The Most Important Thing

Words exist for meaning,
but once you understand the meaning,
you can throw away the words.

~ Chuang Tzu

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"A strange passion is moving in my head, My heart has become a bird which searches in the sky. Every part of me goes in different directions. Is it really so that the one I love is Everywhere?"

~ Jalal-Uddin Rumi

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"The most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing."

~ Shunryu Suzuki.

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"Saints and ordinary folks are the same from the start. Inquiring about a difference is like asking to borrow string when you've got a good strong rope. Every Dharma is known in the heart."

~ Hsu Yun

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"When we practice zazen [meditation] , all that exists is the movement of the breathing, but we are aware of this movement. You should not be absent-minded. But to be aware of the movement does not mean to be aware of your small self, but rather of your universal nature, or Buddha nature. This kind of awareness is very important, because we are usually so one-sided. Our usual understanding of life is dualistic: you and I, this and that, good and bad. But actually these discriminations are themselves the awareness of the universal existence. "You" means to be aware of the universe in the form of you, and "I" means to be aware of it in the form of I. You and I are just swinging doors.."

~ Shunryu Suzuki

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"Even when the light begins to dawn in zazen, we don't get attached to that either. If you start to see what the world is really made up of, if it comes apart in tiny glowing, luminous pieces for you, don't be attached to that either. It's important to just keep walking. It doesn't matter where you're at in the way--if you're at the beginning or far along-- the instructions are the same: Keep walking with an open heart while the wonder comes over you."

~ John Tarrant