Soto Zen Quotes

DGA
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by DGA »

"It would be great if more of these inspiring quotations were attributed to their original author."

--Dōgen


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CedarTree
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

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Together with this [bodhi]-mind,
embellish the heavenly sky
with these flowers.
I respectfully offer them to all the buddhas
in the three times.


- Dogen

Ryokan (1758 – 1831) was inspired by this waka of Dogen and composed his own:

In my begging bowl,
putting violets and dandelions
mixing together,
Let’s respectfully offer them
to all the buddhas in the three times.


While Ryokan was begging (takuhatsu) in a spring day, some children in the village wanted to play with him as usual. Ryokan started to pick violets and dandelions in the spring field with the children. He put the flowers in his begging bowl and told the children, “Let’s offer these pretty flowers to the buddhas.

Possibly on the same occasion, Ryokan composed another waka,

Although I came [to practice] begging for food,
I spent the whole day
in a spring field,
picking violets.


Even though they have no market value, violets and dandelions are pretty flowers in the field. Ryokan and the children picked them and put them in the begging bowl and made them offerings to the buddhas. The begging bowl is made receive offerings from people, but Ryokan used it to make offering to the buddhas. His practice of begging and playing with children were also his offering.

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Anonymous X
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by Anonymous X »

Shitou Xiqian (700-790)

The monk Daowu once asked, “Who has attained the essential principle of the teacher of Caoxi?”(Caoxi was home of 6th Patriarch Huineng)
Master Shitou said, “The one who understands the teachings of Buddhism.”
Daowu asked, “Then have you attained it?”
The master said, “I haven't attained it.”
Daowu asked, “Why not?”
The master said, “Because I don't understand Buddhism.”

Another time Daowu asked, “What is the fundamental teaching of the Buddha Way?”
Master Shitou said, “Not attaining, not knowing – you already have it.”
Daowu asked, “Is there anything beyond this?”
The master said, “White clouds pass freely through the vast sky.”
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CedarTree
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

All of the Buddhist tradition is/has expounded upon this issue.

*In reference to "suffering".*

- Shoryu Bradley

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veggiepeace
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by veggiepeace »

Just try to forgive me if this thread is not
the right category for the following :bow:


Where beauty is, then there is ugliness;
where right is, also there is wrong.
Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent;
delusion and enlightenment condition each other.
Since olden times it has been so.
How could it be otherwise now?
Wanting to get rid of one and grab the other
is merely realizing a scene of stupidity.
Even if you speak of the wonder of it all,
how do you deal with each thing changing?
-Ryokan-



The monkey is reaching
For the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him
He'll never give up.
If he'd let go the branch and
Disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine
With dazzling pureness.
[i-]Hakuin-[/i]


Look for Buddha outside your own mind,
and Buddha becomes the devil.
-Dogen-

Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma
see no Dharma in everyday actions.
They have not yet discovered that
there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.
-Dogen-

A world of dew,
and within every dewdrop
a world of struggle
-Issa-


Old pond,
frog jumps in
- splash
Basho


All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas.
As with water and ice, there is no ice without water;
apart from sentient beings, there are no Buddhas.
Not knowing how close the truth is,
we seek it far away
--what a pity!
Hakuin Ekaku Zenji

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
may all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering :bow:
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CedarTree
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

veggiepeace wrote:Just try to forgive me if this thread is not
the right category for the following :bow:


Where beauty is, then there is ugliness;
where right is, also there is wrong.
Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent;
delusion and enlightenment condition each other.
Since olden times it has been so.
How could it be otherwise now?
Wanting to get rid of one and grab the other
is merely realizing a scene of stupidity.
Even if you speak of the wonder of it all,
how do you deal with each thing changing?
-Ryokan-



The monkey is reaching
For the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him
He'll never give up.
If he'd let go the branch and
Disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine
With dazzling pureness.
[i-]Hakuin-[/i]


Look for Buddha outside your own mind,
and Buddha becomes the devil.
-Dogen-

Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma
see no Dharma in everyday actions.
They have not yet discovered that
there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.
-Dogen-

