...

I like some of these atmospheric bits of wisdom.

Are there any Zen masters with sayings like this in the midst of, say, uptown Camden New Jersey?

Not much bamboo or lotus flowers there though.
You might get some bright moonlight some smog free evenings.

@sonship said
I like some of these atmospheric bits of wisdom.

Are there any Zen masters with sayings like this in the midst of, say, uptown Camden New Jersey?

Not much bamboo or lotus flowers there though.
You might get some bright moonlight some smog free evenings.

zen quotes, koans, sutras, and atmospheric bits of wisdom exist without any master to nurture them
not even a zen intern
however, since yer request is in earnest, i did a few perfunctory searches for what you wish to find and found nothing
unless lucy liu's massage parlor and stone meditation is close enough

do you want to learn more? seriously?
let desire drive you, the direction you travel is immaterial

go forward without any expectations, as thoroughly as you are able

The iris pond has flowered
Before the old temple;
I sell tea this evening
By the water’s edge.
It is steeped in the cups
With the moon and stars;
Drink and wake forever
From your worldly sleep.

- Baisao (1675-1763)

https://www.dailyzen.com/

@sonship said
I like some of these atmospheric bits of wisdom.

Are there any Zen masters with sayings like this in the midst of, say, uptown Camden New Jersey?

Not much bamboo or lotus flowers there though.
You might get some bright moonlight some smog free evenings.

Leave Bruce Springsteen out of this! 😉

I'm not a Zen master, but I did scribble one or two zen-ish poems in this thread but using modern elements.

Maybe an exercise for the student?

(I'll start a separate discussion thread.)

Who would have expected that the
Self nature is fundamentally
Pure and clean?
Who would have expected that the
Self nature is fundamentally
Beyond birth and death?

- Altar Sutra

@rookie54

Thanks rookie.
I was not too serious.

I did tell you that I read Alan Watts' years ago - The Way of Zen.
Also another book whose author I cannot remember called - "Zen and the Art of Archery".

Carry on.

I climb these hills
As if walking on air
Body too light to fall
Bamboo staff resting
Against a great stone
Torn cloak snapping in the wind
A lone bird soars the azure depths
Far distant springs reflected in its eye
Carefree, singing a timeless song
Gone, on a journey without end.

- Shih-shu (17th c- early 18th)

om mani padme hum

the chant represented in pixels on yer screen are not the same as the vibrations sent/received by the practitioner
i tend to close my eyes when reciting the mantra
breathe

The subtlety of seeing and hearing
Transcends mere colors and sounds.
The whole affair functions
Without leaving traces,
And mirrors without obscurations.
Very naturally mind and dharmas
Emerge and harmonize.

- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)

Just put thoughts to rest;
Don’t seek outwardly anymore.
When things come up,
Then give them your attention;
Just trust what is functional
In you at present,
And you have nothing
To be concerned about.

- Linji (d. 867)

Approval

As soon as you accept and approve anything, recognizing it as your own, you are immediately bound hand and foot and cannot move.
So even if there are a thousand possibilities, nothing is right once you have recognized, accepted, and approved it as your own.

It is like making a boat and outfitting it for a long journey to a land of treasures, then as soon as you get started you drive a stake in the ground and tie the boat down, then row with all your might.
You may row till the end of time, but you will still be at the shore.
You see the boat moving from side to side, and think you are on the move, but actually you haven’t gotten anywhere.

- Foyan (1067-1120)

Change, like the wind
Like the water, like skin
Change, like the sky
Like the leaves, like a butterfly
Would you live forever, never die
While everything around passes?
Would you smile forever, never cry
While everything you know passes?
Death, like a door
To a place we've never been before
Death, like space
The deep sea, a suitcase
Would you stare forever at the sun
Never watch the moon rising?
Would you walk forever in the light
To never learn the secret of the quiet night?
Still, like a stone
Like a hill, like home
Still, what I find
Is you are always on my mind
Could I feel happy for you
When I hear you talk with her like we used to?
Could I set everything free
When I watch you holding her the way you once held me?
Change, like the sky
Like the leaves, like a butterfly
Death, like a door
To a place we've never been before
Would you live forever, never die
While everything around passes?
Would you smile forever, never cry?

~ Adrienne Lenker

There’s a tree that existed before the woods,
In age twice as old.
Its roots suffered as the valley changed,
Its leaves deformed by wind and frost.
People all laugh at its withered aspect,
Caring nothing about the core’s beauty.
When the bark is stripped off,
Only essence remains.

- Han Shan (9th c)

"Acts 7:2 says that the God of glory appeared to Abraham. That appearing certainly was a dispensing. Abraham could have faith in God because God had been dispensed into him.

The same thing happened to us when we heard the gospel and repented. As we were repenting and confessing our sins to God, God was dispensing Himself into us, although we might not have been conscious of God’s dispensing at the time. As we recall our experience, however, we realize that this was the case. On the day I repented and made confession to God of my sinfulness, something was dispensed into my being. I wept, but inwardly I was on fire. This was God’s inspiration and also His dispensation. When God comes to inspire us, He dispenses Himself into us. Nothing can change us like God’s dispensation. It can transform a robber into a saint, because it dispenses the holy nature of God into him. I encourage you all to go to the Lord for thirty minutes for His dispensation. During that time, forget your problems and your environment. Simply open to Him and confess your shortcomings and wrongdoings. The more you confess to Him, the more the way will be open for Him to dispense Himself into you.

No matter what term we use—dispensing, inspiring, transfusing, or infusing—the experience is the same. I do not care for terminology; I care for the divine element being imparted into you. We need God to get into us. We need the element of God to be wrought into our being. This is the meaning of dispensation. "

: 李常受; pinyin: Lǐ Chángshòu; 1905 – June 9, 1997) aka Witness Lee

I follow my impulsive feet
Wherever they might go
My body is a pine tree
Surrounded by the snow
Sometimes I simply stand
Beside a flowing stream
Sometimes I chase a drifting
Cloud past another peak

- Han-shan Te-ch’ing (1546-1623)