The wise people of old who
Took goodness as their way
Were retiring as though shy
Of all around them
Their conduct to all was
Respectful as though to
Honored guests;
They could adapt themselves
Like ice melting before a fire;
They were artless
As blocks of uncarved wood.

~ Lao tzu

My thatched hut-the whole sky
Is its roof
The mountains are its hedge
And it has the sea for a garden
I’m inside with nothing at all
Not even a bag
And yet there are visitors who say
“It’s hidden behind a bamboo door”

~ Muso Soseki (1275-1351)

What truth am I talking about?
I am talking about truth
Of the ground of mind,
Which can enter into the
Ordinary and the sacred,
Into the pure and the polluted,
Into the absolute and the conventional,
And yet is not the absolute,
Conventional, ordinary, and sacred,
But is able to give names
To all the absolute, conventional,
Ordinary, and sacred.
Someone who has realized this
Cannot be labeled by the
Absolute or the conventional,
By the ordinary or sacred.
If you can grasp it,
Then use it, without labeling it any more.
This is called the mystic teaching.

~ Lin Chi (d 867)

You ask me why I stay
On this blue mountain?
I smile but do not answer;
My mind is at ease.
Peach blossoms and flowing streams
Pass away without a trace.
How different from the mundane world!

~ Li Po (701-762)

In all things be a master
Of what you do and say and think.
Be free.
Are you quiet?
Quieten your body.
Quieten your mind.
By your own efforts
Waken yourself, watch,
And live joyfully.
Follow the truth of the way.
Reflect upon it.
Make it your own.
Live it.
It will always sustain you.

Buddha from the Dhammapada

How profoundly silent
Is the temple of Tao!
Boundless and infinite,
It is the dwelling place
Of the divine.
The light-hall is wide and high,
Yet awed by silence.
Forgetful of words
I roam and rest here
I have discarded the world
Of fame and profit.

~ Ni Tsan (1301-1374)

In the night the bells
Of the mountain temple
Are swung by the wind
From the pines.
From my bed of stone
By the wintry lamp
I can hear the flowering rain of Buddha.

Wang Wen-lu

In a pellucid ocean,
Bubbles arise and dissolve again.
Just so,
Thoughts are no different
From ultimate reality,
So don't find fault;
Remain at ease.
Whatever arises,
whatever occurs,
Don't grasp-release it on the spot.
Appearances, sounds, and objects
Are all one's own mind;
There's nothing except mind.

~ Buddha

Make no mistake about it;
If you do not find it now,
You will repeat the same routines for myriad eons,
A thousand times over again,
Following and picking up on
Objects that attract you.
We are no different from Shakyamuni Buddha.
Today, in your various activities,
What do you lack?
The spiritual light coursing through
Your six senses has never been interrupted.
If you can see in this way,
You will simply be free of burdens all your life.

~ Lin Chi (d ~867)

When this mind is clear and bright
And is not covered over,
Then you are no different
From the sages.
If you allow no wavering
From this clarity and do not
Let it change,
And do not cling to it,
And do not neglect it:
This is learning.
Just protect it all the time
And do not damage its clarity.

~ Luo Hongxian (1504-1564)

“Having entered into the principle through hearing, as the principle heard is profound and subtle, the mind is naturally completely clear and does not dwell in the realm of confusion. Even if there are hundreds and thousands of subtleties to criticize or commend the times, you must gain stability, gird your loins, and know how to make a living on your own before you can realize them.

“In essence, the noumenal ground of reality does not admit of a single particle, but the methodology of myriad practices does not abandon anything. If you penetrate directly, then the sense of the ordinary and the sacred disappears, concretely revealing the true constant, where principle and fact are not separate. This is the buddhahood of being-as-is."

~ Kuei-Shan (771-854)

Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own.
You may both be wrong.

~ Dandemis

Look at how our heads and feet
Are capped and shod without a second thought.
It is like the man who had a long beard,
But did not anguish at its length
Until one day someone asked him
How he arranged it when he went to bed.
First he put it inside, then outside the coverlet,
The whole night he spent looking for the best position.
And tossed and turned until the dawn of day.
In the end he wanted only to chop it off!
Although this fable is light and humorous,
Still it contains a much deeper meaning.
When I asked the dharma master about this,
He gave a smile and nodded his assent.

~ Su Shih (1073)

@rookie54 said
Look at how our heads and feet
Are capped and shod without a second thought.
It is like the man who had a long beard,
But did not anguish at its length
Until one day someone asked him
How he arranged it when he went to bed.
First he put it inside, then outside the coverlet,
The whole night he spent looking for the best position.
And tossed and turned until the dawn o ...[text shortened]... en I asked the dharma master about this,
He gave a smile and nodded his assent.

~ Su Shih (1073)

@rookie54 said
Look at how our heads and feet
Are capped and shod without a second thought.
It is like the man who had a long beard,
But did not anguish at its length
Until one day someone asked him
How he arranged it when he went to bed.
First he put it inside, then outside the coverlet,
The whole night he spent looking for the best position.
And tossed and turned until the dawn o ...[text shortened]... en I asked the dharma master about this,
He gave a smile and nodded his assent.

~ Su Shih (1073)