The Weeds

Once upon a time in ancient China, there was a sage who taught the Tao to three disciples at a distant temple. Once every few months, they would make the long trip into town to purchase supplies.
On one of these trips, they paused by a field overgrown with weeds. The sage said to the disciples: "This field is like the human mind, and the weeds are like negative thoughts. Tell me, what do you think is the best way to get rid of the weeds?"
The first disciple was quick to answer: "Just pull up the weeds with your hands, Master. What can be easier than that?"
The second disciple disagreed: "That is not very effective. Look at how many weeds there are. You can only do so much before you get tired. The best way is to use tools like the shovel to uproot the weeds. In the same amount of time, you can do a lot more with less effort."
The third disciple shook his head: "Even that is not effective enough. Look at how big this field is. Even with tools, it will still take quite a while, and it will still be exhausting. The best way is fire. Set up a perimeter around the field, and then burn the whole thing. It takes some effort to preapre, but once that's done, you just stand back and watch the fire do all the work for you."
The sage smiled approvingly: "You've given three answers that are quite different, but all interesting. Tell me, how does your answer correspond with the Tao?"
The first disciple was again the quickest to respond: "Pulling up the weeds by hand is like confronting each negative thought directly, getting a firm hold of it, and then having the satisfaction of uprooting it from the mind. I believe this is the Tao at the purest and most personal level."
The second disciple thought for a moment: "Just as this field has too many weeds to clear by hand, the mind has too many negative thoughts to eliminate one by one. I need the tools of cultivation, such as meditation, mantras and sutras. These spiritual tools are standard not only for us, but also for other followers of the Tao, so it is quite obvious that my idea is much closer to the Tao."
The third disciple was also thoughtful: "My method is like establishing communion with the gods and the buddhas. Burning the field with fire is like using the sacred powers of the divine to sweep the mind completely clear of negative thoughts. This is the most powerful method, and therefore must also be the closest to the Tao."
Again the sage smiled in approval: "These are all valid comparisons. We can continue on our way now, but I want all of you to keep this discussion in mind, and think about your solution some more."
Months passed, and soon it was time to go into town for supplies again. The sage and the disciples passed by the same field as before, but this time it was different. They saw that farmers had turned it into rice paddies.
The sage turned to them and said: "This is the reason why I did not name any of your answers as the correct one. None of you touched the level of the Tao."
The first disciple was curious: "What was wrong with our solutions, Master?"
"They were all temporary measures." The sage pointed out: "The weeds will grow back after you have cleared the field, regardless of your method. The only way to ensure that won't happen is to replace the weeds with something else - like the rice crop you see in front of you. Similarly, it is not enough to eliminate negative thoughts from your mind. You must also plant the seeds of positive thoughts. That is the only way to ensure that the negativity will never return."


by Derek Lin 

A Little Zen

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The following are taken from The Little Zen Companion by David Schiller.

Yasutani Roshi

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

Mark Twain

There ain't no way to find out why a snorer can't hear himself snore.

Thoreau

Our life is frittered away by detail ... Simplify, simplify.

Chuang-Tsu

The purpose of a fishtrap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. 

The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. 

The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. 

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.

Bulgarian Proverb

If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water.

Yaqui Mystic

To be a man of knowledge one needs to be light and fluid.

Buddhist Proverb

When the student is ready, the Master appears.

Chinese Proverb

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.

Basho

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.

Lew Welch

Someone showed it to me and I found it by myself.

Ts'ai Ken T'an

Water which is too pure has no fish.

Zen Saying

The one who is good at shooting does not hit the center of the target.

Tao Te Ching

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.

Word carved on a stone on John Ruskin's desk

TODAY.

Zen Parable

A man walking across a field encounters a tiger. He fled, the tiger chasing after him. Coming to a cliff, he caught hold of a wild vine and swung himself over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Terrified, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger had come, waiting to eat him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little began to gnaw away at the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine in one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

Goethe

Thinking is more interesting that knowing, but less interesting than looking.

William Hazlitt

Whatever interests, is interesting.

Tao Te Ching

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

Artur Schnabel

The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, that is where the art resides.

John Cage

I have nothing to say, I am saying it, and that is poetry.

R.H. Blyth

We walk, and our religion is shown (even to the dullest and most insensitive person) in how we walk. Or to put it more accurately, living in this world means choosing, choosing to walk, and the way we choose to walk is infallibly and perfectly expressed in the walk itself. Nothing can disguise it. The walk of an ordinary man and of an enlightened man are as different as that of a snake and a giraffe.

Folk Zen Saying

A heavy snowfall disappears into the sea. What silence!

Zen Saying

Knock on the sky and listen to the sound!

Woody Allen

I'm astounded by people who want to "know" the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.

W.H. Auden

To ask the hard question is simple.

Zen Koan

What is your face before your mother and father were born?

Thoreau

It is as hard to see one's self as to look backwards without turning around.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

What is troubling us is the tendency to believe that the mind is like a little man within.

The three qualities necessary for training

Great faith. Great doubt. Great effort.

Albert Einstein

The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.

Carl Jung

The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Who is the Potter, pray, and who is the Pot?

