This is an A.I. faux painting based on the following quote by Zen Master Seung Sahn: “Zen means not holding onto anything. If you are holding something, or making something, or attached to something, you are not practicing Zen.”
This A.I. painting is based on a quote by D.T. Suzuki. I don’t remember his exact words, but he said that when you meditate you should be extremely still, and “think of nothing but the infinite.” I remember that someone else also said to “merge with the infinite” when meditating, so those are the inspiration for this art.
Here’s a little quote from the book, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, about Zen Master Seung Sahn:
“Finally it was the last day. He was outside chanting and hitting the moktak (wooden drum) when suddenly his body disappeared. From far away he could hear the beat of the moktak and the sound of his own voice. After some time in this state, he returned to his body, and he understood: the rocks, the river, everything he could see and hear, all were his true self. The truth is just like this.”
Not to go too “New Age” on you, I gave ChatGPT the following quote from Zen Master Seung Sahn, and this is the first image it produced, which I thought was pretty good.
“If you can break the wall of your self,
you will become infinite in time and space.”
This is another great quote from Daniel Ingram:
“I knew I was beaten, but I ‘noted’. I felt I was cracking at the seams, but I noted. By this point, Insight could have torn me to pieces and killed me and I could not have cared less so long as I got stream entry.”
I feel like I’m following his path, albeit in slow motion because of the other requirements of my life.
The Human Route, by Zen Master Seung Sahn, on a card from the people at DharmaCrafts.com:
Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed — that is human.
When you are born, where do you come from?
When you die, where do you go?
Life is like a floating cloud which appears.
Death is like a floating cloud which disappears.
The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.
Life and death, coming and going, are also like this.
But there is one thing which always remains clear.
It is pure and clear, not depending on life and death.
What is that one pure and clear thing?
“If you can break the wall of your self, you will become infinite in time and space.”
[This is a story from a book that I have, but unfortunately at the moment I can’t remember the name of the book. I just typed this by hand from some images I have of the original story.]
One day during a speech Hakuin said, “They say there’s a pure land where everything is only mind, and that there’s a Buddha of light in your own body. Once that Buddha of light appears, mountains, rivers, earth, grass, trees, and forests suddenly glow with a great light. To see this, you have to look inside your own heart.”
An old innkeeper who had meditated for many years was sitting in the audience, and when she heard this, she felt a strange understanding of his words. She later told her family, “I feel that happiness is as near as my skin.” When she was awake and asleep she kept his words alive:
You go through a lot of strange things when you meditate deeply. One time I was talking with a friend and then I just started bawling my eyes out, and I was finally able to blurt out, “I don’t even know why I’m crying.”
In a Buddha there has never been
Anything that could be said to be there.
Just as a magician
Does not get caught up in his illusions
And therefore by his knowledge
Is not attached to magic forms,
So also the wise in Perfect Enlightenment
Know the three worlds to be like a magic show.
Liberation is merely the end of error.
~ Gampopa
(I saw this quote in the book Be Love Now by Ram Dass.)
As you progress in your meditation practice, the use of mantra(s) is a powerful way to stay focused all day.
I recall reading that Ram Dass said that even when he is speaking or listening to others, that in the background his mantra is always running in his head: “Ram ... Ram ... Ram.”
In the excellent book, Practicing the Jhanas, I throughout your day that you constantly remember to bring your attention back to the Anapana spot, a spot just under your nose.
A favorite mindfulness meditation that helps bring me back to the present moment:
In just this moment, what do you feel?
What do you smell?
(Or, more generally, “What do you sense?”)
That isn’t a mantra per se, but more of what I call a “mindfulness reminder” to help bring you back to the present moment.
I may not be a Buddhist -- I have a real problem with the word “suffering” at the very least -- I enjoy reading texts to learn how to meditate better. Last year I read this stuff on “treating meditation as a sport or game”, and it made a difference in my practice. It comes from a book named, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha. (If you don’t want to buy the book, the author has made the PDF freely available.)
The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.
~ Dostoyevsky
The following is a definition of equanimity, and how equanimity differs from indifference or apathy. The entire quote comes from Shinzen Young:
“Many people get confused about what equanimity is and what it isn’t. Here are some examples that may help clarify.
Equanimity can be deepened by relaxing tension around pain, such as the pain of a broken leg. But equanimity does not mean that you don’t care about getting proper medical attention, such as getting a cast.
Equanimity means opening up to angry sensations that may arise during an argument. But equanimity does not mean that you should stay in a bad relationship.
“You can meditate while talking to someone, while washing the dishes, while driving. As your experience grows, you eventually come to a point where you are so present that there is a kind of a merging of inside and outside. When that happens, ‘focus’ becomes more than an extremely interesting and pleasant experience; it becomes a transformative experience.”
“Eventually a delicious figure-ground reversal takes place. In the beginning, meditation is something that happens within your day. Eventually, the day becomes something that happens within your meditation.”
Leave your front door and back door open. Let your thoughts come and go. Just don’t serve them tea.
~ Shunryu Suzuki
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
~ Shunryu Suzuki
If you want to know your own mind, there is only one way: to observe and recognize everything about it. This must be done at all times, during your day-to-day life no less than during the hour of meditation.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Seeing into one’s own nature is the goal of Zen.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
