-- Fooling --

Having entered the Dharma Hall for a formal instruction, Zen Master Yunmen said:

“Get out, get out of here! You’re fooling each other without end!”

Then Master Yunmen asked the assembly: “Is even to say what I just said a mistake?”

----!!!!----

The truth cannot be given  to you. You have to experience it yourself in deep meditation. So whatever can be said to you is false in one sense. If you understand that all these Zen Stories are nonsense and only your meditation is the essential thing then you are the true student of Zen. If you are not meditating and merely reading these stories then you are doing nothing else but just deceiving yourself. Don't do that!

-- Dedication --

You must take the two characters birth-death, paste them on your forehead, and demand of yourself a clear understanding of this matter.

~ Zen Master Wuzu Fayan (1024-1104) ~

----!!!!----

Go crazy for meditation. Remain focused and work hard. Anything less than insanity is not acceptable!!

-- Keep Meditating Continuously --

If you have not yet completely awakened, you must go to the meditation cushion and sit impassively for ten, twenty, thirty years, observing your original face before your father and mother were born.

~ Zen Master Taixu ~

Hard Work

The great Zen Master Dao-an [1312-1385] sat alone in a quiet room for twelve years, exerting his spirit to the utmost in meditation: only then did he attain spiritual awakening.

----!!!!----

A great deal of hard work and dedication is needed in the path of Zen. Work hard on meditation. Merely reading these stories will not help!

-- The Hearty Laugh --

The great Zen Master Weiyan of Yaoshan, like many well-known Zen Masters, came to be identified by his place of residence, and so he was called Yaoshan. One evening, Yaoshan went for a walk in the hills. Suddenly, the clouds and fog parted, and the moon could be seen shining brightly in the sky. On seeing this, Yaoshan let out a hearty laugh. It was so loud that it could be heard for miles in all directions. ----!!!!---- You don't value what you have got. If people could see the moon once in 100 years, then there would have been so much crowd every 100 years just to watch the moon. But since it is available every day, you don't value it. This is why there is so much misery in your life. You are not aware enough. You are not meditative enough. If you start appreciating what you have, there can be happiness in your life too!

"Drink tea slowly and reverently."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~

----!!!!----

Enjoying the small things of life with gratitude and awareness is Zen!
But your awareness or meditation is against society. Society doesn’t worry about your awareness. Society wants you to remain mechanical. Did you see? If you do something every day, it becomes mechanical. You do not need to remain aware while doing that. The more mechanical you are, the more effective and productive you are. Society wants you to remain mechanical. It is in the benefit of the society. Your awareness has no use to the society. In fact aware people question everything which at times look anarchic. Hence society is often against aware people like Socrates, Jesus and Buddha. Let them be, you just enjoy your tea!

-- The Words --

The Prime Minister invited the Master Huang-po to the city and presented his own written interpretation of Zen to him. The Master took it and put it on the table. He did not read it. After a short silence, he asked the Prime Minister, "Do you understand?"

The minister: "I do not understand."

The Master: "It would be better if you could understand immediately through inner experience. If it is expressed in words, it won't be our teaching."

----!!!----

The Buddha didn't read a single post on this page, yet he got enlightened. We have read so much about Zen, yet we are not! If you understand that all the posts here are nonsense and only your meditation is what matters, then you are a true student of Zen!