Yulu – zen onderrichtingen

A dharma teaching by Daoxin (580-651): When mind of itself is peaceful and clean, then all that is needed is bold advance as if saving your head from burning. You must not slack off or get lazy. Try hard, try hard! When beginners sit in meditation to contemplate mind: sit alone someplace. First straighten out … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Bassui (1327-1387): Someone asked me: “If all existing form is possessed of the three poisons [greed, anger and delusion], who among buddhas, ancestors, saints, and wise men can escape them?” I responded: “Just wake up to your own nature, and the three poisons will be transformed into obeying the precepts, meditation, … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Bodhidharma (5th century): There are many avenues for entering the Way, but essentially they all are of two kinds: A. entering through the principle, B. and entering through practice. ad A. “Entering through the Principle” is awakening to the essential by means of the teachings. It requires a profound trust that … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Hakuin (1686-1769): From the beginning all beings are Buddha.Like water and ice, without water no ice,Outside us no Buddhas. How near the truth, yet how far we seek,Like one in water crying “I thirst.”Like a child of rich birthwand’ring poor on this earth,we endlessly circle the six worlds. The cause of … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Baizhang (8th century): When facing the end, all are beautiful scenes appearing – according to what the mind likes, the most impressive are experienced first. If you do not do bad things right now, then at this time, facing death, there will be no unpleasant scenes. Even if there are any … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Huihai (8th century, disciple of Mazu): Once a Taoist, happening to pass by, asked: ‘Is there anything in the world more marvellous than the forces of nature?’M: ‘There is.’ Q: ‘And what is that?’M: ‘The power of comprehending those natural forces.’ Q: ‘Is cosmic vitality the Way (Tao)?’M: ‘Cosmic vitality is … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Torei Enji, 1721-1792, a disciple of Hakuin: The monks of our school do not know how to set the body at ease and be obedient to the Dharma. Nowadays they often mistake their uninteresting views for ‘Zen’. They do not peruse the sutras and treatises [shastra’s], but rather query why in … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Nagarjuna (c. 150 – c. 250): All that arises is suffering; cravingIs its vast origination.Its cessation is liberation – the path forAttaining this is the Eightfold Arya [Noble] Path. That being so, strive – always –In order to see the Four Arya [Noble] Truths.Even those householders in whose laps rest great … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Dahui (1088-1163): There are three mistakes. Saying you are obstructed by knowledge is one, saying you are not yet enlightened and willingly being deluded is another, and going on within delusion to use mind to wait for enlightenment is another. These three mistakes are the root of birth and death. You … Lees meer

A dharma talk by zen master Mazu (709–788): “All dharmas [all phenomena] are mind dharmas; all names are mind names. The myriad dharmas are all born from the mind; the mind is the root of the myriad dharmas. The sutra says, ‘It is because of knowing the mind and penetrating the original source that one … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Eihei Dogen (1200-1255), at the beginning of a summer retreat: Once when Zikong was at Tiantong monastery in Siming at the beginning of a summer retreat he said, “For people in meditation the most important thing is that the nostrils be right; then the eyes must be thoroughly clear. Then it’s … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Linji (d. 866): “If you want to be free to live or to die, to go or to stay as you would put on or take off clothes, then right now recognize the one listening to my discourse, the one who has no form, no characteristics, no root, no source, no … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Yunmen (864-949): My brothers, if there is one who has attained it, he passes his days in conformity with the ordinary. If you have not yet attained it, you must at any price avoid pretending that you have. You must not waste your time, and you need very much to pay … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Yantou (828–887): As soon as he arrived at master Te Shan’s place, Hsueh Feng asked him, “Does this student [Hsueh Feng] have any share in this matter handed down from antiquity as the fundamental vehicle?”Te Shan struck him a blow and said, “What are you saying?”Because of this, Hsueh Feng had … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Dongshan (807-869): When Shenshan had picked up a needle to mend clothes, Master Dongshan asked, “What are you doing?”“Mending,” answered Shenshan.“In what way do you mend?” asked the Master.“One stitch is like the next,” said Shenshan.“We’ve been traveling together for twenty years, and you can still say such a thing! How … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Vimalakirti (5th century BC): The daughters of the gods asked:What is this pleasure that has as its object the garden of the Law (dharma)? Vimalakirti replied: It is the pleasure which consists in believing firmly in the Buddha, in desiring to hear the Law (Dharma), attending to the community (Sangha), driving … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Hongzhi (1091-1157): Practice in emptiness and forget conditioning as dazzling light gleams from the shadows. When each portion of spirit is luminous and unhindered, the mind of the three times is interrupted and the four material elements are in balance. Transparent and marvelously bright, in solitary glory for multitudinous kalpas, a … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Huihai (8th century, disciple of Mazu): [A sutra says:] Wise men regulate their minds rather than their persons; fools regulate their persons rather than their minds. Another sutra states: ‘Evil springs forth from the mind, and by the mind is evil overcome.’ Thus, we may know that all good and evil … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Shunryu Suzuki (1904-1971): Usually we are not interested in the nothingness of the ground. Our tendency is to be interested in something that is growing in the garden, not in the bare soil itself. But if you want to have a good harvest the most important thing is to make the … Lees meer

A dharma teaching by Shakyamuni Buddha: In the transparent lucidity of the original nature of thought, in the perfect purity of its original nature, no genesis of a thought takes place. Where there is an objective support, there the foolish common people produce a thought. The bodhisattva, however, wisely considers the objective support, as well … Lees meer