Zen Seeds

All things that have life flow.
Life goes on without regard to our partial or selfish desires.
Failure and misfortune is what makes us strong.
Be impartial, unconditionally help everyone, like a bridge treats those who cross it.

Nature

Though theirs is a much slower flow, stones, trees, houses, and towns are flowing too. Human beings and all things that have life flow.
Because they live, beautiful flowers bloom and weeds grow. It is human selfishness that considers flowers good and weeds bad.
Despite the fact that it is free to fly out through a hole almost anywhere, this horsefly keeps flinging itself against a single spot, convinced that that’s the only possible exit.

Human beings, alone, lament transience.
Sameness is but an illusion of the human ears, eyes, mind.
People walk about totally unaware that their faces and bodies reveal everything about the way they have lived.
That which we call paradise or happiness or the Dharma or enlightenment cannot be sought outside us. It will be found only when we notice that we are innately endowed with it.
Life goes on without regard to our partial or selfish desires.
Beautiful words are appropriate and full of warm consideration.
When we achieve ultimate self-love, then, for the first time, the boundary between self and others naturally disappears, and others’ joys and sorrows truly become one’s own.

It is at all times “here and now” that we must straighten our posture and sit upright.
Zen Master Dogen says that we should live each day, each hour, in the same frame of mind as that of a person falling from a horse.

If our ordinary, self-centered viewpoint is dominant, rocks and tree roots in a valley stream are undesirable. But if we change our point of view, then the very fact that there are rocks and tree roots makes the valley stream more beautiful and the sight of waves breaking upon them beyond description.
When we perceive joy, anger, happiness, and sorrow as enriching our lives, just as rocks and tree roots and water spray embellish nature, then we are able to accept whatever happens and live like flowing water, without clinging to anything.
What helps to enrich us and make us strong is not favourable circumstances, but failure, misfortune, or illness.
The more we struggle, the muddier the water becomes.
The journey with constant changes of scenery is the most interesting.

No matter how much you complain of illness, you have to be ill when the time comes.
No matter how much confidence or capability you have, there may be failures.
If everything, including misfortune, illness, and failure, is unconditionally accepted as it is, then all experience may be constructively enjoyed.

Magnanimous Mind is like a mountain, stable and impartial. Exemplifying the ocean, it is tolerant and views everything from the broadest perspective.
A bridge allows not only donkeys to cross it, but more valuable animals like horses. A bridge does not distinguish between friends and enemies or saints and sinners. It unconditionally helps anyone to cross. It allows them over whatever their attitude is toward it, even if they kick at it or urinate on it. Few people cross it with gratitude.

Added 2024-03-23.