In an attempt to define Zen, one could say that it is to place the world of Being at the heart of our lives. To place the world of Being, rather than the world of Having, at the heart of our lives. Before having any thoughts, we are, we exist. For instance, in zazen, we […]
We hope for a brighter future. We hope that tomorrow will be better than today. We think: Tomorrow, if I have more money, I’ll be happier. If I have more comfort, I’ll be happier… We are in the pursuit of happiness. And the more you pursue happiness, the more it escapes; this is because true happiness […]
Our posture should not be closed up. Our posture should spread in all directions, in the numberless directions, it should open indefinitely. The infinity of forms is nothing but non-form. It could be said that forms come from non-form and return to non-form. More poetically, we could say: The white cloud is born of the […]
If you look at zazen from the outside, you don’t understand. People sometimes tell me: “But you are loosing your time, sitting there doing nothing…” To practice zazen is to practice the normal condition of the mind. The opposite of the normal condition is madness. Nowhere are we being taught what to do with negative […]
There is a mountain of which the summit stands higher than the other mountains, a mountain of which the summit is hidden from the human eye, a summit wrapped in pure air, free from any pollution, always covered with sparkling snow. This mountain is the mountain of zazen. It is sometimes called the Mountain […]
For the great elephant* who got bogged down, who went too far in the morass of opinions, there is no other way out than to step back, to find the strength by himself; no-one can do it for him, he will have to put all his faculties into it. The great elephant who got bogged […]
At the smallest thought, you begin to ramble. You ramble, that is to say, you leave the Way. Journalists always comment the news. Truth is sufficient unto itself, life is truth, truth is the Way. Any comment we add only makes us loose the Way, the truth, life. At the smallest thought, we begin to […]
What we must cherish more than anything else is the present moment, which never comes again. It is nothing more than to be standing in the stream of life, to be standing in the eternal now, nothing more than not wasting our life trailing behind in the past or anticipating the future. To be standing […]
There is a saying: “The soul is reflected in the eyes.” The mind is reflected in the eyes. Do not try to catch anything, do not fix your eyes on anything. This is what is meant by to look inside. There are two ways to look at the world. One is to look outside, to […]