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 […]
We have roots in two worlds, it can’t be avoided. The world of appearances and the world of things as they are deep down, of how things work deep down: ultimate reality. There is a very famous saying that goes: don’t be fooled by appearances, go further. The Buddha had accepted and ordained a convict […]
Master Dôgen wrote: The Buddhas and Patriarchs sweated blood. How could we get out of making efforts? We who have strayed so far away from the normal condition, how could be come back to the normal condition without making any efforts? The patriarchs were people like us, but they tore themselves away from the claws […]
The one who walks in the world with a peaceful mind, helps the world. The one who walks in the world with a peaceful mind and who cares for others, helps the world. The one who chooses at every moment to go in the direction where his or her actions, words, thoughts are beneficial for […]
Don’t go back into the past stirring up cold ashes to find the truth. Don’t mistake dreams of the future for reality either – for the living, warm reality, reality that is always here, that pulses. This is a choice to make: to be here together as the day is rising, as nature is wakening. […]
One can begin to practice for all sorts of personal reasons: to have a more successful life, a better health, higher intellectual capacities… In fact, at the beginning, people often mistake the Way of the Buddha for a means of personal development. But soon other more profound questions on the meaning of life arise. What […]
It is always good to remember that zazen is no ordinary meditation. Zazen is to experience reality as it is, one’s inner reality as well as the outer reality. Hōkyō Zanmai is a fundamental text in our school, of which the title could be translated as the Samadhi of the Precious Mirror, the Samadhi of […]
Last weekend, fifteen persons or so came to discover Zen practice. On the first day, after sitting in zazen, a person decided to leave: “I haven’t come to sit.” But Zen is nothing but zazen. No one can be forced to practice zazen. Kodo Sawaki wrote: “Zazen is a request from the depths of our […]
In a sutra, Buddha says: To practice the Way is to put right all that has been upset. To put right all that has been upset, that can be difficult. When he awakened, Shakyamuni Buddha said to himself: “My fellow human beings are not going to accept my teaching because their mind is upside down”, […]