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If you wish to bring the two matters of birth and death to conclusion and pass directly beyond the Triple-world, you must penetrate the koan “This very mind is Buddha.”

Tell me: What is its principle? How is it that this very mind is Buddha? And “this very mind” just what is it like?

Investigate it coming. Investigate it going. Investigate it thoroughly and exhaustively. All you have to do is keep this koan constantly in your thoughts.

~ Daito (1282-1334)

I don’t go out to wander around
I stay at home here in Miura
While time flows on through
The unbounded world
In the awakened eye
Mountains and rivers completely
Disappear.
The eye of delusion looks out upon
Deep fog and clouds.

~ Muso Soseki (1275-1351)

The days and months go by like lightning: we should value the time.

We pass from life to death in the time it takes to breathe in and breathe out: it’s hard to guarantee even a morning and an evening.

Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, do not waste even a moment of time. Become ever braver and bolder.

Be like our original teacher Shakyamuni, who kept on progressing energetically.

~ T’aego

Perceive the way and you attain
A point of safety and anchorage.
Enter the way and you attain
The realm of danger and lose your life.
Safety and danger, life and death;
All come from where?
The activity of the great ones is,
When hanging over a cliff
One thousand feet high,
To be able to let go.
Yaahh!

~ Sosan Taesa (1520-1604)

Searching for words, hunting for phrases,
When will it end?
Esteeming knowledge and gathering information,
Only maddens the spirit.
Just entrust yourself to your own nature,
Empty and illuminating
Beyond this, I have nothing to teach.

~ Bankei (1622-1693)

In the autumn of my sixty sixth year,
I’ve already lived a long time
The intense moonlight
Is bright upon my face.
There’s no need to discuss
The principles of koan study;
Just listen carefully to the wind
Outside the pines and cedars.

~ Ryonen (1646-1711)

Weary, I yearn for the forest and hills;
Against my will, ten years have I spent
In the world of people.

Burning incense, I take leave of the assembly,
Shunning worldly affairs, I depart.
The mist invites me and
I know that it is time to rest.

Those of little talent are not
Guests fond of mountains.
Men of little virtue do not
Make companions for gathering leaves.

Should someone ask, “When will you come back?”
I would reply, “The white clouds and the green water
Are boundless and serene.”

~ Jiun (1718-1804)

As for sitting in meditation, that is something which must include fits of ecstatic blissful laughter; brayings that will make you slump to the ground clutching your belly, and even after that passes and you struggle to your feet, will make you fall anew in further contortions of sidesplitting mirth.

~ Hakuin

As a boy I studied literature,
But was too lazy to become a Confucian;
In my younger days I worked at Zen,
But got no Dharma worth handing down.
Now I’ve built a grass hut,
Act as custodian of a Shinto shrine,
Half a shrine, half a monk.

~ Ryokan

Fearful of death, I walked in the mountains.
By meditating on its uncertain hour,
I conquered the immortal bastion
Of the immutable.
Now I am far beyond fearing death.

~ Milarepa

Even if, bright as a flash of lightning,

Death were to strike you today,

Be prepared to die without sorrow

Or regret, giving up attachment to

What you are leaving behind.

Without ever ceasing to recognize

The authentic view of the real,

Leave this life like the eagle

That soars into the blue sky.

~ Dilgo Khyentse (1910-1991)

Attain the center of emptiness,
Preserve the utmost quiet;
As myriad things act in concert
I thereby observe the return.
Things flourish,
Then each returns to its root.
Returning to the root
Is called stillness:
Stillness is called return to Life,
Return to Life is called the constant;
Knowing the constant is called enlightenment.

~ Tao-te Ching

Each of you has a priceless
Jewel in your own body.
It radiates light through your eyes,
Shining through the
Mountains, river, and earth.

It radiates light through your ears,
Taking in all sounds, good and bad.
It radiates light through
Your six senses day and night.
This is also called absorption in light.

You yourself do not recognize it,
But it is in your physical body,
Supporting it inside and out,
Not letting it tip over.
Even if you are carrying
A double load of rocks
Over a single-log bridge,
It still doesn’t let you fall over.

What is it?
If you seek in the slightest,
It cannot be seen.

~ Ta-an (d. 883)

Upon the clatter of a broken tile
All I had learned was at once forgotten.
Amending my nature is needless;
Pursuing the tasks of everyday life
I walk along the ancient path.
I am not disheartened in the mindless void.
Wherever I go I leave no footprint,
Walking without color or sound.

~ Chikan Zenji

The great path has no gates,
Thousands of roads enter it.
When one passes through this gateless gate
They walk freely between heaven and earth.

~ Mumonkan