When you die, you will take nothing with you to the grave. Nothing can be kept; nothing can be possessed. When they realise this truth, some people are writhe in pain. Yet it is this reality that must be accepted, lived with, and embraced. Everything passes, and forever. Nothing can be made to happen again. […]
The right religion is one that enables human beings to live in peace with one another. This was the first calligraphy that Minamisawa Zenji presented to Kanshôji. How can we learn to live in peace with one another? After his awakening, after he had freed himself from the three poisons[1], the original master, Shakyamuni Buddha, […]
There was a monk who lived in a small temple in the mountains. He lived alone, in utter poverty. One winter day when it was cold and the rain was falling incessantly, a traveler knocked on the door. He was soaked and shivering with cold. He couldn’t warm himself up. Finally, the monk took the […]
Zazen 11 a.m. The Buddha’s teaching asks us not to remain at the level of appearances, not to remain on the surface of things, in the foam of phenomena—that is, not to be carried away by rumours, by hearsay, by what we hear or read. Shakyamuni Buddha said: This truth that I have acquired is […]
Zen masters say: ‘What we must cherish above all else is the present moment.’ The past no longer exists. The future does not yet exist. The past ends in the present. The future begins in the present. This present moment is that of existence, which is on the frontier – in the mathematical sense – […]
Kōdō Sawaki wrote: “We must examine our motivations with our eyes wide open. Because even before we are aware of it, we perform for an audience, like a comedian anxious to please. If our practice is a kind of performance intended for an audience, it cannot be the Dharma of the Buddha.” We must examine […]
Although reality cannot be captured in words, human beings constantly want to comment on it. Although Buddha’s practice is at work in every corner of the Universe, it is difficult to talk about it. One thinker even said, quite rightly, that all the unhappiness in the world comes from not knowing how to name things. […]
To forget oneself is to forget everything that separates us, everything that confines us. To forget oneself is to return to totality, to embrace all existences. To forget oneself is wisdom; to embrace all existences is true love. When a drop of water returns to the ocean, there is no longer any separation: the ocean […]
Assis en zazen, sans chercher à attraper la vérité, sans chercher à éviter les illusions, laissez l’esprit se laver au son pur du présent. Plutôt que d’entretenir son agitation mentale, laissez l’esprit se laver au son pur du présent : abandonnez sans regret les vues anciennes, abandonnez les idées reçues, accédez à l’esprit neuf, à l’esprit […]
Restez en contact avec la réalité, même si elle est mystérieuse et inconnaissable intellectuellement, impossible à enfermer dans les concepts et les pensées. Seulement rester en contact avec la réalité, c’est la définition de la compassion. À un disciple qui l’interroge sur la pratique de la compassion, le maître répond : « Kannon, le bodhisattva […]