Chang Zhou

The light shines silently through numberless worlds,
sages and fools and all beings are in my abode.
When no thought arises, the whole world is exposed.
If the six senses move at all, they are blocked by clouds.
Trying to cut away delusion just makes it worse.
Seeking for the ultimate you are way off track.
Live this life without obstruction
and nirvana and birth and death are just colours in a dream.

   SHUNRYU SUZUKI

When you are sitting in the

middle of your own problem,

which is more real to you:

your problem or yourself?

 

The awareness that you are

here, right now, is the ultimate

fact. This is the point you will

realize by zazen practice.

 

In continuous practice, under a

 succession of agreeable and

disagreeable situations, you will

realize the marrow of Zen and

acquire its true strength.

Kosho Uchiyama Roshi

BOWING

Put right hand and left hand together as one and just bow

Just bow to become one with God/Buddha

Just bow to become one with everything I encounter

Just bow to become one with all myriad things

Just bow in the Way Life becomes Life.

The power of life that is buried deep inside you 

will never rise up until you have become convinced 

that you're walking the only path open for you.

 

 

As clear as the Gecko's scream....

There is no choice in the entire universe!

Returning to Mu is not an option.

Returning to Mu is returning home in peace.

No more wandering around, please let's return home.

Let's keep our Mu, our Shikan Taza sharp and

clear as the gecko's scream.

Coming from nowhere, passing through the entire universe.

Every sound, every breath, every thought...

only that, every breath Mu as eternity itself.

The fourth founding master said, "though the sea of Dharma is vast and unfathomable, it is sailed in a single word." "

Please let us settle within Mu, becoming completely one with this, falling within Mu.

Each time, again and again, fresh and again, we return to the most intimate of oneself. Shikan taza more intimate Mu.

Master Dao Xin said, "This time is the middle of the night,

quiet and no sound. "

In this dark night, thoughts and dreams come and

they pop up out of nowhere.

Here the practice is to sink, to stand within this dark night, this stillness, this silent moment.

Maintaining, renewing, our attention, our zazen, and each Nen,

filthy, of course, fresh...

Attention! Attention! Attention!

Augusto Alcalde Roshi 

 

I’ll sleep by the creek and purify my ears.

– Han Shan, translated by Gary Snyder

Wisdom Seeks for Wisdom

BY SHUNRYU SUZUKI ROSHI|

We have been studying the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch—and with it, prajna, or wisdom. But this wisdom is not intellect or knowledge. This wisdom is our so-called inmost nature, which is always in incessant activity. Zazen practice is wisdom seeking for wisdom. “Wisdom seeks wisdom” is zazen practice, and everyday life is wisdom. Realization of our precepts is our everyday life; when our everyday life is based on wisdom, we call it “precepts.”

When we sit, we do not do anything. We just sit. There’s no activity of our mind. We just sit, and all we do is inhale and exhale. Sometimes you will hear some birds singing, but you are not actually hearing. Your ears will hear it; you are not hearing it. Just sound comes, and you make some response to it, that’s all. This kind of practice is called “wisdom seeks for wisdom.”

We have true nature. Whatever you do, even if you are not doing anything, your true nature is constantly working. Even when you are sleeping, it is quite active. Your thinking or your sensations are the superficial activities of yourself, but inmost nature is always working. Even when you die, it is working. I don’t mean some soul, but something—something is always incessantly working. Whatever you call it, I don’t mind. You can put many names to it, or you can give it various interpretations, but the interpretations belong to your intellectuality. That is intellect. So, whatever you call it, inmost nature itself also doesn’t mind. Someone may call it “soul.” Someone may call it “spirit.” Someone may say, “Oh, no, no, that is just material. Soul is some kind of function of materiality.” Maybe. People will put many names to it, but our inmost nature is our inmost nature. Names have little to do with it.

