Prologue – Beginner’s Mind – Pg 21

Our “original mind” includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. you should not lose your self sufficient state of mind. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind.

Posture – Right Practice – Pg 25

This is our most important teaching: Not two, not one. Our body and mind are not two, are not one. If you think you body and mind are two, you are wrong; if you think they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one. We usually think that if something is not one, it is more than one; if it is not singular, it is plural, but also singular. Each one of us is both dependent and independent.

Posture – Right Practice – Pg 25

Posture ” These forms are not the means of obtaining the right state of mind. To take this posture is itself to have the right state of mind. There is no need to obtain some special state of mind.”

Posture – Right Practice – Pg 26

When you do not try to attain anything, you have you your own body and mind right here. A zen master would say, “Kill the Buddha!” Kill the Buddha if the Buddha exists somewhere else. Kill the Buddha, because you should resume your own Buddha nature.

Doing something is expressing our own nature. We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves. This is the fundamental teaching expressed in the forms we observe. Just as for sitting, when we stand in the zendo we have some rules. But the purpose of these rules is not to make everyone the same, but to allow each to express his own self most freely.

Posture – Right Practice – Pg 27

But usually, without being aware of it, we try to change something other than ourselves, we try to order things outside us. But it is impossible organised things if you yourself are not in in order. When you do things in the right way, at the right time, everything else will be organized. You are the “boss”.

Posture – Right Practice – Pg 28

That is why Buddha could not accept the religions existing at his time. He studied many religions, but he was not satisfied with their practices. He could no find answers in asceticism or in philosophies. He was not interested in some metaphysical existence, but in his own body and mind, here and now. And when he found himself, he found that everything that exists has Buddha nature. That was his enlightenment. Enlightenment is not some good feeling or particular state of mind. The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is, itself, enlightenment. If you cannot be satisfied with the state of mind you have in zazen, it means your mind is still wandering about. Our body and mind should not be wobbling or wandering about. In this posture there is no need to talk about the right state of mind. You already have it. This is the conclusion of Buddhism.

Control – Right Practice – Pg 30

Good and bad are only in your mind. So we should not say, “this is good,” or “This is bad.” Instead of saying bad, you should say, ” not-to-do”! If you think “This is bad,” it will create some confusion for you… All that we should do is just do something as it comes. Do somthing! Whatever it is, we should do it, even if it is not-doing something. We should live in this moment.

Control – Right Practice – Pg 31

To live in the realm of Buddha nature means to die as a small being moment after moment. When we lose our balance we die, but at the same time we also develop ourselves, we grow. Whatever we see is changing, losing its balance. The reason everything looks beautiful is because it is out of balance, but its background is always in perfect harmony. This is how everything exists in the realm of Buddha Nature, losing its balance against a background of perfect balance.

Control – Right Practice – Pg 31

To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him. So it is with people: first let them do what want, and watch them. This is the best policy. to ignore them is not good; that is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control them. /the best one is to watch them, just watch them, without trying to control them.

Control – Right Practice – Pg 33

Zen practice is to open up the small mind. so concentrating is just an aid to hel you realize “big mind,” or the mind that is everything.

Dogen-zenji said, “time goes from present to past.” This is absurd, but in our practice sometimes it is true. Instead of time progressing from past to present, it goes backwards from present to past.

Mind Waves – Right Practice – Pg 33

“Because we enjoy all aspects of life as an unfolding of big mind, we do not care for excessive joy. So we have imperturbable composure.”

Nothing outside yourself can cause trouble. You yourself make waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.

Mind Waves – Right Practice – Pg 34

“To go eastward one mile is to go westward one mile.” This is vital freedom

When you are practicing zazen, do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out. It will not stay long. When you try to stop your thinking it means you are bothered by it.

Mind Waves – Right Practice – Pg 35

If your mind is related to something outside itself, that mind is a small mind, a limited mind. If your mind is not related to anything else, then there is no dualistic understanding in the activity in your mind. You understand activity as just waves in your mind. Big mind experiences everything within itself. Do you understand the difference between the two minds: the mind which includes everything, and the mind which is related to something?

