Sublime

What is “true practice”? We say it’s “just sitting,” which is what’s left over when all our hope, all our projects, all our aspiration have been cut away.

He took haiku to a deeper level, espousing haikai no michi (the Way of Haiku)

Lin-chi is asking you what sickness prevents you from having confidence in your own ability to attain buddhahood?

In some ways Buddhism is rather polemical, with some feeling of controversy in it, because the Buddhist must protect his way from mystic or magical interpretations of religion.

Popularity almost invariably leads to a deterioration of quality, and as Zen became less of an informal spiritual movement and more of a settled institution, it underwent a curious change of character. It became necessary to “standardize” its methods and to find means for the masters to handle students in large numbers. There were also the special

Bodhiruchi,

from the standpoint of Zen this is a long way short of true naturalness since it involves the use of the artificial concept-“everything is God” or “everything is the Tao.” Zen annihilates this concept by showing that it is as unnecessary as every other. One does not realize the spontaneous life by depending on the repetition of thoughts or affirmat

Indeed, this is the constant refrain of the sutra. But it isn’t just about Zen; it is firmly rooted in what would later become known as Yogacara Buddhism as well.

respected Tanchiu Koji Terayama, director of Hitsu Zendo. The English translation of his book’s title is Zen and the Art of Calligraphy (transl. by John Stevens; Penguin Group, 1983).