231. ZEN REMARKS

231. High in the mountains
         ten days silently sitting -
         nothing gained at all.

230. ZEN REMARKS

230. Visa passport packed
         the long journey lies ahead -
         Hurry up and wait.

229. ZEN REMARKS

229. Want to practise Zen but can't live without preferences? Take heart. Buddhist scholar Mu Soeng introduces a modifier to the opening line of the 'Xinxinming'. So now it reads: 'The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no  (addictive) preferences'.

228. ZEN REMARKS

228. It is said that 'the Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences'. If this is so then for many of us it must be very difficult indeed.

227. ZEN REMARKS

227. Does the enlightened Zen master have no problems? Feel no pain? Sleep soundly every night? Is he or she immune to the attractive power of the beautiful other? See the following:

          Awake and alone
          listening. The dark surround
          ringing in my ears. 

226. ZEN REMARKS

226. In a sense, the Zen practitioner sets out, not to win, but to lose. Unless the wheat grain dies ...