Dropping Ashes on the Buddha

• Keeping don’t-know mind always and everywhere is the true practice of Zen.
• Everything is our main practice.
  • When sitting, only sit. When talking, only talk. When working, only work.
  • Don’t think, just practice.
  • Just sit, and keep don’t-know mind, not-moving mind.
• Names and forms are made by thinking. Before thinking there are no names and forms.
  • When we’re attached to something, they’re different. When we’re not attached, they’re the same.
  • Something having a quality means we have an opinion, a thought. We’ve been checking, evaluating.
  • Opposites are mutual. Their names and forms are different, but their substance is the same.
    • As soon as we think “good”, we create “bad”.
    • “Like” and “don’t like” are both attachments.
• Don’t be attached to thinking or to not-thinking.
  • Don’t be upset by anything that goes on in our mind.
  • When the mind becomes clear it’s like a mirror.
• Intuitive action, wu wei, means acting without any desire of attachment.
  • Don’t think. Just do what must be done.
• Consider a bell.
  • If you say it’s a bell, you are attached to name and form.
  • If you say it’s not a bell, you are attached to emptiness.
  • Is this a bell or not?
  • Picking up the bell and ringing it is a complete answer.
  • The verb, the action, of being without thinking or desire or attachment.

Raw notes

• The truth is that all things in the universe are just as they are.
• If you keep the mind that is before thinking, that is Zen mind.
• Opposites are mutual. Their names and forms are different, but their substance is the same. Names and forms are made by your thinking.
• Intuitive action means acting without any desire of attachment.
• Anything can be written in a book, anything can be said–all this is thinking.
• You must keep don’t-know mind always and everywhere. This is the true practice of Zen.
• When the mind becomes clear, it is like a mirror. Red comes and the mirror is red; yellow comes and the mirror is yellow.
• It’s very important not to be attached either to thinking or to not-thinking. You mustn’t be upset by anything that goes on in your mind. Only don’t worry and keep don’t-know mind.
• Wanting enlightenment is only thinking.
• Zen is not difficult. If you say it is difficult, then means you have been checking yourself, checking your situation, your condition, your opinions.
• Zen is not difficult. And it is not easy. It is only as it is. Don’t make difficult, don’t make easy. Just practice.
• Is anything your perceive outside your mind. Then how do you know what it is? Does your mind fly out of your eyes and touch it then fly back inside?
• People make the words. A cat doesn’t say “I am a cat.” People say “this is a cat.”
• After thinking, there are opposites. Before thinking, there are no opposites.
• “Difficult” is thinking, “easy” is thinking.
• Noisy and quiet are made by your thinking. If you think something is noisy, it is noisy. If you think something is quiet, it is quiet.
• An elementary koan. If you say it’s a stick, you’re attached to name and form. If you say it’s not a stick, you’re attached to emptiness. So is it a stick or not?
  • Saying it’s both is doubly wrong. A stick is made by thinking. It does not say “I’m a stick.” People make it a stick.
• If you have not attained enlightenment, everything is different. If you attain enlightenment, all things become one.
• Acting together means cutting off your opinions, your condition, your situation.
• When we have many desires and many opinions, there are many big waves. After we sit Zen for a while, the waves become smaller.
• “I want to cut off anger.” – this is thinking. Anger is not bad, not good. Only don’t be attached to it.
• First understand that form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Then understand no form, no emptiness. Then form is form, emptiness is emptiness.
• Don’t-know mind has no Buddha, no Dharma, no good, no bad, no light, no dark.
• When you are thinking, our minds are different. When you are not thinking, our minds are the same.
• As soon as you say “mind,” you create “not-mind”.
• When you think death, you make death. When you think life, you make life. Where you are not thinking, there is not life and no death.
• If I am attached to shikantaza or koans, then they are different. If I am not attached, they are the same.
• Understanding and attaining are different.
• If you are thinking, samadhi and enlightenment are different. If you cut off thinking, samadhi and enlightenment are the same. But when we explain them, they are different.
• Like and don’t like are both attachments, hindrances in your mind.
• Put it all down.
• In true stillness, in true nature, in true emptiness, there is no appearing or disappearing, no impermanence or permanence, no form or emptiness.
• Merely do what must be done.
• Thinking is no good, so put it all down.
• Sitting means cutting off all thinking and keeping not-moving mind.
• There is no difference between good sitting and bad sitting, between clarity and anxiety.
• Understanding is thinking. Attainment is before thinking.
• Here is a bell.
  • If you say it’s a bell, you are attached to name and form.
  • If you say it’s not a bell, you are attached to emptiness.
  • Is this a bell or not?
  • Picking up the bell and ringing it is a complete answer.
• Name and form are not necessary.
• Everything is your main practice. When sitting, only sit. When talking, only talk. When working, only work.

Added 2024-06-13, last updated 2024-06-14.