Wake Up: How to Practice Zen Buddhism

“In order to shine that light on work, practice involves examining our habits, the ways we approach things. It’s like the old story of the three masons working on a cathedral: Asked what he was doing, the first mason muttered, “I’m hammering this stupid rock, and I can’t wait ’til 5 when I can go home.” The second mason, asked the same question, sighed with overwhelming boredom and said, “Well, I’m molding this block of rock so that it can be used with others to construct a wall. It’s not bad work, but it’s just the same exact thing, day after day.” The third, with a lively spark in his eye, responded, “Well, kind sir, as you can see, I am building a Sacred Temple!”

“What makes walking into a practice is one shift: It is not about going somewhere; it is about being somewhere. Just be in the step, not down the road or off in the clouds.”

“The 90-year-old Pablo Casals, the world-famous cellist/composer/conductor, asked why he still practiced eight hours a day, said, “Because I think I’m beginning to make some progress.”

“Right Speech is wholehearted expression. It is being silent when that is the right thing to do, and it is also speaking without holding back on behalf of others when called on to do so. It also means not failing to express the beauty and poetry of life.”

“The path is leading you squarely back to yourself, albeit with a new awareness of what that self is.”

“Our habit is to again and again seek out a kind of idol, a thing that will solve our sensed lack of connectedness and permanence . . . and we can do that with absolutely anything—a relationship, a better job, health, Christ, even the idea of enlightenment.”

“Not knowing the full outcome of my effortI will be generous, resilient, and creative in my serviceAnd work to benefit life and relieve suffering”

“We turn the people in our lives into ideas, what we think about them, rather than actually being with them.”

“Asked what he was doing, the first mason muttered, “I’m hammering this stupid rock, and I can’t wait ’til 5 when I can go home.” The second mason, asked the same question, sighed with overwhelming boredom and said, “Well, I’m molding this block of rock so that it can be used with others to construct a wall. It’s not bad work, but it’s just the same exact thing, day after day.” The third, with a lively spark in his eye, responded, “Well, kind sir, as you can see, I am building a Sacred Temple!”

“Isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t it marvelous? I chop wood and carry water.”

“Community is sometimes likened to a rock polisher: Students bump into one another, help work off the rough edges, and shine each other up a bit.”

“Instead, you’re present, with your senses functioning, just without the customary commentary.”

“How deeply we hear, as well as how we choose to speak, reflects and creates reality.”

“The myriad ocean waveseach distinct and perfectI meet myself in every being”

“Daylight ends; darkness removes all differenceExhaling, I am at ease”

“climateneutral.now.org”

“One taste, one life this ordinary tap water impossible to earn”

“Not knowing the full outcome of my effort I will be generous, resilient, and creative in my service And work to benefit life and relieve suffering”

“This day of being blessed by blessing being honored by honoring being love by loving, I awaken.”

“We are condemned to freedom.” This means that we are not only responsible for what we do, but also for what we don’t do,”

“If you miss the moment, you miss your life,”

“it functions when things are pleasant, and instead of just focusing on ourselves, we consider others. It is particularly available to us when we are touched by gratitude or love. In any moment of tenderness, bodhicitta is always here. It is available each moment as we care for the small things—the dirty dish, the cell phone that connects us to the whole world, the snowfall, the muddy boot.”

“Now it is raining, but we don’t know what will happen in the next moment. By the time we go out, it may be a beautiful day or a stormy day. Since we don’t know, let’s appreciate the sound of the rain now.”

“How can we engage our work with our deepest intentions, with the understanding that all beings are interconnected, so that we honor, respect, and protect one another and the life of our planet?”

“Not creating harm also requires karuna, or compassion, which is an active sympathy, a willingness to bear and respond to the pain of others as oneself.”

“Goodwill (loving-kindness or metta)—which counters ill will. To cultivate a love that does not discriminate between good and worthless beings, a love in which rejection and alienation fall away, akin to the unconditional love”

“seeing a thing in its true nature, without name and label.” So, Right View is the naked truth, if you will.”

“What happens when we accept that everyone inevitably hurts in these ways? Perhaps our own suffering becomes less of a personal affront. Perhaps we taste a bit of kind commiseration or empathy.”

“(If we can sit with great composure but are content with being monsters biting everyone else’s head off as soon as we stand up, then we’ve obviously missed the Zen bus.)”

“Zen. It is to stop running away, turning away, denying, making things up.”