Tag: dailysuccesshabits
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No front or back
Few words in the English language are as multidimensional in meaning or as laden with emotion as the word integrity. Derived from the Latin integer, the English word integrity has three distinct, established meanings. In its most common usage, integrity is synonymous with honesty, incorruptibility, and fidelity to a set of principles and values. It…
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93. 24/7 Zen
When we maintain poise and equanimity, not only during meditation but also inmobile states – such as walking, working, exercising, etc. remaining patient andcalm regardless of circumstance, the Great Way will most certainly manifestunerringly. Without distinctions, without judgements, without opinions, the wordsand thoughts that occupy your mind from morning til evening will slow downconsiderably. Your…
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How to Save The World
A student went to his Zen teacher and found him working in the garden. The teacher greeted his student and asked, “How is Buddhism in the south?” The student replied, “There is much discussion.” The Zen teacher paused a moment, and then he said, “Come help me plant radishes in the garden.” The student asked,…
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Freeloading Chickens
One common misconception about chickens is that they lay eggs every day. In truth, their levels of production increase and decrease based on the weather. In the summer months when the days are long chickens tend to lay eggs every other day. However, they lay fewer eggs in the fall when the days get shorter,…
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94. Everyday Mind is the True Path
Like a laser beam, Hui Neng’s teaching has pointed directly to the core of zen forover 1500 years. It can easily be said that his prolific insights have guided manythousands over the centuries. Prior to his death in 713, Hui-Neng left a few interesting notes on how to approach“formal interview” with the zen teacher. The…
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Everyday ceremonials
Around the time I began writing these essays, now more than sixteen years ago, I also wrote a poem by the same title: ONE TIME, ONE MEETING Picking up the phone to call my son,I entertain the thought that every act,No matter how familiar or banal,Might be construed as unrepeatableAnd all of life as ceremonial.What…
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Hosts & guests
“Receive a guest,” advised the Zen master Soyen Shaku (1860-1919), “with the same attitude you have when alone. When alone, maintain the same attitude you have in receiving guests.” Zen masters’ pronouncements are often enigmatic, but this one is particularly baffling. For one thing, it seems to blur, if not collapse, the distinction between social…
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I am not free
There are a few things I need to fill you in on. First, I am not free from fear. I am terrified. Second, I am not free from anger. I am furious. And third, I am not free from greed. No, I am furious and terrified that I will never see a penny from Social…
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the whole of the world is blooming
There is a grapefruit tree in my front yard that isn’t the picture of a grapefruit tree, at least not anymore. It has been old and sick-looking for all of the 27 years we have been here, and perhaps for many decades before. Its shrunken trunk is pitted and scarred. The bark, mostly gone. The…
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96. Buddha Nature Is Not A Thing
Oftentimes in Zen literature, qualified teachers will make a sincere effort to provideclear direction by using words like emptiness, silence, calm, serenity , stillness,tranquility, simplicity, quiescence. The sixth ancestor additionally gave encouragement by adding that we shouldcultivate an openness of “not being moved around by anything” while also “notattaching good or bad (judgements) to our…