A world of dew,
and within every dewdrop
a world of struggle
-Issa-


Old pond,
frog jumps in
- splash
Basho


All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas.
As with water and ice, there is no ice without water;
apart from sentient beings, there are no Buddhas.
Not knowing how close the truth is,
we seek it far away
--what a pity!
Hakuin Ekaku Zenji

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
may all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering :bow:

Veggiepeace you are in the right place and thanks for the great quotes :anjali:

Old pond,
frog jumps in
- splash

This is one of my favorites thank you for reminding me of this one :twothumbsup:

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veggiepeace
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by veggiepeace »

CedarTree wrote:

Veggiepeace you are in the right place and thanks for the great quotes :anjali:

Old pond,
frog jumps in
- splash

This is one of my favorites thank you for reminding me of this one :twothumbsup:
My pleasure :-)

I am glad that I found this thread with the amazing Zen words and thoughts, thank you, too :applause:


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
may all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering :bow:[/quote]
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CedarTree
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

veggiepeace wrote:
CedarTree wrote:

Veggiepeace you are in the right place and thanks for the great quotes :anjali:

Old pond,
frog jumps in
- splash

This is one of my favorites thank you for reminding me of this one :twothumbsup:
My pleasure :-)

I am glad that I found this thread with the amazing Zen words and thoughts, thank you, too :applause:


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
may all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering :bow:
[/quote]

Anytime! thank you for adding such good ones :)

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CedarTree
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

“Here, delusory thought means thinking based on separation, discrimination, or duality. Of course some thoughts are closer to reality and others might be closer to fantasy, but no thoughts are reality itself. There are good and bad thoughts, but good and bad are based on our discrimination. Transcending such discriminations and living in reality itself is being illuminated by the ultimate light of Buddha.”

- Shohaku Okumura, teacher of Shoryu Bradley

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veggiepeace
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by veggiepeace »

CedarTree wrote:“Here, delusory thought means thinking based on separation, discrimination, or duality. Of course some thoughts are closer to reality and others might be closer to fantasy, but no thoughts are reality itself. There are good and bad thoughts, but good and bad are based on our discrimination. Transcending such discriminations and living in reality itself is being illuminated by the ultimate light of Buddha.”

- Shohaku Okumura, teacher of Shoryu Bradley
That's just great.


"...thinking based on separation, discrimination, or duality..."

I wonder if as humans it's kind of "inherent" that we have such a way of thinking, because we see and experience everything from our subjective perspective, situation, position and through the personal "filter" of perception. Therefore we are kind of trapped to miss the multidimensional view... I think it's not easy, trying to imagine the whole picture.

This is also nice:

"Of course some thoughts are closer to reality and others might be closer to fantasy, but no thoughts are reality itself."

It happens to me quite often, when I start to make things up about "agendas" that other people might be having, while I see myself as innocent individual without any agendas... this can't be the whole truth, I guess. And it's sometimes quite funny, when is revealed that in reality things have been quite different from the things that I've imagined.


"There are good and bad thoughts, but good and bad are based on our discrimination."

It's our mind that divides things into good and bad and it's amazing how things can change according to conventions, trends and social developments. Or even personal moods and insights.


"Transcending such discriminations and living in reality itself is being illuminated by the ultimate light of Buddha."

Beautiful, nothing to add. Only that I wish we all could have such moments more often.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering :reading:
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

“When we are practicing zazen we exist before separating this moment from eternity, or subject from object. This may sound merely theoretical, but for a practitioner of zazen, it is not the result of reasoning; rather, zazen enables one to experience this directly.”

Kosho Uchiyama, Dharma Grandfather of Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery

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CedarTree
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

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“In other words, without being tossed about by personal feelings and ideas, just returning to the life of my true self, without envying or being arrogant toward those around me, neither being self-deprecating nor competing with others, yet on the other hand not falling into the trap of laziness, negligence, or carelessness—just manifesting that life of my self with all the vigor I have—here is where the glory of life comes forth and where the light of buddha shines. Religious light shines where we manifest our own life.”

