Buddhists From Japan

"From the first, in people and in things, there is no such thing as trash. These words point to the fundamental truth of Buddhism, a truth I could not as yet conceive in those days."

"When a Zen Monk writes the word "dew," it is not to the natural phenomenon that he refers, but to direct revelation. Nothing concealed anywhere. Truth, revealed in all things. Buddha revealed in all things. Dharma revealed in all things. If you all just let the scales drop from your eyes, you realize that everything everywhere is filled with truth; everything is filled with Buddha; everything everywhere is to be appreciated! That is what the scroll of "dew" is hanging there to say."

"How we live our everyday lives has to be the main concern of religion."

"Once there was a megalomaniac in the Sugamo hospital who called himself "Ashiwara Shōgun." He hung a cardboard medal around his neck and bestowed dignified words to those he met to take with them on their way. Now that the war is over, we can see clearly that what the military did wasn’t at all different. And now they want to reintroduce medals yet again... After winning the Russo-Japanese war, we thought we’d won colonies. But what really came of it? After losing the Second World War, we realized that we had only earned the hatred of the Russians... Everyone is talking about loyalty to the fatherland. The question is simply where this loyalty will take us. I too was completely convinced when I went to war against the Russians, but after our defeat, I realized that we had done something that we shouldn’t have. In any case, it’s better not to make war in the first place."

"My sermons are criticized by certain audiences. They say that my sermons are hollow, not holy. I agree with them because I myself am not holy. The Buddha's teaching guides people to the place where there is nothing special... People often misunderstand faith as kind of ecstasy of intoxication... True faith is sobering up from such intoxication."

"The asshole doesn’t need to be ashamed of being the asshole. The feet don’t have any reason to go on strike just because they’re only feet. The head isn’t the most important of all, and the navel doesn’t need to imagine he’s the father of all things. It’s strange though that people look at the prime minister as an especially important person. The nose can’t replace the eyes, and the mouth can’t replace the ears. Everything has its own identity, which is unsurpassable in the whole universe."

"I went to the Russo-Japanese War and killed people until I had enough of it. If you think about it soberly, this is a serious matter. Today the newspaper writes about the extermination of the enemy or how we clean them away with machine gun fire. That almost sounds like everyday household cleaning. They fire with machine guns and call it "cleaning away the remains of the enemy". Imagine that would happen in the midst of the ginza: people getting "cleaned away" as if you were shooting animals! It would be a serious affair. Compared with today the former war was old fashioned. We shot only one bullet at a time. That was not so gross like shooting your machine gun as if you were spreading water with a watering can, or throwing big bombs, or poison gas. I also once killed enemies at the battlefield of Baolisi, chasing them into a hole, and I was never punished for it. I even received monthly payments as a veteran after I came back from the war. That means that you do not always get punished for killing a person. It depends on the regulations of the time if you get punished or not. But these regulations are made by men."

"Hey! What are you looking at? Don’t you see that it’s about you?"

"Religion means living your own life, completely fresh and new, without being taken in by anyone."

"We stop the one who can't cease from seeking things outside, and practice with our bodies with a posture that seeks absolutely nothing. This is zazen."

"You can’t even trade a single fart with the next guy. Each and every one of us has to live out his own life. Don’t waste time thinking about who’s most talented."

"Think with your whole body."

"We should learn to think with our fingers."

"If you are not happy here and now, you never will be."

"You are the strongest and the others keep their distance. It is no longer necessary to win victories over them."

"To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give."

"Religions remain what they are. Zen is meditation. Meditation is the foundation of every religion. People today feel an intense need to go back to the source of religious life, to the pure essence in the depths of themselves which they can discover only through actually experiencing it. They also need to be able to concentrate their minds in order to find the highest wisdom and freedom, which is spiritual in nature, in their efforts to deal with the influences of every description imposed upon them by their environment. Human wisdom alone is not enough, it is not complete. Only universal truth can provide the highest wisdom. Take away the word Zen and put Truth or Order of the Universe in its place."