When we sit, we say that it is the self-activity of inmost nature. Let it work—we don’t do anything but let true nature work by itself. This is Zen practice. Of course, even though you do not do anything, you will have pain in your legs, or some difficulty to keep your mind calm. And sometimes you may think, “Oh, my zazen is not so good.” That is also the activity of inmost nature—not your activity, but the activity of your true nature. Your true nature says, “Your zazen is not so good.” If it says so, you should accept it: “Oh, not so good. What are you thinking? Stop thinking.” This is Zen.

When you do something, it has a kind of morality in it. This is because you are doing something by choice. When you make a decision to do something, your inmost nature will tell you, “That will not be so good. Why don’t you do it this way?” That is the precepts, when we have some choice in our activity. In zazen, we have no choice—we just sit, and whatever inmost nature says, let it do it. “I don’t mind.” That is zazen.

But when you make a plan, you are responsible for it. Then, you should listen to what your inmost nature says—it will tell you what to do. If you understand this way, then it is the way of morality. It is the precepts. The precepts are not only two hundred and fifty or five hundred. Five hundred or three hundred—it doesn’t matter. Whatever we do is the precepts, because we have some choice. We have to make some decision.

“I am responsible for it—what I should do?” When we make some decision, we listen to buddhanature: What should I do? That’s all. Here in your everyday life, you have precepts, and you have freedom, too. Whatever you do, that is up to you. As long as you have freedom, you yourself make decisions, so you should be responsible for them. You should not say, “Buddha should be responsible for it. I am not responsible for that.” We cannot say that in our everyday life; we should observe the precepts, instead of leaving the responsibility to Buddha. We should be responsible. But at the same time, we have freedom—there is no need for you to be bound by precepts. Precepts are formulated by your own choice. As long as you have conscious activity, there is freedom, and at the same time, you should be responsible. This is freedom—true freedom.

Someone may say, “Whatever you do, that is buddhanature, so it doesn’t matter what you do.” This is a misunderstanding. Morality without buddhanature is just a moral code, a rigid moral code by which you will be enslaved. If you become aware of buddhanature, innate nature, then that is freedom, not rigid precepts. You do things by your own choice and according to your true nature: complete freedom. That is also morality.

In this sense, you have freedom—you are not enslaved by either buddhanature or a moral code. And our moral code is not always the same. It is not permanent. Strictly speaking, there is a moral code whatever you do. So we say Zen and the precepts are one. In everyday life, we call it precepts; in the practice of zazen, we call it Zen. They are not different; they are both based on the self-activity of inmost nature. This is a very important point.

We bowed this morning nine times. Bowing to Buddha is a kind of practice to get rid of our self-centered ideas, to give ourselves completely to Buddha. Here, to give ourselves means to give our physical and intellectual life to Buddha because it is based on buddhanature. Even if we forget all about it, we still have buddhanature. So Buddha bows to Buddha. That is bowing. This is one meaning.

Another meaning: as long as we live, we have a body here, and we have to think something. Buddha practiced Zen, and we practice Zen, so everyone, when they practice Zen, is called Buddha. And buddha mind, or bodhisattva mind, is our spirit. To attain oneness in duality is, in short, our spirit.

Because we are not so good, we try to improve ourselves. That is our true nature. And we are aware of it—we have some intention to improve ourselves. This intention is limited to human beings. Flowers come out in the spring without fail, but they do not make any effort; they automatically come out—that’s all. We also try to open our flower in the spring, you know. We try to do right things at the right time. But we find it very difficult—even though we try to do it, we cannot. This is our human nature. We always try to do something. We always have some difficulties. But this point is very important for us. It is why we have pleasure as human beings—because things are difficult and we are always making some effort. That effort results in the pleasure of human life, a pleasure limited to human beings. This is called our true nature.

If you understand this true nature, you will find out the true nature within yourself and in every existence. Flowers have this nature. Even when it is cold, they are preparing for spring, even though they do not know they are making a good effort to come up in spring. When we become aware of it, we will know that this nature we have is universal to every existence. Again, this awareness of true nature is limited to human beings, so it is very important. This is the awareness, in short, of trying to do something good. It is our spirit.

