Zen: The Authentic Gate

We must encounter that True Self in actual experience to the point where we can embody it as truth. Otherwise it will never have the power to bring us to a state of true peace.

This error succeeded in confusing matters, such that shūkyō, which formerly referred strictly to the Zen path of realization, now came to refer to the whole panoply of faiths covered by the English word “religion.”

“Buddha nature” is nothing but a name given to the empty nature of the mind, which is “not newly created when we are born, and does not perish when we die.”

Looking at it in this way, we could say that “character” is the extent to which the sixteen Buddhist precepts have revealed themselves in an individual.

1. Three precepts of taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. 2. Three cumulative pure precepts (the three bodhisattva ideals): the commandment to keep the precepts, to practice good works, and to liberate all beings. 3. Ten grave precepts: against killing, stealing, misuse of sex, lying, dealing in intoxicants, speaking of another’s faults

The sixteen Buddhist precepts are divided into three classifications:

inexhaustible. That which obscures the brilliance of our essential nature is called “illusion” in Buddhism, “sin” in Christianity, and “defilement” in Shintō. The distinction between self and other is the fundamental source of all three.

Who do we refer to when we speak of a person of exceptional character? Until we are clear on this point, ethics, morals, and their objectives will also remain unclear. A person we feel to be of high character is not necessarily someone of high social standing, a great artist, or a wealthy person. Rather, we intuitively sense in that person an inner

An ancient sage sang in praise of it: “To whom can I extend this fresh breeze on putting down the burden?” The subtle and wonderful feeling of release, the lightness of heart that follows seeing into one’s own nature, truly defies description. Next, the change appears