Sublime

It was a case where the development of concentration in one kind of practice brought about results in Zen practice.

far as I know he practiced za-zen, or formal sitting meditation, only occasionally, as I do myself, when the mood is on me. I prefer the more active Zen of walking meditation, archery, t’ai-chi exercises, mantra-chanting, practicing Chinese calligraphy, tea ceremony, swimming, and cooking. Too much za-zen is apt to turn one into a stone Buddha. In

To sit by running water is said to develop a sense of urgency about practice that encourages renunciation and a revulsion for samsara,

When you do zazen, or anything else, do it with wholeheartedness.

If we clearly experience a single koan, the other koans will become transparent.

always leads his disciple back to the two teachings that underlie this sutra: the “nothing but mind” of Yogacara and the “self–realization” of Zen.

Zen created the method (upaya) of “direct pointing” in order to escape from this vicious circle, in order to thrust the real immediately to our notice. When reading a difficult book it is of no help to think, “I should concentrate,” for one thinks about concentration instead of what the book has to say. Likewise, in studying or practicing Zen it is

Zen priest in both the Soto and Rinzai schools of Zen Buddhism. He has distilled what he’s learned over the course of decades of study into a series of teachings that he calls Big Mind and has been a game changer for thousands of people.

Shen-hsiu and Hui-neng, the two contenders to become the Fifth Patriarch’s successor, had written their competing poems on the monastery wall previously scheduled for scenes from the Lanka that the patriarchship and the future direction of Zen was decided.