Coco Chanel

How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.

John Lennon

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

Samuel Johnson

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.

Zen Mondo

A monk asked Chao-chou, "I have just entered the monastery: please give me some guidance." 

Chao-chou said, "Have you eaten your rice gruel?" 

The monk said,"Yes, I've eaten." 

Chao-chou said, "Then go wash your bowl."

Albert Einstein, three rules of work

1. Out of clutter, find simplicity. 

2. From discord, find harmony. 

3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

Kahlil Gigran

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

Robert M. Pirsig

So the thing to do when working on a motorcycle, as in any other task, is to cultivate the peace of mind which does not separate one's self from one's surroundings. When that is done successfully, then everything else follows naturally. Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right thoughts. Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all.

Charles Dickens

He did each single thing as if he did nothing else.

Willa Cather

That is happiness: to be dissolved into something complete and great.

St. Anthony

The prayer of the monk is not perfect until he no longer recognizes himself or the fact that he is praying.

Rilke

-Children, one earthly Thing truly experienced, even once, is enough for a lifetime.

Zen Koan

What is the color of wind?

Ludwig Wittgenstein

The mystical is not how the world is, but that it is.

Zen Story

Fa-yen, a Chinese Zen teacher, overheard four monks arguing about subjectivity and objectivity. He joined them and said: "There is a big stone. Do you consider it to be inside or outside your mind?" 

One of the monks replied: "From the Buddhist viewpoint everything is an objectification of mind, so I would say that the stone is inside my mind." 

"Your head must feel very heavy," observed Fa-yen, "if you are carrying around a stone like that in your mind."

Lin-Chi

When you meet a master swordsman, show him your sword. When you meet a man who is not a poet, do not show him your poem.

Wallace Stevens

The river is moving. The blackbird must be flying.

Zen Koan

Two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in teh wind. One said, "The flag moves." The other said, "The wind moves." They argued back and forth but could not agree. Hui-neng, the sixth Patriarch, said: "Gentlemen! It is not the flag that moves. It is not the wind that moves. It is your mind that moves." The two monks were struck with awe.

Zen Saying

Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind.

Shakespeare

There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.

The Buddha

Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox. Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form.

Spanish Proverb

It is notthe same to talk of bulls as to be in the bullring.

G. K. Chesterton

You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.

Simone Weil

Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.

Zen Story

Two monks were once travelling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection. 

"Come on, girl," siad the first monk. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud. 

The second monk did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he said. "It is dangerous. Why did you do that?" 

"I left the girl there,: the first monk said. "Are you still carrying her?"

Zen Saying

When an ordinary man attains knowledge, he is a sage; when a sage attains understanding, he is an ordinary man.

Zen Story

Wealthy patrons invited Ikkyu to a banquet. Ikkyu arrived dressed in his beggar's robes. The host, not recognizing hin, chased him away. Ikkyu went home, chaged into his ceremonial robe of purple brocade, and returned. With great respect, he was received into the banquet room. There, he put his robe on the cushion, saying, "I expect you invited the robe since you showed me away a little while ago," and left.

Erich Fromm

Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself.

Dogen

You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child.

Taoist Mondo

One day Chuang-tzu and a friend were walking along a riverbank. "How delightfully the fishes are enjoying themselves in the water!" Chuang-tzu exclaimed. 

"You are not a fish," his friend said. "How do you know whether or not the fishes are enjoying themselves?" 

"You are not me," Chuang-tzu said. "How do you know that I do not know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?"

Kentucky Folklore

"My feet are cold," one says, and the legless man replies: "So are mine. So are mine."

Zen Koan

When you can do nothing, what can you do?

Pablo Picasso

Computer are useless. They can only give the answers.

Krishnamurti

Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.

Tao te Ching

The more you know the less you understand.

Peter Matthiessen

In this very breath that we take now lies the secret that all great teachers try to tell us.

Precepts of a Peaceful Warrior

The martial arts have always been deeply rooted in Buddhism and Taoist practice. This is evident in the warrior codes, precepts and tenants of the various martial arts traditions. The following precepts are combined from the various warrior mind philosophies that I have been taught during the 28 years of my training in martial arts. The original sources are unknown to me. When I am often questioned about the violence and negative karma that may be generated by training in an art of war, I find myself reflecting back to these words that I have learned to keep close to my heart. These words that remind me, that the martial arts, although translated literally to mean "the art of war", is truly an art of peace. 

The Warrior strives to reach above himself, his false perceptions, his adversaries... His highest achievement is not one of victory, but one of absolute truth. 

A warrior, once a warrior, will always be a warrior. 
A warrior is the epitome of controlled compassion & controlled violence. 
A warrior speaks from the pure heart and mind, transcending the ego. 
A warrior is one of great discipline. 
A warrior is a man of few words, refraining from speaking without reason. 
A warrior has not the luxury for excuses. 
A warrior recognizes the differences between the meaningful & trivial. 
A warrior can never afford fear, he lives in poverty of fear. 
A warrior learns how to defend before the attack. 
A warrior continues to develop the skills of his trade without end. 
A warrior seeks unity of mind, body, & spirit. 
A warrior understands the merits of compassion. 
A warrior pursues a knowledge of all things, regardless of nature. 
A warrior's profession is war, his product is peace. 
A warrior integrates the practice of truth within all his day to day activities. 
A warrior sees the truth within himself, within his adversaries, within the world. 
A warrior is not separate from all things, but strives to flow as one with all things. 
A warrior is as water taking the shape of its container. 
A warrior places the lives of those innocent & weak above himself. 
A warrior knows pain, sadness, joy, & solitude. 

