It takes determination to trust this kind of awareness, however, because one’s conditioning tends always to go towards being judgemental and to think in terms of, ‘I shouldn’t feel like this! I don’t know what to do! How should I meditate?’ Whatever you are feeling, however, even if you feel confused about everything, just recognize it ― ‘Confusion is like this’…
Shenhui thus founded what became known as the Heze (in Japanese, Kataku) school of Zen. The branch largely died out during the early ninth century and is not remembered as a major school. Nevertheless, the doctrine of sudden enlightenment remained a central characteristic that defined the teaching styles and cultural flavour of later Chinese Zen…
Every one of us has the disease of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, and we absorb more germs every time we see a form, smell an odour, touch a tangible object, taste a flavour, or think in the manner of an ignorant person. In other words, there is the reception of the germ, those things surrounding us that are infected and cause the disease, every time there is sense contact…
A young Buddhist monk approached his teacher, and asked the Zen Master: ‘If I meditate very diligently how long will it take for me to become enlightened?’
Extract from a talk given at the Buddhist Publishing Group 2002 Summer School. Around 3 minutes
The matter of “I” and “mine” is the single essential point of the Buddhist teachings. It is the one thing which must be completely purged. It follows that here lies the knowing, understanding, and practice of all the Buddhist Teachings without exception.
Talking about universal love is a very inspiring subject. There is nothing wrong with contemplating universal love, either. But if that’s all we are doing, then it can be merely a whitewash over inner pain and anguish. We might want to love all beings and live in a world of unity and total love. That might be a very appealing idea. What is it that prevents us from that unity? If we trace it back, we will find it’s the ignorance that we have about ourselves…
It is certain that we have seeds of happiness, seeds of joy, of peace, of love, in us, but it may be that during our daily lives, nobody knows how to touch those seeds…
Buddhism now 