Big Mind and Small Mind are one.

Mind Waves – Right Practice – Pg 35

Waves are the practice of water.

Mind Waves – Right Practice – Pg 36

With big mind accept each of our experiences as if recognizing the face we see in a mirror as our own. for us there is no fear of losing this mind. There is nowhere to come or to go: there is no fear of death, no suffering from old age or sickness. Because we enjoy all aspects of life as an unfolding of big mind, we do not care for any excessive joy. So we have imperturbable composure, and it is with this imperturbable composure of big mind that we practice zazen.

Mind Weeds – Right Practice – Pg 37

Strictly speaking, any effort we make is not good for our practice because it creates waves in our mind. It is possible however, to attain absolute calmness of our mind without any effort. We must make some effort, but we must forget ourselves in the effort we make. In this realm there is no subjectivity or objectivity. Our mind is just calm, without even any awareness. In this unawareness, every effort and every idea and thought will vanish.

Mind Weeds – Right Practice – Pg 37

Once you understand our innate power to purify ourselves and our surrounding, you can act properly, and you will learn from those around you, and you will become friendly with others.

No Dualism – Right Practice – Pg 42

When you suffer from an illness like cancer, and you realize you cannot live more than two or three years, then seeking something which to rely, you may start practice. One person may rely on the help of God. Someone else may start the practice of zazen. His practice will be concentrated on obtaining emptiness of mind. That means he is trying to be free from the suffering of duality. This is the practice of “form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.” Because of the truth of emptiness, he wants to have the actual realization of it in his life. If he practices in this way, believing and making an effort, it will help him, of course, but it is not perfect practice.

Knowing that your life is short, to enjoy it day after day, moment after moment, is the life of “form is form, and emptiness emptiness.” When Buddha comes, you will welcome him; when the devil comes, you will welcome him. The famous Chinese Zen master Ummon, said, “Sun-faced Buddha and Moon-faced Buddha” When he was ill, someone asked him how are you and he said “Sun-faced Buddha and Moon-faced Buddha.” That is the life of “form is form, and emptiness is emptiness.” There is no problem. One year of life is good. One Hundred years of life are good. If you continue to practice, you will attain this stage.

No Dualism – Right Practice – Pg 44

In your big mind, everything has the same value. Everything is Buddha himself. You see something or hear a sound, and there you have everything just as it is. In your practice you should accept everything as it is, giving to each thing the same respect given to a Buddha. Here there is Buddhahood. Then Buddha bows to Buddha, and you bow to yourself. This is the true bow.

No Dualism – Right Practice – Pg 47

“Before you determine to do it, you have difficulty, but once you start to do it, you have none. Your effort appeases your inmost desire. There is no other way to attain calmness. Calmness of mind does not mean you should stop your activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.”

No Dualism – Right Practice – Pg 55

“So the kind of practice we stress thus cannot become too idealistic. If an artist becomes too idealistic, he will commit suicide, Because between his ideal and his actual ability there is a great gap, he will begin to despair.” pg. 57

Right Attitude – Right Effort – Pg 59

Usually when you do something, you want to achieve something, you attach to some result From achievement to non-achievement means to be rid of unnecessary and bad results of effort. If you do something in the spirit of non-achievement, there is a good quality in it. So just to do something without any particular effort is enough. when you make some special effort to achieve something, some excessive quality, some extra element is involved in it. You should get rid of excessive things. If your practice is good, without being aware of it you will become proud of your practice. That pride is extra. What you do is good, but something more is added to it. So you should get rid of that something extra. This point is very, very important, but usually we are not subtle enough to realize it, and we go in the wrong direction. pg. 59

Right Attitude – Right Effort – Pg 60

When something becomes dualistic, that is not pure. If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice. It is all right to say there is practice, and there is enlightenment, but we should not be caught by the statement. You should not be tainted by it. When you practice zazen, just practice zazen. If enlightenment comes, it just comes. We should not attach to the attainment, the true quality of zazen is always there, even if you are not aware of it, so forget all about what you think you may have gained from it. Just do it. The quality of zazen will express itself; then you will have it. People ask what it means to practice zazen with no gaining idea, what kind of effort is necessary for that kind of practice. The answer is: effort to get rid of something extra from our practice. If some extra idea comes, you should try to stop it; you should remain in pure practice. That is the point towards which our effort is directed.

