale Hurston

Zen-a-day - Oct 11

Saturday 11 October 2008
There is a man who eats sparingly, but is never hungry.
There is a man who is always eating, but is never full.
- Zen riddle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday 3 September 2008
Who needs the Buddhism of ossified masters?
Me, I've spent three decades all alone in the mountains
and there solved all my koans.
Living Zen among the tall pines and high winds.
- Ikkyu

Thursday 4 September 2008
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
- Taoist saying

Zen-a-day - Oct 10

Friday 10 October 2008
You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vividly in repose.
- Indira Ganghi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday 1 September 2008
Sit, rest, work. Alone with yourself, never weary. On the edge of the forest, live joyfully, without desire.
- The Buddha

Tuesday 2 September 2008
People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of their minds.
- W. B. Yeats

Zen-a-day - Oct 9

Thursday 9 October 2008
Your inside is out and your outside is in.
- John Lennon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 30 August 2008
Don't seek reality. Just put an end to opinions.
- Seng-ts'an

Sunday 31 August 2008
The mind of the Buddha is like water that is calm, deep, and crystal clear, and upon which "the moon of truth" reflects fully and perfectly. The mind of the ordinary man, on the other hand, is like murky water, constantly being churned by the gales of delusive thought. The moon nonetheless shines steadily upon the waves, but as the waters are roiled, we are unable to see its reflection. Thus we lead lives that are frustrating and meaningless.
- Yasutani Hakuun Roshi

Zen-a-day - Oct 8

Wednesday 8 October 2008
Don't want anything. Don't make anything. Don't hold anything. Don't attach anything.
- Seung Sahn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 28 August 2008
A monk asked Pao-chi: "What is the Tao?"
"Come in," said the master.
"I don't understand," said the monk.
"Get out!" replied the master.
- Zen mondo

Friday 29 August 2009
I have no time for lies or fantasy and neither should you. Enjoy or die
- John Lyndon

Zen-a-day - Oct 7

Tuesday 7 October 2008
Chao-chou asked Nan-quan: "What is the Way?"
"Ordinary mind is the Way," Nan-quan answered.
"Should I turn toward it or not?"
"If you turn toward it, you turn away from it."
:But how can I know the Way if I don't turn toward it?" Chao-chou asked.
"The Way is not about knowing or not knowing. When you know something you are deluded, and when you don't know, you are just mindless. When you reach the way beyond doubt, it is infinite as space. It's neither right nor wrong."
With these words, Chao-chou had a sudden enlightenment.
-Zen mondo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday 26 August 2008
Yu-ti asked Tao-t'ing: "Who is the Buddha?"
Tao-t'ing called out: "Oh, Yu-ti!"
"Yes, master?" Yu-ti responded.
Whereupon the master said: "Don't seek him elsewhere."
- Zen mondo

Wednesday 27 August 2008
The lost child,
    crying, crying,
       but still catching fireflies.
- Ryusui

Zen-a-day - Oct 6

Monday 6 October 2008
A painting of a rice cake does not satisfy hunger.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday 24 August 2008
The artist has to look at everything as though he saw it for the first time; he has to look at life as he did when he was a child. . . . The first step towards creation is to see everything as it really is, and that demands a constant effort.
- Henri Matisse

Monday 25 August 2008
You are already complete. You just don't know it.
- Zen saying

Zen-a-day - Oct 5

Sunday 5 October 2008
Talk does not cook rice.
- Ancient proverb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 22 August 2008
Naked
    on a horse
       in pouring rain!
- Issa

Saturday August 23 2008
The human mind treats a new idea the sam way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
- Peter B. Medwar

Zen-a-day - Oct 4

Saturday 4 October 2008
I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through me whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, but individual, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, it brevity illusory - this new sensation has had on me the effect which love has on filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me, it was myself. I had ceased now to fell mediocre, accidental, mortal.
- Marcel Proust

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday 20 August 2008
Monk: "What is the greatest obstacle to enlightenment?"
The Buddha: "Laziness!"

Thursday 21 August 2008
A newly arrived monk was anxious to learn the truth of Zen, and said to the Master: "I have been initiated into the brotherhood. Will you be so kind as to show me the way to Zen?"
The Master said: "Do you hear the murmuring sounds of the mountain stream?"
The monk said: "Yes, I do."
"There is the entrance," said the Master.
- Zen mondo

Zen-a-day - Oct 3

Friday 3 October 2008
Sitting back against the bamboos
I am playing my lute and singing,
all too softly for anyone to hear-
except my companion, the white moon.
- Wang Wei

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday 18 August 2008
The poor long for riches, the rich long for heaven, but the wise long for a state of tranquility.
- Swami Rama

Tuesday 19 August 2008
The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.
- Arthur Conan Doyle

Zen-a-day - Oct 2

Thursday 2 October 2008
The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing think about those once in a while and watch your answers change.
- Richard Bach

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 16 August 2008
Yang-uan's assistant was constantly thrown off balance by his master's words. Finally he commented that he never knew whether hw was in an ordinary conversation or not.
"All our conversations are ordinary," Yang-uan siad.
"Then why is it so hard for me to stay on my feet?" the assistant asked.
"No need to stay on your feet," Yang-uan replied.
- Zen mondo

Sunday 17 August 2008
Your treasure house is within; it contains all you'll ever need.
- Hui-hai

Zen-a-day - Oct 1

Welcome back to my Zen-a-day. Since it has been a while, I will be posting teo old and one new one each day until I catch up.

Wednesday 1 October 2008
The wind drops, but the flowers
    still fall;
A bird sings, and the mountain is
    more full of mystery.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 14 August 2008
Paths cannot be taught,
they can only be taken
- Zen saying

Friday 15 August 2008
The farmer channels water to his lanf.
The fletcher whittles his arrows.
And the carpenter turns his wood.
And the wise man dets his mind.
- The Buddha