Zen Buddhism

Things are things because of the mind;

the mind is the mind because of things.

If you wish to know what these two are,

the are originally one emptiness.

In this void both [mind and things] are one,

The infinitely small is a large as the infinitely great;

for limits are non-existent things.

The infinitely large is as small the the infinitely minute;

When activity is stopped and passivity obtains,

this passivity again is a state of activity.

Remaining in movement on quiescence –

how shall we know the One?

Not thoroughly understanding the unity of the Way,

both activity and quiescence are failures.

If you get rid of phenomena, all things are lost.

If you follow after the void, 

On a withered branch the crow is 

When the followers of Zen fail to go beyond a world of their senses and

thoughts, all their doings and movements are of no significance.

But when the senses and thoughts are annihilated, all the passages to the

mind are blocked and no entrance then becomes possible. The original 

mind is to be recognized along with the working of the senses and

While Zen teaching consists in grasping the spirit by transcending form,

it unfailingly reminds us of the fact that the spirit expresses itself only by

This is the reason why the swordsmen is always advised to be free from

thought of death or from anxiety about the outcome of the combat.

As long as there is any ‘thought’ of whatever nature, that will assuredly

Wind subsiding, the flowers still fall;

To train yourself in sitting meditation (zazen) is to train yourself to be a 

sitting Buddha. If you train yourself in zazen (you should know that) Zen

is never sitting nor lying. If you train yourself to be a sitting Buddha (you

Regarding all things, only understanding that there must be no attachment.

There is only one reality, neither to be realized or attained. To say

‘I am realizing something’ or 'I am able to attain something’ is to place 

My advice to those whose eyes have not been opened to the truth –

When thoughts arise, then do all things arise.

If they put a stop to conceptual thought and forgot there anxiety, the 

Buddha will appear before them, for this mind is the Buddha and the 

Buddha is all living beings. It is not the less for being manifested in

It is told again by the Tathagata that this Dharma is perfectly even and

free from irregularities. By Dharma is meant Bodhi. That is, this

pure mind forming the source of all things is perfectly even in all

sentient beings, in all the Buddha lands, and also in all the other

worlds together with mountains, oceans, etc., things with form and

things without form. They are all even and there are no marks of

distinction between this object and that. This pure mind, the source

To a monk departing on a trading mission to China:

To judge for yourself whether the weather be hot or cold;

A fellow must not be cheated by others. And to see that you

take not Japan’s good gold