Right Attitude – Right Effort – Pg 61

We are always here, do you understand? You think before you were born you were not here? But how is it possible for you to appear in this world, when there is no you?

Right Attitude – Right Effort – Pg 61

So try not to see anything in particular; try not to achieve anything special. You already have everything in your own pure quality. If you understand this ultimate fact, there is no fear. There may be some difficulty, of course, but there is no fear. There may be some difficulty, of course, but there is no fear. If people have difficulty without being aware of the difficulty, that is true difficulty. They may appear very confident, they may think they are making a big effort in the right direction, but without knowing it, what they do comes out of fear. Something may vanish for them. But if your effort is in the right direction, then there is no fear of losing anything. Even if it is in the wrong direction, if you are aware of that, you will not be deluded. There is nothing to lose. There is only the constant pure quality of right practice.

Right Attitude – Right Effort – Pg 62

Most people have a double or triple notion in one activity. There is a saying, “To catch two birds with one stone.” That is what people usually try to do. Because they want to catch too many birds they find it difficult to be concentrated on one activity, and they may end up not catching any birds at all! That kind of thinking leaves shadows on there activity. The shadow is not actually the thinking itself. Of course it is often necessary to think or prepare before we act. But right thinking does not leave any shadow. Thinking which leaves traces comes out of your relative confused mind. Relative mind is the mind which sets itself in relation to other things, thus limiting itself. It is this small mind which creates gaining ideas and leaves traces of itself.

Right Attitude – Right Effort – Pg 64

So for us there is no other way to live in this world. I think this quite true; and this is easy to accept, easy to understand, and easy to practice. If you compare the kind of life based on this practice, with what is happening in this world, or in human society, you will find just how valuable the truth truth Buddha left us is. It is quite simple, and practice is quite simple. But even so, we should not ignore it; its great value must be discovered. Usually when it is so simple we say, “Oh, I know that! It is quite simple. Everyone knows that.” But if we do not find its value, it means nothing. It is the same as not knowing. The more you understand culture, the more you will understand how true and necessary this teaching is. Instead of criticizing your culture, you should devote your mind and body to practicing the simple way.

Right Attitude – No Trace – Pg 62

Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing reaming but ashes. This is the goal of our practice. That is Dogen meant when he said, ” Ashes do not come back to firewood.” Ash is Ash. Ash should be completely ash. The firewood should be firewood. When this kind of activity takes place, one activity covers everything.

Right Attitude – God Giving – Pg 65

We have a saying, “Dana prajna paramita.” “Dana”

means to give, “prajna” is wisdom, and “paramita” means to cross over, or to reach the other shore. Our life can be seen as a crossing of a river. The goal of our life’s effort is to reach the other shore, Nirvana. “prajna paramita,” the true wisdom of life, is that in each step of the way, the other shore is actually reached. To reach the other shore with each step of the crossing is the true way of living.

To give a penny or piece of leaf is “Dana, prajna, paramita”.

Right Attitude – God Giving – Pg 65

If you understand “dana prajna paramita,” you will understand how it is we create so many problems for ourselves.

Of course, to live is to create problems for ourselves. If we did not appear in this world, our parents would have no difficulty with us!

Just by appearing we create problems for them. This is all right. Everything creates problems. If we did not appear in this world, our parents would have no difficulty with us! Just by appearing we create problems for them. This is all right. Everything creates some problems. But usually people think that when they die, everything is over, the problems disappear. But your death may create problems too!

Right Attitude – Mistakes in Practice – Pg 71

“It is when your practice is rather greedy that you become discouraged with it. So you should be grateful that you have a sign or warning signal to show your weak point in your practice. Usually when you practice zazen, you become very idealistic, and you set up an ideal or goal which you strive to attain and fulfill. But as I have often said, this is absurd. When you are idealistic, you have some gaining idea within yourself; by the time you attain your ideal or goal, your gaining idea will create another ideal. So as long as your practice is based on a gaining idea, ans you practice zazen in an idealistic way, you will have no time actually to attain your ideal.

