Cultivation

It is not that talent is rare in ordinary people, but that it is rare for ordinary people to cultivate talent.

Sudden Realization

If you cannot get along without hope then hope that you will realize the true meaning of your existence.

Fuel for Thought

Indignation fuels my criticism of American culture for no society murders the potential of her children with such alacrity and leads them astray.

The Wanderer

Stop your wandering, look penetratingly into your inherent nature, concentrate your spiritual energy, sit in zazen, and break through.--Bassui's Zen

It's a Fact of Life

The meaning of our lives lies not in the biography of our existence, but in the fact of our existence.

The Way to Prison

A Zen priest was jailed several times after he was caught stealing small items from his neighbors. A friend offered to provide the priest what he needed so that the priest would no longer be tempted to steal.

"You do not understand," the priest replied. "I steal so that I can return to jail and bring the message about the Way to the prisoners."

ZEN STORY

If the Truth cannot be found in prison, it cannot be found anywhere else.

The Gate of Heaven

“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth...which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will.

"This little point of nothingness…is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely.

"I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.”--Thomas Merton