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If you endeavor to embrace the Way through much learning,
the Way will not be understood. If you observe the Way with simplicity of heart,
great indeed is this Way.

Sutra of Forty Two Chapters

If you want to catch a rat
You don’t need a fancy cat
If you want to learn the principles
Don’t study fine bound books
The True Pearl’s in a hemp sack
The Buddha nature rests in huts
Many grasp the sack
But few open it.


~ anon

Deep among ten thousand peaks
I sit alone cross-legged
A solitary thought fills
My empty mind
My body is the moon
That lights the winter sky
In rivers and in lakes
Are its only reflections.

~ Han-shan Te-ch’ing (1546-1623)

The ways of proclaiming
The Mind all vary,
But the same heavenly truth
Can be seen
In each and every one.

~ Ikkyu (1394-1481)

@rookie54 said
The ways of proclaiming
The Mind all vary,
But the same heavenly truth
Can be seen
In each and every one.

~ Ikkyu (1394-1481)

As flowing waters disappear into the mist
We lose all track of their passage
Every heart is its own Buddha
Ease off; become immortal

Wake up: the world’s a mote of dust
Behold heaven’s round mirror
Turn loose: slip past shape and shadow
Sit side by side with nothing save Tao

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

Too much knowledge leads to overactivity;
Better to calm the mind.
The more you consider, the greater the loss;
Better to unify the mind.
Water dripping ceaselessly
Will fill the four seas.
Specks of dust not wiped away
Will become the five mountains.

~ Wang Ming (6th c.)

When someone who has not attained the Way practices Zen for a time, that person is Buddha for the duration;
if one practices Zen for a day, one is Buddha for a day;
if one practices Zen for one’s entire lifetime, one is Buddha for a lifetime.
And whoever fosters this faith is a person of great capacity for the Dharma.

~ Enni Ben’en (1201-1280)

“The gods that we've made
are exactly the gods you'd expect to be made
by a species that's about half a chromosome away from being a chimpanzee.”

— Christopher Hitchens

@rookie54 said
“The gods that we've made
are exactly the gods you'd expect to be made
by a species that's about half a chromosome away from being a chimpanzee.”

— Christopher Hitchens

In the Ch’an perspective
Wisdom is a state
That is free from attachments,
Free from measurement,
Free from self-reference
And empty of vexation.

~ Sheng Yen

In a tangle of mountains
In autumn trees, a cave.
Hidden within,
A magic dragon pearl.
Poplar and cassia
Overlook a blue sea;
Rare fragrances waft
From a stone pagoda.
A monk since youth
You still have no white hairs;
You enter upon meditation,
In a frost-streaked robe.
Here there is no talk
Of the world’s affairs
Those matters that make
Wild the hearts of people.

~ Chia Tao (779-843)

The voice of success and profit
May stir the vault of heaven,
But not this place.
In the rounds of the day,
You wear threadbare clothing
And eat simple fare.
When the mountain snow deepens,
Your thoughts
Are far from those of people.
Occasionally,
Immortals pass your door
And knock.

~ Kuan-hsiu (832-912)

The real way circulates everywhere;
How could it require practice or enlightenment?
The essential teaching is fully available;
How could effort by necessary?
Furthermore, the entire mirror is free of dust;
Why take steps to polish it?
Nothing is separate from this very place;
Why journey away?

~ Dogen 1227

Observe the example of Buddha Shakyamuni of the Jeta Grove,
who practiced sitting up straight for six years even though he was gifted with intrinsic wisdom.

Still celebrated is Master Bodhidharma of the Shaolin Temple,
who sat facing the wall for nine years although he had already received the mind seal.

Ancient sages were like this;
who nowadays does not need to practice as they did?

~ Dogen 1227