Right Attitude – Mistakes in Practice – Pg 74

If you understand the cause of conflict as some fixed or one sided idea, you can find meaning in various practices without being caught by any of them. If you do not realize this point you will be easily caught by any of them. If you do not realize this point you will be easily caught by some particular way, and you will say, “This is enlightenment! This is the best way.” This is a big mistake. There is no particular way in true practice. You should find your own way, and you should know what kind of practice you have right now. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of some special practice, you can practice that special way without danger. But if you have a one-sided attitude, you will ignore the disadvantage of practice, emphasizing only its good part. Eventually you will discover the worst side of the practice, and become discouraged when it is too late. This is silly. We should be grateful that the ancient teachers point out this mistake.

Right Attitude – To Polish a Tile – Pg 80

A frog also sits like us, but he has no idea of zazen. Watch Him. If something annoys him, he will make a face. If something comes along to eat, he snap it up and eat, and he eats sitting. Actually that is our zazen – not anything special.

Right Attitude – To Polish a Tile – Pg 81

When you become sleepy, or when your mind starts to wander about, you lose yourself. When your legs become painful – ” Why are my legs so painful?” – you lose yourself. Because you lose yourself, your problem will be a problem for you. If you do not lose yourself, then even though you have difficulty, there is actually no problem whatsoever. You just sit in the midst of the problem; when you are a part of the problem; or when the problem is part of you, there is no problem, because you are the problem itself. The problem is you yourself. If this is so, there is no problem.

Right Attitude – Study Yourself – Pg 78

When we hear the sound of the pine trees on a windy day, perhaps the wind is just blowing, and the pine tree is just standing in the wind. That is all that they are doing. But people who listen to the wind in the tree will write a poem, or will feel something unusual. That is, I think the way everything is.

Right Attitude – Study Yourself – Pg 79

Dogen-zenji said, ” To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is ti forget ourselves.” When you become attached to a temporal expression of your true nature, it is necessary to talk about Buddhism, or else you will think the temporal expression it it. But this particular expression of it is not it. And yet at the same time it is it! For a while this is it; for the smallest particle of time, this is it. But it us not always so : the very next instant it is not so, thus this is not it… When we forget ourselves, we actually are true activity of the big existence, or reality itself. When we realize this fact, there is no problem whatsoever in the world, and we can enjoy our life without feeling any difficulties. The purpose of our practice is to be aware of this fact.

Right Attitude – Negative and Positive – Pg 91

When we talk about the negative side, the positive side is missing, and when we talk about the positive side, the negative side is missing. We cannot speak in a positive and negative way at the same time. So we do not now what to. It is almost impossible to talk about Buddhism. So not to say anything, just to practice it, is the best way. Showing one finger or drawing a round circle may be the way, or simply to bow.

Right Attitude – Nirvana, The Waterfall – Pg 91

You have difficulty because you have feeling. You attach to the feeling you have without knowing just how this kind of feeling is created. When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death is the same thing. When we realize this fact we have no fear of death anymore, and we have no actual difficulty in our life.

Right Understanding – Emptiness – Pg 111

For most people everything exist. Of course the bird we see and hear exist. It exist, but what I mean by that may not be exactly what you mean. The Buddhist understanding of life includes both existence and non-existence. The bird exists and does not exist at the same time. We say that a view of life based on existence alone is heretical. If you take things to seriously, as if they existed substantially or permanently, you are called a heretic. Most people may be heretics.

Right Understanding – Emptiness – Pg 123

When you practice zazen you should not try to attain anything. You should just sit in the complete calmness of your mind and not rely on anything. Just keep your body straight without leaning over or against something. To keep your body straight without leaning over or against something. To keep your body straight means not to rely on anything. In this way, physically and mentally, you will obtain complete calmness. But to rely on something or to try to do something in zazen is dualistic and not complete calmness.

