Inscribed on the Wall of the Hut by the Lake

If you want to be a mountain dweller,
No need to trek to India to find one.
I’ve got a thousand peaks
To pick from, right here by the lake.
Fragrant grasses, white clouds,
To hold me here.
What holds you there,
World dweller?

~ Chiao Jan (730–799)

The shadow of the bamboo
Sweeps the stair
All night long.
Yet not a mote of dust is stirred.
The moon beams penetrate
To the bottom of the pool,
Yet in the water not a trace is left.

~ Chikan Zenji

There is an adamantine Buddha Nature
Within the bodies of sentient beings.
Like the sun, it is essentially bright,
Perfect, and complete.
Although vast and limitless,
It is merely covered by the layered clouds
Of the five skandas.
Like a lamp inside a jar,
Its light shines nonetheless.

Sutra of the Ten Sages

Outwardly, all activities cease;
Inwardly, the mind stops its panting.
When one’s mind has become a wall,
Then he may begin to enter the Tao.

~ Bodhidharma

To practice the Tao
Is like defending the forbidden
Royal Palace under invasion.
Guard it closely with your life,
And fight for it with all your might!
Behold, if the freezing cold
Has not yet penetrated
To the core of your bones,
How can it be possible for you
To smell the fresh fragrance
Of the blooming plum blossom?

~ Huang Po

Just don’t seek from another
Or you’ll be far estranged from the Way.
I now go on alone
Meeting it everywhere
It now is just what I am
I now am one with it.
You must comprehend in this way
To merge with thusness.

~ Dongshan Liangjie (807-869)

Like the little stream
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices,
I, too, quietly
Turn clear and transparent.

~ Hakuin (1686-1768)


You should know that your own mind’s aware essence is neither finite nor eternal, by nature neither defiled nor pure. It is still and complete; it is the same in ordinary people and saints, responding effectively without patterns, apart from mind, intellect, and discriminating consciousness.

~ Shih-t’ou (700-790)

https://www.dailyzen.com/

As long as you are subject
To a life bound by force of habit,
You are not free from the
Burden of the body.

~ Kuei-Shan (771-854)

If you want to freely live or die, go or stay, to take off or put on your clothes, then right now recognize the one who is listening to my discourse.

That one is without form, without characteristics, without root, without source, and without any dwelling place, yet is brisk and very alive.

As for all manifold responsive activities, the place where they are carried on is, in fact, no place.

Therefore, when you look for that one, it retreats farther and farther, when you seek that, it turns more and more the other way: this is called the “Mystery.”

~ Lin-chi (d.866)

Those who seek liberation for themselves alone cannot become fully enlightened.

Though it may be said that one who is not already liberated cannot liberate others, the very process of forgetting oneself to help others is itself liberating.

Therefore those who seek to benefit themselves alone actually harm themselves by doing so, while those who help others also help themselves by doing so.

~ Muso Kokushi (1275-1351)

Attain the mind of emptiness,
Preserve the utmost quiet:
As myriad things act in concert,
I therefore observe the return.
Things flourish,
Then each returns to its root.
Returning to the root is called stillness:
Stillness is called return to Life,
Return to Life is called the constant;
Knowing the constant is called enlightenment.

~ Lao-tzu

One’s own nature is great because
It contains all things.
As all things are contained in
Your own nature,
If good and bad people are
Viewed with neither attachment
Nor repulsion, also without
Contamination, the mind which
Is like space, is called great.
For this reason, it is called maha.

Altar Sutra
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Those who have given deep thoughts to the world are those who have controlled the activity of their minds.

~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

https://wahiduddin.net/saki/saki_date.php

Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is
In the very here and now,
The practitioner dwells
In stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who knows
How to dwell in mindfulness
Night and day
“One who knows the better way to live.”

Bhaddekaratta Sutra