We don’t know why we should try to improve ourselves. No one knows. There is no reason for it; it is beyond discussion. Our true nature is so big. It is beyond comparison, beyond our intellectual understanding, so it doesn’t make any sense. Those who are aware of it will laugh at you if you discuss about why it is so. “What are you talking about?” It is too big a problem to discuss. This is why we bow to Buddha.

From the oldest extant recording of a dharma talk by Suzuki Roshi, given in Los Altos, California, on July 22, 1965

 

 

 

BE STILL AND KNOW

Joseph Benner

Now, in order that you may learn to know Me, so that you can be sure it is I, your own True Self, Who speak these words, you must first learn to Be Still, to quiet your human mind and body and all their activities, so that you no longer are conscious of them. You may not yet be able to do this, but I will teach you how, if you really want to know Me, and are willing to prove it by trusting Me and obeying Me in all that I now shall call upon you to do.

Try to imagine the “I” who speaks throughout these pages as being your Higher or Divine Self, addressing and counselling your human mind and intellect, which you will consider for the moment as being a separate personality. Your human mind is so constituted that it cannot accept anything which does not conform with what it has previously experienced or learned, and which its intellect does not consider reasonable. Therefore, in addressing it, You are using such terms and expressions as will most clearly explain to your intellect the truths it must understand before the mind can awaken to the consciousness of your meaning. The fact is, this “I” is yourself, your Real Self. Your human mind has heretofore been so engrossed with the task of supplying its intellect and body with all manner of selfish indulgences, that it has never had time to get acquainted with the Real You, its true Lord and Master. You have been so interested in and affected by the pleasures and sufferings of your body and intellect, that you have almost come to believe You are your intellect and body, and you have consequently nearly forgotten Me, your Divine Self. I AM not your intellect and body, and this Message is to teach that You and I are One. The words I herein speak, and the main burden of these instructions, is to awaken your consciousness to this great fact. You cannot awaken to this fact until you can get away from the consciousness of this body and intellect, which so long have held you enslaved. You must feel Me within, before you can know I AM there. Now, in order that you can become wholly oblivious of your mind and its thoughts and your body and its sensations, so that you can feel Me within, it is necessary that you studiously obey these, My instructions. Sit quietly in a relaxed position, and, when wholly at ease, let your mind take in the significance of these words:

 “Be still! — and KNOW — I AM — God.” Without thinking, allow this, My Divine Command, to penetrate deep into your Soul. Let whatever impressions that come to your mind enter at will — without effort or interference on your part. Note carefully their import, for it is I, within, through these impressions, instructing you. Then, when somewhat of their vital significance begins to dawn upon your consciousness, speak these My Words slowly, imperatively, to every cell of your body, to every faculty of your mind, with all the conscious power you possess: — “Be still! — and KNOW — I AM — God.” Speak them just as they are herein written, trying to realize that the God of you commands and demands of your mortal self-implicit obedience. Study them, search out their hidden potency. Brood over them, carry them with you into your work, whatever it be. Make them the vital, dominating factor in your work, in all your creative thoughts. Say them a thousand times a day, Until you have discovered all My innermost meaning; Until every cell of your body thrills in joyful response to the command, “Be Still,” and instantly obeys; And every vagrant thought hovering around your mind hides itself off into nothingness. Then, as the Words reverberate through the caverns of your now empty being; Then, as the Sun of Know-ing begins to rise on the horizon of your consciousness; then, will you feel the swell of a wondrous strange Breath filling you to the extreme of all your mortal members, causing your senses almost to burst with the ecstasy of it; then, will there come surge after surge of a mighty, resistless Power rising within you, lifting you almost off the earth; then, will you feel within the Glory, the Holiness, the Majesty of My Presence; And then, then you will KNOW, I AM, GOD. You, — when you have felt Me thus in such moments within, when you have tasted of My Power, hearkened to My Wisdom, and know the ecstasy of My all-embracing Love, — no disease can touch, no circumstance can weaken, no enemy can conquer you. For now you KNOW I AM within, and you always hereafter will turn to Me in your need, putting all your trust in Me, and allowing Me to manifest My Will. You, when you turn thus to Me, will always find Me an unfailing and ever-present help in time of need; for I will so fill you with a Realization of My Presence and of My Power, that you need only Be Still and allow Me to do whatever you want done — heal your ills and those of others, illumine your mind so you can see with My eyes the Truth you seek, or perform perfectly the tasks which before seemed almost impossible of accomplishment. This Knowledge, this Realization, will not come at once. It may not come for years. It may come tomorrow. It depends upon no one but You; Not upon your personality, with its human desires and human understanding; But upon the I AM of you — God, within. Who is it that causes the bud to open into the blossom? Who causes the chick to burst its shell?

