Though rain must fall in each life, don’t forget that you’re naturally waterproof, the overall benefit of rain, and that it only soaks your encumbrances.
Kyorai reminds not to undervalue one’s being in this world and our unknown force of life, he offers a shortcut to enlightenment.
Returning from a funeral
I saw this very high moon
above the moor
Kyorai (1653 – 1716)
Time is a struggle when the observer creates it in scarcity. -on being
I’m not a catcher of universal movement. I would never reap without contributing.
Write a good speech and then find the gathering to give it at.
When your mind is being bullshitty you have to call it on its bullshit. -on meditation
The ship of true meditation rights your mind around it.
An invisible octopus pulled his body around and marionetted him.
Shame is the lack of pride in subversiveness. Take pride in being subversive and shame disappears.
A struggle can’t only tire, it strengthens as well. This is a law of nature.
The struggle that extinguishes creates an imbalance that’s quickly balanced.
I’m uncertain as I feel dropped in.
I have news for you Wumen Huikai. Nobody knows who Yantou or Deshan are. How about a little more context next time? -Case 171, Next Time
Buddha roasts Manjusri in public. -Case 172, The Buddha Never Preached
‘Where do you think I want to be right now?
Get a night watchman’s job to practice your meditation.
Every reaction is making this place worse and every kind action is making this place better.
‘Goodness flows through your upper parts, your heart and your brain. Your lower half is mostly emissions,’ she nunned us.
‘A turning phrase’ literally means a phrase spoken that causes one to turn around. – Case 172, Ciming Tends the Hearth
Im pretty sure ‘tending to the hearth’ and ‘stir some rice gruel’ are euphemisms for sex. – Case 172, Ciming Tends the Hearth
It’s funny how quickly we create our own commandments.
Yangqi gave no fucks and so proved himself enlightened. – Case 172, Ciming Tends the Hearth
Jesus, at least it’s never not spontaneous.
If you ever start to feel that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, talk to your neighbour.
Linji might have been a bit of an asshole. – Case 173, Ciming and the Tiger’s Roar
Whatever you expect from a thing, the opposite is probably what you need.
As light is without weight so is your good meditation mind, unbound by speeds.
If light were truly massless it would be everywhere all the time, like your unbound unorigination.
The fall of Rome was more necessary than its rise.
You are as free without it as you always were with it and before you had it.
Hongyin the master asked Ciming about a Lion of West River. Ciming’s reply shocked Master Hongyin into alarm which is pretty embarassing for a Zen Master. Ciming called Fenyang Shanzhao, another ‘master’, a master by reputation only and not by practice. Hongyin incorrectly attributed Fenyang Shanzhao of being Ciming’s master. – Case 174, Ciming Takes off a Shoe
Some sounds create poison in the soul.
‘One of my first apartments was on the ground floor. One night a few friends and I were having a few drinks. We heard the dorbell ring and I opened the door as I happened to be closest to it. I opened the door to see a taxi driver at the end of the driveway standing on the sidewalk. He must have run down the driveway after he rang the bell. He marched up to the front door and stopped just before the threshold. He shouted ‘Fucking!’, then turned around and marched back to his car before driving away,’ she fairy told me.
If fairy tale were a verb, would the past tense be fairy told or fairy taled?
‘Following their breath is just something meditators do to give themselves something to think about. It’s most effective in socially awkward situations,’ she silenced me and initiated me into meditation.
‘All things became equal and reached some point and that’s where everything shot out from again’, she observed the repeated universe.
Some version of time has to pass before time can pass.
Every good society started off as a secret society. Go ahead and start a secret society!
Recognizing that power grows within one’s self through practice is a great realization in life.
I was the driving force behind every entity I created.
I close the door and suddenly whatever’s outside isn’t my problem anymore.
Death is scary because we humans do crazy scary things to dead people. If you really want a stress free life just have them bury you in some soil without coffin or procedure.
A mind that doesn’t know freedom is more comfortable in it’s chains. Humans will suffer with familiarity every time.
The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment seems to contradict core Buddhist principles and so is the most valuable sutra. – Case 175, Kanzan’s “Inherently Perfect Buddha”
She observed and removed the dhukka from ther mind and became lighter in its absence. What’s a good word for that?
There is no greater feeling than creating in a space that’s void of creation.
She made a bad deal and lost more than she gained. She could do no other and eventually became enlightened.
It’s nice of the sutras to show us the repeating pattern to life so we can all relax.
