Daily Zenscape: June 2016

“Here's an example: someone says, "Master, please hand me the knife," and he hands them the knife, blade first. "Please give me the other end," he says. And the master replies, "What would you do with the other end?" This is answering an everyday matter in terms of the metaphysical.

When the question is, "Master, what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?" Then he replies, "There is enough breeze in this fan to keep me cool." That is answering the metaphysical in terms of the everyday, and that is, more or less, the principle zen works on. The mundane and the sacred are one and the same.”
~ Alan W. Watts from What Is Zen?

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 11, 2016

“What happens to the drop of wine
That you pour into the sea?
Does it remain itself, unchanged?
It is as if it never existed.
So it is with the soul: Love drinks it in,
It is united with Truth,
Its old nature fades away,
It is no longer master of itself.

The soul wills and yet does not will:
Its will belongs to Another.
It has eyes only for this beauty;
It no longer seeks to possess, as was its wont--
It lacks the strength to possess such sweetness.
The base of this highest of peaks
Is founded on nichil,
Shaped nothingness, made one with the Lord.”
~ Jacopone da Todi from The God-Madness

Friday, June 10, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 10, 2016

“Your life is your practice. Your spiritual practice does not occur someplace other than in your life right now, and your life is nowhere other than where you are. You are looking for answers, insight, and wisdom that you already possess. Live the life in front of you, be the life you are, and see what you find out for yourself.”
~ Karen Maezen Miller from Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 9, 2016

“In pale moonlight / the wisteria's scent / comes from far away.”
~ Yosa Buson

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 8, 2016

“To preserve the silence within--amid all the noise. To remain open and quiet, a moist humus in the fertile darkness where the rain falls and the grain ripens--no matter how many tramp across the parade ground in whirling dust under an arid sky.”
~ Dag Hammarskjöld from Markings

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 7, 2016

“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.”
~ Huang Po from The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind

Monday, June 6, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 6, 2016

“Preoccupied with a single leaf you won't see the tree.”
~ Vagabond

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 5, 2016

“The more you know, the less you need.”
~ Yvon Chouinard from Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 4, 2016

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”
~ Masanobu Fukuoka from The One-Straw Revolution

Friday, June 3, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 3, 2016

“A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"

Suzuki Roshi replied, "No reason.”

~ Shunryu Suzuki from Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki, Author of "ZEN Mind, Beginner's Mind"

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 2, 2016

“Like vanishing dew,
a passing apparition
or the sudden flash
of lightning -- already gone --
thus should one regard one's self.”
~ Ikkyu

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Daily Zen Quote - June 1, 2016

“When you've understood this scripture, throw it away. If you can't understand this scripture, throw it away. I insist on your freedom.”
~ Jack Kerouac from The Scripture of the Golden Eternity