Who decides the day and the hour? It is the conscious, natural act of the Intelligence within, My Intelligence, directed by My Will, bringing to fruition My Idea and expressing it in the blossom and in the chick. But did the blossom and the chick have anything to do with it? No, only as they submitted or united their will with Mine and allowed Me and My Wisdom to determine the hour and the ripeness for action, and then only as they obeyed the impulse of My Will to make the effort, could they step forth into the New Life. You may, with your personality, try a thousand times a thousand times to burst through the shell of your human consciousness. It will result only, if at all, in a breaking down of the doors I have provided between the world of tangible forms and the realm of intangible dreams; and the door being open, you then no longer can keep out intruders from your private domain, without much trouble and suffering. But even through such suffering you may gain the strength you lack and the wisdom needed to know that, not until you yield up all desire for knowledge, for goodness, yes, for union with Me, to benefit self, can you unfold your petals showing forth the perfect Beauty of My Divine Nature, and throw off the shell of your human personality and step forth into the glorious Light of My Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore I give you these directions now, at the beginning, that you may be learning how to recognize Me.

For I here promise you, if you follow and strive earnestly to comprehend and obey My instructions herein given, you shall very soon know Me, and I will give you to comprehend all of My Word wherever written, — in book or teaching, in Nature, or in your fellow man. If there is much in what herein is written that seems contradictory, seek out My real meaning before discarding it. Do not leave a single paragraph, or any one thought in it, until all that is suggested becomes clear. But in all your seeking and all your striving, let it be with faith and trust in Me, your True Self within, and without being anxious about results; for the results are all in My keeping, and I will take care of them. Your doubts and your anxiety are but of the personality, and if allowed to persist will lead only to failure and disappointment.

From THE IMPERSONAL LIFE by Joseph Benner

 

Axe Handles

 BY GARY SNYDER

One afternoon the last week in April

Showing Kai how to throw a hatchet

One-half turn and it sticks in a stump.

He recalls the hatchet-head

Without a handle, in the shop

And go gets it, and wants it for his own.

A broken-off axe handle behind the door

Is long enough for a hatchet,

We cut it to length and take it

With the hatchet head

And working hatchet, to the wood block.

There I begin to shape the old handle

With the hatchet, and the phrase

First learned from Ezra Pound

Rings in my ears!

"When making an axe handle

                 the pattern is not far off."

And I say this to Kai

"Look: We'll shape the handle

By checking the handle

Of the axe we cut with—"

And he sees. And I hear it again:

It's in Lu Ji's Wên Fu, fourth century

A.D. "Essay on Literature"-—in the

Preface: "In making the handle

Of an axe

By cutting wood with an axe

The model is indeed near at hand."

My teacher Shih-hsiang Chen

Translated that and taught it years ago

And I see: Pound was an axe,

Chen was an axe, I am an axe

And my son a handle, soon

To be shaping again, model

And tool, craft of culture,

How we go on.

From Axe Handles. Copyright © 1983 by Gary Snyder.