He moved like a tiger because he was one.
‘Give me a repetitive week!’ The middle class gasped its last.
How a product was produced is a connection to the producer if you know them. Another soul tunnel.
The soil is good at extracting that which it needs to extract. It created animals to extract nutrients and change the chemical compound. Why are you here?
She rebelled against her executioners, the polluters.
I’m here and I’m alive. Let’s always rebel against any entity that wishes to oppress.
What are you struggling with?
Very good meditation sessions will leave you questioning your sanity. Progress beyond the obvious and nourish yourself in creativity.
She was cursed to only do good while her peers thought her only do bad.
My elderly neighbour put his sofa up for sale as a flex about how well he’s kept it.
The old bent nail is a conduit of kharma.
Some symbols written out can create a soul tunnel like these.
‘If you’re going to take every of something leave at least two for people to fight over,’ she conquered.
Accepting reality always leads to reality.
If I’m not eating in a panic I’m not really enjoying it.
Everyone communicates differently. Be a good discoverer and translator of those communications.
‘Tables Creek’ is a great fake name for a creek or a town.
They built tall totems where the energy was higher up and lower ones for earth energy.
Candle light reveals the character of the relic through its absences in shadow.
‘Application or apparition?’ The genius comic strip writer wrote a comic.
The biggest blowhards are motivated mostly by fear. Follow their lead into cowardice if you like.
Just beyond the gate
a neat yellow hole
someone pissed in the snow
Issa (1763-1828)
Maybe we spend too much time on distracting ourselves these days and not enough time in practice.
To have a significant emotional experience is to have the courage to find it in your heart.
We offer every other human a place in this hierarchy: -Respect -Don’t know -Disrespect
‘If I actually tell the truth, what will these rich assholes do to me?’ He quietly thought in anxiety.
Greedy shadows always come nose first.
Don’t forget that infinity encompassed time infinitely. Leave this note next to the start button on your time machine.
Practice overcoming intrusive thought in your meditation.
I only respect one move that better not come at an obvious time. That move is spontaneous.
There’s an easy way to tell if your attachment is unhealthy.
She wore her fear and so showed her weakness.
In a dream world we all cooperate so who are the assholes fucking that up?
‘She hated her for freeing her from her hypnotism,’ she read the lesbian pulp magazine.
It feels so good to overcome some negative emotion. I shake my soul at the end of the night and all the pieces fall out. – on meditation
Any holy fire lit in earnest is a source of purifying energy.
The author makes the mistake of asking why and is flooded with bullshit answers. Abandon ‘Why?’ to abandon bullshit answers. – Case 175, Kanzan’s “Inherently Perfect Buddha”
If you ask the answer to a question you miss out on the most important discovery. – on one’s triumphs and failures.
Some great joy in life lies in scratching before an itch.
Some great joy in life lies in scratching an itch.
Some great joy in life lies in not scratching an itch. – on not attending to a tradition
We should have something between satisfied and dissatisfied.
After we all decide to tell the truth ‘Don’t know.’ Becomes the default answer to every question.
… and what type of finale would you like? Regular or grand?
How does a river become a waterfall?
Santa became a Buddhist and stopped handing out gifts. ‘Why would I ruin people further?’ He asked.
Linji defamed himself publicly and set his admirers free of his narcissistic impulses, and so set himself free. – Case 176, Linji’s Hunk of Red Flesh
Surround yourself with conceptual totems.
A good heart with meaning speaks to like hearts.
Any progress you make will be progress in the wrong direction.
The answer always perfectly presents itself as soon as you overcome desire.
‘#1 rule,’ the coach said, ‘never just go back, always go back swinging.’
Sometimes you need a nice little poem to read. Click over to the poetry section to enjoy a good one.
My students were patient while I taught myself.
She wore a stone to break a curse and it also prevented her from cursing others and so set her free.
Deprive yourself of knowing the time while in meditation. Cover every clock and mute every phone.
How can we unperpetuate this cycle? – on rebirth
I once again confront the fear in me and once again come away a loser. That which I’ve lost is the fear I’ve chipped away at.
I know you’ll be really disappointed in yourself if you waste your meditation time with thought.
Three chimes to announce intention followed by meditation in old Gobekli Tepe.
If you get kicked out of a group for not adhering to their sexual rules count yourself lucky and count yourself free. – on excommunication
When hobos can’t roam we get cities flooded with camps of homeless. Maybe our freedom of movement has an essential quality.
He poked around because he wasn’t clear on the human experience.
