Zen master Daowu visited the assembly of master Shitou.
Daowu asked, “What is the fundamental meaning of the teachings?”
Shitou said, “Not to attain, not to know”.
Daowu, Zen Master, China, 748 – 807
Tag: Awareness
A special day
But if you knew you might not be able to see it again tomorrow,
everything would suddenly become special and precious,
wouldn’t it?
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
Not everything is grasped by thinking
After learning from Dogen and the Japanese Zen tradition yesterday, today we can learn from Bodhidharma, (6th Century), the larger-than-life transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, who similarly reminds us that direct knowing is often richer than understanding reality just by thinking.
If you use your (thinking) mind to study reality,
You won’t understand either your mind or reality.
If you study reality without using your mind
You’ll understand both.
photo oxfordian kissuth
A calm mind
In the heart of the night,
The moonlight framing
A small boat drifting,
Tossed not by the waves
Nor swayed by the breeze.
Dogen, 1247, one of the verses he prepared for the Shogun in Kamakura
photo jeff chenqinyi
A kind practice
First, come into the present. Flash on what’s happening with you right now. Be fully aware of your body, its energetic quality. Be aware of your thoughts and emotions.
Next, feel your heart, literally placing your hand on your chest if you find that helpful. This is a way of accepting yourself just as you are in this moment, a way of saying “This is my experience right now, and it’s ok”
Then go into the next moment without any agenda.
Pema Chodron, Living Beautifully
photo elvert barnes
Sunday Quote: Now
We have only now,
only this single eternal moment opening and unfolding before us,
day and night.
Jack Kornfield
