6) Make friends but don’t expect any benefit for yourself. Friendship only for oneself harms trust. So an ancient once said, “Have an enduring friendship with purity in heart.”‘ 7) Don’t expect others to follow your direction. When it happens that others go along with you, it results in pride. So an ancient once said, […]
1) Don’t wish for perfect health. In perfect health, there is greed and wanting. So an ancient said, “Make good medicine from the suffering of sickness.” 2) Don’t hope for a life without problems. An easy life results in a judgmental and lazy mind. So an ancient once said, “Accept the anxieties and difficulties […]
You and I are also living in a dream. It might be a happy dream or a sad one, a prosperous dream or a poor dream; it might be a selfish dream or a selfless dream. Maybe we are having a Zen dream or a “practicing in order to help all beings” dream. Buddha said, […]
Do you know an elevator’s job? Many people can push the button wanting the elevator, but the elevator only comes when the proper floor and direction appears. When the elevator is going up, it only stops for up-buttons and coming down it only stops for down-buttons. The elevator understands its correct action sequence. That is […]
In those last days of his life, Zen Master Seung Sahn was in the hospital and in a great deal of great pain. Dae Kwan Sunim was with him and asked if ZMSS would give his pain to her. “No, no, no, no! It’s enough only I experience this. Never give to you……only I keep!” […]
So that is the great question. What are we before we made up everything else? You know the monologue that has been playing in your head. We are always editing it, revising it, making up a story of who we are. But to try to arrive at the point where you can see what you are before […]
Life is Zen. But some people say that life is suffering. How are these different? If you make “my life is Zen,” then your life becomes Zen. If somebody else makes “my life is suffering,” then that person’s life becomes suffering. So it all depends on how you are keeping your mind just now, at […]
The Buddha saw a star and attained enlightenment. What kind of Buddhism was that? If we have some idea of what we are or who we are, it is usually connected with some view of the world. It may be a religious view, political view, a man or woman view, a black or white view, […]