...

You can only hear a bell out beyond mist:
The monastery deep in mist is lost to sight.
Straw sandals wet with the dew of grasses,
A recluse wanders. Never coming to rest,
He's simply an echo of mountaintop moonlight
Coming and going night after night.

- Wang An-shih (1021-1086)

With so much on my mind
It’s hard to express myself in letters.
How long has it been since I left home?
Old friends are no longer young.
Frosted leaves fall into empty bird nests;
River fireflies weave through open windows.
I stop at a forest monk’s,
And spend the night in “quiet sitting.”

- Chia Tao

-Removed-

The dweller in the hut
Has always been here,
Not in the center,
Not inside, not outside.
Where people of the world would dwell,
I will not dwell;
What people of the world would love,
I do not love

- Shitou Xiqian (700-790)

Stand before it
There is no beginning.
Follow it, and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao,
Move with the present.

- Lao Tzu

(Live in the moment).

"'What day is it?' asked Pooh.
'It's today,' squeaked Piglet.
'My favourite day,' said Pooh."

A.A. Milne

Turn around the light
To shine within,
Then just return.
The vast inconceivable source
Can’t be faced or turned away from.
Meet the ancestral teachers,
Be familiar with their instruction,
Bind grasses to build a hut,
And don’t give up.

Reveal Hidden Content

When people of the world hear it said that the Buddhas transmit the Doctrine of the Mind,
they suppose that there is something to be attained or realized apart from Mind,
and thereupon they use Mind to seek the Dharma,
not knowing that Mind and the object of their search are one.

- Huang-po

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Proverbs 16:25

The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.
- Proverbs 18:17

You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.

A.A. Milne

To realize Mind,
begin by looking
for the source of your thoughts.
Whether asleep or working,
standing or sitting,
intensely ask yourself,
"What is my mind?"

- Bassui

The song of cicadas in the branches,
The voice of water under rocks.
Rain last night washed away
The soot and dust.
Don't say there's nothing special
In my grass hut.
Come and I'll share with you
A window full of cool air.

- Ryokan