Four monks were meditating in a temple when the prayer flag on the roof started flapping. The youngest monk came out of his meditation and...
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2026
Sitting quietly in my car Drinking coffee Cars hiss in the distance Nothing to be done
Before… chop wood, carry water. After… chop wood, carry water.
“Listening to the night rain on my roof, I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.” — Taigu Ryōkan
“It’s over, the “buddhas and patriarchs” disease That once gripped my chest. Now I’m just an ordinary man With a clean slate.” — Daikaku Zenji
“When unreality meets reality, reality wins.” — Charlotte ‘Joko’ Beck
Zazen
“Zazen is a complete experience of being for its own sake; it is not a means to an end. An interesting consequence of this is...
A monk asked Yunmen: ‘What is Buddha?’ Yunmen said: ‘A dry shit-stick.’
“If you seek the truth, you won’t find it. If you cease seeking, it’s right there.” — Foyan
Zen Koans are not meant to be understood. They dissolve language, logic, reasoning (and themselves) to reveal what can only be felt directly.
Zen is perhaps one of the only activities that sows the seeds for its own disappearance.
The fetishisation of ‘quietism’. Zen flourishes under all circumstances.
Zen recognises the futility of using language to describe or communicate that which is both language and not language. So it attempts to point us...
A monk asks Joshu, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West?” Joshu replies, “The cypress tree in the garden.”
