The journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step

satori

NOW IS SIMPLY NOW

You want to become a Buddha? There’s no need to become a Buddha! Now is simply now. You are simply you. And tell me, since you want to leave the place where you are, where is it exactly you want to go?
We don’t practice in order to get satori. It’s satori that pulls our practice. We practice, being dragged all over by satori.
You don’t seek the way. The way seeks you.
You study, you do sports, and you’re fixated on satori and illusion. So that even zazen becomes a marathon for you, with satori as the finish line. Yet because you’re trying to grab it, you’re missing it completely. Only when you stop meddling like this does your original, cosmic nature realize itself.
You say you’re seeking the way, but what does it mean if you’re seeking the way just to satisfy yourself?
Zazen means just sitting without even thinking of becoming Buddha.
We don’t achieve satori through practice: practice is satori. Each and every step is the goal.
– Kodo Sawaki, To You

September 10, 2023 | Categories: Practice, satori, Zen | Leave a comment

Waking up from group stupidity

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What a shame to have been born a human being and to spend your whole life worrying. You should reach the point where you can be happy to have been born a human.

Birth, old age, sickness, and death – we can’t fool around with these ultimate facts.
Reality: getting a handle on this must be our goal. Don’t get stuck in categories.

It’s strange that not a single person seriously considers his own life. For ages, we’ve been carrying around something uncooked. And we comfort ourselves with the fact that it’s the same for the others too. That’s what I call group stupidity: thinking that we just have to be like the others.

Satori means creating your own life. It means waking up from group stupidity.

– Kodo Sawaki, ‘To you’

May 11, 2018 | Categories: satori, Zen | Leave a comment

Just as the honey is not sweetness, The words of Wu Hsin are not The truth

With thanks to Yvon at ivonprefontaine.com

Source: Pointers to Non-Duality | Teacher as Transformer

When I am mindful and present to the world in its past, present, and future moments the text I live comes to life with new meaning:

 

Just as the honey is not sweetness,

The words of Wu Hsin are not

The truth.

However, time spent with these words is like

The aftermath of rain.

In due course, a sprouting of

Understanding will occur and

Will bear fruit at a pace

Outside of one’s control.

August 10, 2017 | Categories: Dharma, satori, Truth, Wisdom, Zen | Leave a comment