"We must practice mindfulness: watching the mind and bringing it back to the present moment again and again. That is perhaps the most essential component of any training. You can’t be somewhere else mentally while your training is going on here.”
-Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
“Mindfulness is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to things as they are.”
–Williams, Teasdale, Segal, and Kabat-Zinn, The Mindful Way Through Depression
If your practice is good,
you may become proud of it. What you do is good, but something more is
added to it. Pride is extra. Right effort is to get rid of something
extra.
Source: Zen Mind, Begginer's Mind
If you want to read a letter from the Buddha's world, it is necessary to understand Buddha's world.
Source: Letters from Emptiness
All of you are perfect just as you are and you could use a little improvement.
Source: "Practicing Peace in Times of War" by Pema Chodron, p. 31
As soon as you see
something, you already start to intellectualize it. As soon as you
intellectualize something, it is no longer what you saw.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki#Quotations
Everything is perfect, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
Source: http://www.rochesterunitarian.org/1996-97/970427.html
In Japan we have the phrase shoshin,
which means "beginner's mind." The goal of practice is always to keep
our beginner's mind. Suppose you recite the Prajna Paramita Sutra only
once. It might be a very good recitation. But what would happen to you
if you recited it twice, three times, four times, or more? You might
easily lose your original attitude towards it. The same thing will
happen in your other Zen practices. For a while you will keep your
beginner's mind, but if you continue to practice one, two, three years
or more, although you may improve some, you are liable to lose the
limitless meaning of original mind.
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
For Zen students the most
important thing is not to be dualistic. Our "original mind" includes
everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within
itself. You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind. This
does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready
mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open
to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in
the expert's mind there are few.
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
In the beginner's mind
there is no thought, "I have attained something." All self-centered
thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thought of achievement, no
thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can really learn
something. The beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind
is compassionate, it is boundless. Dogen-zenji, the founder of our
school, always emphasized how important it is to resume our boundless
original mind. Then we are always true to ourselves, in sympathy with
all beings, and can actually practice.
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
So the most difficult
thing is always to keep your beginner's mind. There is no need to have a
deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature,
you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say, "I
know what Zen is," or "I have attained enlightenment." This is also the
real secret of the arts: always be a beginner. Be very very careful
about this point. If you start to practice zazen, you will begin to
appreciate your beginner's mind. It is the secret of Zen practice.
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
You are perfect as you are, and you could use a little work.
Source: Tricycle
I have discovered that it
is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we
have to believe in something which has no form and no color - something
which exists before all forms and colors appear. This is a very
important point. No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you
become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a
self-centered idea... In constantly seeking to actualize your ideal,
you will have no time for composure. But if you are always prepared for
accepting everything we see as something appearing from nothing... then
at that moment you will have perfect composure.
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
If your mind is empty, it
is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the
beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there
are few.
When we inhale, the air
comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the
outer world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also
limitless. We say "inner world" or "outer world" but actually, There is
just one whole world.
In Japan we have the
phrase, "Shoshin," which means "beginner's mind." Our "original mind"
includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient
within itself. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty
mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for
anything. It is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are
many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few.
At high noon or in the dark moonless night there is a light. Can you see it? And, by the way, who are you?
When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.
Tai Shimano visited
Shunryu Suzuki. "How are you feeling these days?" Suzuki replied,
"They have a new name for me: Cancer!"
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
Without accepting the
fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But
unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it.
Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer.
Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find
perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is
difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of
transience, we suffer.
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