Have compassion for all beings, causing them no unnecessary hurt, nor needless harm. 

Refrain from needless competitiveness, from contriving for self-advantage, and from subjugating others.  

When accepting authority over others, know also that you accept responsibility for their well being. 

Value true friendship, and fulfill your obligations, rather than striving with egotistical motive.  

Seek liberation from the negative passions of hatred, envy, greed and rage, and especially from delusion, deceit and sensory desire. 

Learn to let go of that which cannot be owned, or which is destroyed by grasping. 

Seek the courage to be; defend yourself, and your convictions. 

Accept transience, the inevitable and the irrevocable. Know that change exists in everything. Negate the barriers to your awakening; discover the positive in the negative, and seek a meaningful purpose in what you do. 

Be just and honorable; take pride in what you do, rather than being proud of what you have accomplished. 

Having humility and respect, give thanks to those from whom you learn, or who have otherwise helped you. 

Act in harmony with your fellow beings, with nature, and with inanimate objects.  

Know that a thing or an action which may seem of little value to oneself, may be a priceless treasure to another.  

Help those who are suffering or disadvantaged, and as you yourself become awakened, help those who seek to make real their own potential.  

Know that there is no shame in questioning.  

Be diligent in your practice, and on hearing the music of the absolute, do not be so foolish as to try to sing its song. 

Remember to renew the source, in order to retain good health. 

Seek neither brilliance nor the void; just think deeply, and work hard. 

When still, be as the mountain; when in movement be as the dragon riding the wind. 

Be aware at all times, like the tiger which only seems to sleep, and at all times let the mind be like running water. 

When you are required to act, remember that right motive is essential to right action, just as right thought is essential to right words. 

Beware of creating burdens for yourself or others to carry. 

Act with necessary distinction, being both creative and receptive, and transcending subject/object dichotomy. 

Know that you are not the center of the universe, but learn to put the universe at your center by accepting the instant of your being. 

Seek security within yourself, rather than in others. 

Know that even great worldly wealth, and the accumulation of material things are of little worth, compared with the priceless treasures; love, peace and the freedom to grow. 

Allow yourself to be, so that your life may become a time of blossoming. 

BY– Ch'onsa Kim

Light

Many days, I spent in wonder: 

Who am I? Where do I come from? 

Where am I going? 

This writing is the result of my meditation. 

It is by no means truth.

The truth, can only be realized within. 

These words interpret 

What I have found within my own heart.

We are body.

We are mind.

We are heart.

We are spirit.

We are light.

The body is what does.

The mind is what thinks.

The heart is what feels.

The spirit is what lives.

The light is what is.

The body is sustained by food, water, and air.

The mind is sustained by truth.

The heart is sustained by joy.

The spirit is sustained by purpose.

The light is sustained by its source.

The light is what was before being

and remains after being.

Yet being is not separate from what is,

for it is light taken shape and form

and coming into being.

Everything is light and born of light.

Even the shadows do not exist without light.

Examine the ten thousand things,

beyond form,

and find its only being

is the shape of its light.

The difference between the living

and the non-living

is that the sentient tend to the light.

The rest are like lamps without oil,

cold and still.

The world of being

is a world of suffering,

a world sustained by shadows.

It is created by our mistaking

this body, this mind, this heart and this spirit

for what is.

In forgetting our light

we forget what sustains us,

draw away from the source,

and we begin to grow dim.

We hunger

and desire is born.

We consume the light

of what surrounds us.

Our fulfillment is always short lived.

A desire fulfilled is replaced with another.

Fire must always be fed to be.

Suffering is born.

In the world of non-being

the flame is no longer fed.

It is losing self,

it is being no longer,

it is the flame put out.

Neither be

nor not be.

Instead,

be without being.

Like the bright star

in our corner of the universe,

that does not let go

of what she protects,

the source of our light

keeps us near.

Close your eyes

and see the shapeless form

that embraces us

within and without.

Close your ears

and hear the whisper

of the music that calls us home.

Find your original face.

Find the Way back home.

NOTES
Light: The energy which is the essential ingredient of all existence. 
The world of "Being": Existence which is commonly referred to as the illusion of self that abides in Samsara. 
Non-being: The extinction of being, non-self which is commonly referred to as nirvana. 
Be without being: Abide in Tao. 
Bright star: The sun, whose pull keeps the planets in our solar system from spinning away and out of control. 
Home: I don't know where I come from, but I know I shall return. What I do know within my heart is that the light from the source is untainted and pure, and I call it divine love. In my humble opinion, love is what sustains all and love that is without measure is eternal and everlasting. 
Namaste' : The light within me bows to the light within you. 

By– Ch'onsa Kim