"Harmonizing opposites by going back to their source is the distinctive quality of the Zen attitude, the Middle Way: embracing contradictions, making a synthesis of them, achieving balance."

"We feel our shell keeps us safe, but it crushes us and others, and keeps out light and sun."

"If you have a glass full of liquid you can discourse forever on its qualities, discuss whether it is cold, warm, whether it is really and truly composed of H-2-O, or even mineral water, or saki. Meditation is Drinking it!"

"You must not take out your sword because if you try to kill someone, you must die for it yourself. What you must do instead is kill yourself, kill your own mind."

"Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert can pass through them. Close them, and all you can feel is a bit of grit."

"Train the body and develop stamina and endurance. But the spirit of competition and power that presides over them is not good, it reflects a distorted vision of life. The root of the martial arts is not there."

"You must concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair."

"You have to practice until you die."

"Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful, unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor imagination take place. It's enough just to be without hypocrisy, dogmatism, arrogance — embracing all opposites."

"If you forget yourself, you become the universe."

"All beings are by nature are Buddhas, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddhas. How sad that people ignore the near and search the truth afar: like someone in the midst of water crying out in thirst: like a child of a wealthy home wandering among the poor."

"Should you desire the great tranquility prepare to sweat white beads."

"Why do you so earnestly seek the truth in distant places? Look for delusion and truth in the bottom of your own hearts."

"The village has disappeared in the evening mist And the path is hard to follow. Walking through the pines, I return to my lonely hut."

"I have nothing to report, my friends. If you want to find the meaning, Stop chasing after so many things."

"The water of the valley stream Never shouts at the tainted world: “Purify yourself!” But naturally, as it is, Shows how it is done."

"The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away, and the weather is clear again. If your heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure. Abandon this fleeting world, abandon yourself, Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way."

"It's a pity, a gentleman in refined retirement composing poetry: He models his work on the classic verse of China. And his poems are elegant, full of fine phrases. But if you don't write of things deep in your own heart, What's the use of churning out so many words?"

"The winds gives me Enough fallen leaves To make a fire"

"Who says my poems are poems? My poems are not poems. When you know that my poems are not poems, Then we can speak of poetry."

"Cling to truth and it turns into falsehood. Understand falsehood and it turns into truth. Truth and falsehood are two sides of the same coin. Neither accept one nor reject the other."

"Easily moved by beauty—such is my nature. I take a few phrases and they just turn into poems"

"This world A fading Mountain echo Void and Unreal"

"You must rise above The gloomy clouds Covering the mountaintop Otherwise, how will you Ever see the brightness?"

"In this dream world We doze And talk of dreams — Dream, dream on, As much as you wish"

"The thief left it behind: the moon at my window."

"Late at night, listening to the winter rain Recalling my youth — Was it only a dream? Was I really young once?"

"In the scenery of spring, nothing is better, nothing worse; The flowering branches are of themselves, some short, some long."

"When you encounter those who are wicked, unrighteous, foolish, dim-witted, deformed, vicious, chronically ill, lonely, unfortunate, or disabled, you should think: “How can I save them?” And even if there is nothing you can do, at least you must not indulge in feelings of arrogance, superiority, derision, scorn, or abhorrence, but should immediately manifest sympathy and compassion. If you fail to do so, you should feel ashamed and deeply reproach yourself: “How far I have strayed from the Way! How can I betray the old sages? I take these words as an admonition to myself.”"

"From far, far in the distant past, Down to this day, this very instant, Those things we have longed for most Have not been attained, and we sorrow."

"Once our false thinking has completely ceasedThere is neither start nor conclusion, beginning nor endIn the oneness of Buddha and sentient beingsSay Namu-amida-butsu."

"To reach the borders of the uncreated, Just let go! This is genuine gratitude."

"Food, clothing, and shelter are the three evil paths. To desire and make a display of clothing is karma for the path of beasts. To greedily crave food is karma for the path of famished ghosts. To set up a shelter is karma for the path of hell. Hence, if you aspire to part from the three evil paths, you must free yourself from food, clothing, and shelter."