The franklin stove continues to be the best type of stove for human beings.
The next time your brain is being an idiot, push all of its blood to the front part.
‘It’s a signal that resonates through time,’ she received the transmission.
My inattention speaks more to who I am than who you are. – on forgetting someone’s name
Sailors tell that when a boat sinks, a mermaid always comes along to invite them to become a merman.
You deserve every insult you get until you realize it’s only an insult if you feel you deserve it.
‘I guess I’ll get crucified in front of everybody,’ Jesus really fucked up his Irish goodbye.
Lessons of hindsight Play bingo with your future Random chance haiku
The railroad plays an important role in getting drifters out of town.
Consuming negativity will of course leave you negative.
The conduit noticed that everything arranged itself quite naturally.
‘Be honest for the right answers,’ she life coached him.
Find a holy book you feel interested in and study it throughout any meditative time.
Every magnet knows for sure that it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to. It’s the long arm of universal law, the other being gravity.
God willed all of his angels to die and took off for a while.
The therapist at the ABBA center recommended she think of ABBA songs whenever she felt depressed.
The best choice is always the sparkle in the dark.
The monk accepted every outcome as the right one.
Be selective about where you spend your attention. Watch carefully out for those who wish to reroute you.
Masters of their freedom and masters of their land have mutual respect.
I can never not see what’s around the bend. – master of her freedom
I come from this land and will die into it. -master of her land
Any teacher will tell you that any lesson can be taught any way.
It’s better to be perfectly imperfect than perfect. Imperfection is our most important trait. What is individualism if not imperfection?
She sent them on their way in better form than they came. She inspired them into the unknown.
She offered her ego to the dear lovely devils as a sacrifice and freed herself of it.
‘Any colour from dark orange to orange reddish is fine,’ he answered the novice monk’s question about robes.
Everything you observe is related to this experience, dummy. – Einstein wrote for MAD magazine
Not all convincing is argument but all argument is convincing.
If you ever find yourself walking around feeling combative or embattled, find some good friendship. Find a healer.
Consciousness and environment are particle and wave.
Everything is suspended in vibration as atoms smash together.
‘Are you feeling symptoms of any of that?’ She said. ‘You walk around like people do in a war torn country.’
You can’t make anyone sweet by dumping sugar in their mouth.
Maybe I’m not only injured but I’m also feeling injured.
I’m more slow and steady where she’s more run along powerlines as a shortcut.
Allow yourself to move with vibration if you wish to overcome it.
‘Of course all those mirrors improve chi in Fueng Shuei,’ she reflected the vibration.
Be careful out there, there aren’t many healers. Depleters sup from a bottomless well.
‘Because people here love being healed,’ Joseph went on ‘you should go around healing people.’
Retune the strings of your mind with Koans.
A home for spirits is as important as not having a home infested with spirits.
Clarity should never take a back seat to sensitivity.
‘I can heal but I’m not a healer,’ she ran out of energy.
When you’re in bullshit up to your eyeballs only your third eye can see the way out.
There has never been a civilization that has not gone to war. Why are we always such assholes about the latest one?
Thank God for those brave people who compliment strangers. Unsung heroes.
Linji really didn’t fuck around when it came to Zen magic. – case 177, Linji’s Four Realms
That monk’s ghost sure talked a lot about cat care.
Attend everything as an experience to experience.
Broader examination of rising feelings over a longert period of time is very telling.
The problem with law is the processes.
Sometimes I fall weary into a chair and suspect I was pulled.
If you establish categories then ask why something new doesn’t fit into one of your categories you should probably give up categories. – case 178, Linji’s Four Shouts
Times of uncertainty will cause you to reminisce about more certain times even if they were worse times.
You exist in whatever categories you create. Give up categories to find yourself outside of them.
Every holy man is self appointed as he pointed himself in that direction.
Find a way to love those who need love even in some small way.
See who pushes down instead of pulling up.
Really continue to trace the origin of negative thoughts for progress in meditation.
‘Tell me exactly what you want and I’ll find it for you,’ he rubbed his huge belly.
‘Please bypass your opponents initeria,’ the aikido teacher taught.
A cat’s purr is a mind control mechanism for a parasitic relationship.
Me and this cat really understand each other.
Never hesitate to throw unreasonably negative thoughts out of your mind.
‘Are we detecting or hallucinating?’ Was at the heart of every question ever asked. -on sentience
People who hate me don’t realize that I don’t realize they do.