Kosho Uchiyama, Dharma Grandfather of Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery

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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

‘We measure by comparison to familiar things. To measure means to understand or grasp. Without something familiar for comparison, we cannot measure anything. When we measure the size of the universe, we use a unit like a light-year. Since we can’t experience a light-year, it is an abstraction, something meaningful to scientists. To make meaningful measurements we must use our own experience as a yardstick. The Buddha and the Dharma are limitless and boundless and therefore cannot be measured. To comprehend something boundless, something infinite, we have to open our hands and become free of our yardsticks. We do this in zazen.’

- Shohaku Okumura, teacher of Shoryu Bradley

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veggiepeace
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by veggiepeace »

:namaste:


* * * quack * * *


:anjali:
account expired - wrong address - void space - user cancelled - posted on wrong platform - posted by mistake - farewell
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

‘A thought is nothing but a made-up story. Buddha-dharma is everything before we make up stories.’

- Kodo Sawaki, Dharma Grandfather of Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery

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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

‘In my zazen, I sometimes feel that I completely understand what Dogen Zenji is saying in Shobogenzo. I have no question; everything is so clear. But I have to let go of it in zazen. And after zazen, I forget what I understood.
It is not only the small negative or egocentric thoughts, but also our thoughts or our understanding about Buddha’s teaching which we should let go of as well. Then the true Dharma as reality will start to appear. It will not appear as an object of our mind, but our entire body/mind becomes a part of the movement of the entire reality.
So we gain nothing, really nothing. The person does not become enlightened. From the beginning this person is part of the reality of all things. But because of our thinking and judging, we separate ourselves from the rest of the world. By letting go, this separation is removed. That is how this wholehearted practice of the way allows all beings to exist on the basis of the true dharma.’

- Shohaku Okumura, teacher of Shoryu Bradley

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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

‘The idea of transforming delusion to attain enlightenment is easy to understand in terms of our ordinary way of thinking, yet it is not in accord with the buddha-dharma. In Buddhism, the dichotomy of delusion and enlightenment is transcended from the very beginning. We have to practice and actualize right now, right here in the buddha-dharma (reality of life) that transcends both delusion and enlightenment. This is Great Enlightenment (daigo).
Therefore, from the first, we are neither deluded not enlightened. Reality itself exists before we divide and name delusion and enlightenment. We are practicing this reality right here and right now. This is called attaining or actualizing enlightenment (kaigo). We practice with enlightenment as our base. Practice and enlightenment are simply one (shusho ichinyo).’

Kosho Uchiyama, Dharma Grandfather of Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery

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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

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‘A certain American said that he had been sitting an hour a week for a year at a temple before he came to Antai-ji and at that time he was thinking of writing a dissertation on zazen. However, he laughingly said that after he came to Antai-ji and did daily zazen and sesshins, he realized that he couldn’t yet write a dissertation or anything on zazen. Now, isn’t that just the way it is.’

Kosho Uchiyama, Dharma Grandfather of Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery

*For anyone interested in experiencing the famous style of Antai-Ji, Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery is the American version.*

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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by CedarTree »

That life which runs through everything in the universe is me.

-- Kosho Uchiyama Roshi

*Listed on Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery facebook*

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jkarlins
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Re: Soto Zen Quotes

Post by jkarlins »

Anonymous X wrote:Shitou Xiqian (700-790)

The monk Daowu once asked, “Who has attained the essential principle of the teacher of Caoxi?”(Caoxi was home of 6th Patriarch Huineng)
Master Shitou said, “The one who understands the teachings of Buddhism.”
Daowu asked, “Then have you attained it?”
The master said, “I haven't attained it.”
Daowu asked, “Why not?”
The master said, “Because I don't understand Buddhism.”

Another time Daowu asked, “What is the fundamental teaching of the Buddha Way?”
Master Shitou said, “Not attaining, not knowing – you already have it.”
Daowu asked, “Is there anything beyond this?”
The master said, “White clouds pass freely through the vast sky.”
beautiful
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