When the Buddhas address us, they say: “Good men and women, be true. Don’t tell yourself stories, don’t tell others stories. Good men and women: there’s no flattery, it’s just that your true nature is good. As you are, you are Buddha: this is what Buddha teaches us. So don’t go and play in the […]
A sutra relates the story of a king who made the following dream: he was a poor man living in absolute destitution who was trying to meet the king of the country to ask him for some help. He was told that the king was over there, so he rushed there, but each time he […]
Not follow thoughts, not avoid thoughts, just don’t worry about it: this is what we do in Zazen. To say that Zen is against thinking is to be a bit hasty. Buddhism is concerned that we use our mind, in all of its forms, in the right way: consciousness, reflection, consideration, thought. Some schools of […]
or how to become a true human being Our social life is governed by codes: codes of good behaviour, codes of decency, codes of politeness… The important thing is to live out these codes with a sincere, open, pure heart. The form must be in accordance with the substance. You can’t come with a big […]
When the disciple asks the master: – How could you describe Zen practice in a few words? The master replies: – Careful! – Please, explain a little better! – Careful! – Couldn’t you say a little more? – Careful! Here and now, be careful with your posture, be careful with your breathing, be careful with […]
Nature is continuously teaching but we don’t always hear its teaching. The song of the cuckoo reminds us to return urgently to our true nature, to our true home. We are the children of ultimate reality, the children of the universe. Of course, we often wander off in dreams, in mental fabrications. More and […]
Life feeds on life, life offers itself to life. Each form of life receives its life from all the other forms. That is reality. As long as we don’t conform to this reality, our practice is meaningless. As long as we don’t understand the meaning of our lives, as long as we take the wrong […]
Rather than letting your thoughts wander, rather than giving free rein to your madness, please bring your mind back to the body. Come back to the normal condition where thoughts glide without clinging to the mirror. Some people tell me: “Is that all? Is there nothing else to do?” Yes, that’s all. There is nothing […]
You may think what you want. You may believe what you want. You have the impression that things are like this, or like that… You may believe that truth can be caught with words, that truth can be locked up in words; but truth takes its course, no matter what you may think. We all […]
In the Shōdōka, we find this poem: I enter the deep mountains where I live in a hermitage. Under a tall pine tree on top of a steep slope above a profound valley, I sit in my humble abode, at peace and carefree. Silent retreat, serene simplicity. It is a mistake to think that the […]