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
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
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
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
Thursday, October 23, 2008
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
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
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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
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
Monday, October 20, 2008
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
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
Sunday, October 19, 2008
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
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
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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
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
Friday, October 17, 2008
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
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
Thursday, October 16, 2008
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
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
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