Experience, Not Philosophy – Emptiness – Pg 123

Our effort must have some meaning. To find the meaning of our effort is to find the original source of our effort. We should not be concerned about the result of our effort before we know its origin. If the origin is not clear and pure, our effort will not be pure, and its result will not satisfy us. When we resume our original nature and incessantly make our effort moment after moment, day after day, year after year. This is how we should appreciate life. Those who are attached only to the results of there effort will not have any chance to appreciate it, because the result will never come. But if moment by moment your effort arises from its pure origin, all you do will be good, and you will be satisfied with what you do.

Experience, Not Philosophy – Right Understanding – Pg 124

When we resume our original nature and incessantly make our effort moment after moment, day after day, year after year. This is how we should appreciate our life. Those who are attached only to the result of their effort will not have any chance to appreciate it, because the result will never come. But if moment by moment your effort arises from its pure origin, all you do will be good, and you will be satisfied with whatever you do.

Beyond Consciousness – Original Buddhism – Pg 125

To do something, to live in each moment, means to be the temporal activity of Buddha. To sit in this way is to be Buddha himself, to be as the historical Buddha was. The same thing applies to everything we do. Everything is Buddha’s Activity. So whatever you do, or even if you keep from doing something, Buddhas is in that activity.

Buddha Nature is our original nature; we have it before we practice zazen and before we acknowledge it in terms of consciousness. So in this sense, whatever we do is Buddha’s activity. If you understand it, you cannot understand it. When you give up trying to understand it, true understanding is always there. Because people have no such understanding of Buddha’s activity. Because people have no such understanding of Buddha, they think that what they do is the most important thing, without knowing who it is that is actually doing it. People think they are doing various things but actually Buddha is doing it everything. Each one of us has our own name, but those names are the many names of one Buddha.

Beyond Consciousness – Right Understanding – Pg 126

The Buddhist must protect his way from mystic or magical interpretations of religion. But philosophical discussion will not be the best way to understand Buddhism. If you want to be sincere Buddhist, the best way is to sit. We are very fortunate to have a place to sit in this way. I want you to have a firm, wide, imperturbable conviction in your zazen of just sitting. Just to sit, that is enough.

Buddha’s Enlightenment – Right Understanding – Pg. 131

Without trying to be Buddha, you are Buddha. This is how to attain enlightenment. To attain enlightenment is to always be with Buddha. By repeating the same thing over and over, we will acquire this kind of understanding. But if you lose this point and take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall. We should not confine ourselves by a self-built wall. so when zazen time comes, just to get up, to go and sit with your teacher, and talk to him and listen to him, and the go home again. all these procedures are our practice. In this way, without any idea of attainment, you are always Buddha. This is true practice of zazen. Then you may understand the true meaning of Buddha’s first statement, “See Buddha nature in various beings, and in everyone of us.”

Epilogue – Epilogue – Pg. 133

Enlightenment Experience is to figure out, to understand, to realize this mind which is always with us and which we cannot see. Do you understand? If you try to attain enlightenment as if you see a bright star in the sky, it will be beautiful and you may think “Ah, this is enlightenment,” but that is not Enlightenment. That understanding is literally heresy. Even though you do not know it, in that understanding you have the idea of material only. Dozens of your enlightenment experiences are like that – some material only, some object of your mind, as if through good practice you found that bright star. That is the idea of self and object. It is not the way to seek for enlightenment.

Epilogue – Epilogue – Pg. 135

The Zen school is based on our actual nature, on our true mind as expressed and realized in practice. Zen does not depend on a particular teaching nor does it substitute teaching for practice.

We practice zazen to express our true nature, not to attain enlightenment. Bodhidharma’s Buddhism is to be practice, to be enlightenment. At first this may be a kind of belief, but later it is something the student feels or already has. Physical practice and rules are not so easy to understand, maybe especially for Americans. You have an idea of freedom which concentrates on physical freedom. You think you want to limit your thinking, you think some of your thinking is unnecessary or painful or entangling; but you do not think you want to limit your physical activity. For this reason Hyakujo established the rules and way of Zen life in China. He was interested in expressing and transmitting the freedom of true mind. Zen mind is transmitted in our Zen way of life based on Hyakujo’s rules.