Seung Sahn Quotes

The Truth is realized in an instant; the Act is practiced step by step.

Taoist chanting, Confucian chanting, Christian chanting, Buddhist chanting don't matter. Chanting Coca Cola, Coca Cola, Coca Cola … can be just as good if you keep a clear mind. But if you don't keep a clear mind, and are only following your thinking as you mouth the words, even the Buddha cannot help you.

This is the whole point of the Heart Sutra. From moment to moment, when you are doing something, just do

Zen means putting it all down, cutting off all thinking, and returning to your pure and clear original nature.

Once Seung Sahn Soen-sa and a student of his attended a talk at a Zen center in California. The Dharma teacher spoke about Bodhidharma. After the talk, someone asked him "What's the difference between Bodhidharma's sitting in Sorim for nine years and your sitting here now?" The Dharma teacher said, "About five thousand miles." The questioner said, "Is that all?" The Dharma teacher said, "Give or take a few miles." Later on, Soen-sa asked his student, "What do you think of these answers?" "Not bad, not good. But the dog runs after the bone." "How would you answer?" "I'd say, 'Why do you make a difference?' " Soen-sa said, "Not bad. Now you ask me." "What's the difference between Bodhidharma's sitting in Sorim for nine years and your sitting here now?" "Don't you know?" "I'm listening." "Bodhidharma sat in Sorim for nine years. I am sitting here now." The student smiled.

What is good, what is bad? Who makes good, who makes bad? They cling to their opinions with all their might. But everybody's opinion is different. How can you say that your opinion is correct and somebody else's is wrong? This is delusion.

I said that if you attain your true self, then if you die in one hour, in one day, or in one month, it is no problem. If you only do “fixing-your-body” meditation, you will mostly be concerned with your body. But some day, when it’s time for your body to die, this meditation will not help, so you will not believe in it. This means it is not correct meditation. If you do correct meditation, being sick sometimes is OK; suffering sometimes is OK; dying someday is OK. The Buddha said, “If you keep a clear mind moment to moment, then you will get happiness everywhere.

Someone once asked me, “Soen Sa Nim, do you believe in God?” I said, “Of course!” The person was very shocked. “You are a Zen teacher. How can you possibly believe in God?” “I believe my eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—why not believe everything? I believe this green tree, the blue sky, a barking dog, the smell of incense—why not believe in Buddha or God?” So, you can believe in everything. Believing in everything means realizing that you and everything are never separate.

These six are equal to the following statement from the Avatamsaka Sutra: ‘If you wish to thoroughly understand all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, then you should view the nature of the whole universe as being created by the mind alone.

The falling of the leaves is the truth. The sweeping is the truth. The wind's blowing them away is the truth. The people's anger also is the truth. If your mind is moving, you can't understand the truth. You must first understand that form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Next, no form, no emptiness. Then you will understand that form is form, emptiness is emptiness. Then all these actions are the truth. And then you will find your true home.

The Great Way is not difficult if you do not make distinctions. Only throw away likes and dislikes, and everything will be perfectly clear. So

The practice of Zen never explains anything. Zen simply points directly at our mind, our true self, so that we can directly attain enlightenment and help all beings. So

They treasure names and empty appearances above nearly all else, harming themselves and others just to protect them. They want to get money, or a good reputation, or a good relationship. They struggle desperately to get high positions. People always subject their minds to the worst kind of abuse and suffering just to try to get and then keep these empty, impermanent things.

In your mind there is a diamond sword. If you want to understand yourself, take it and cut off good and bad, long and short, coming and going, high and low, God and Buddha. Cut off all things.

Desire and aspiration are two different things. The idea that you want to achieve something in Zen meditation is basically selfish. ‘I want to get enlightened’ means ‘I want to get enlightened.’ But aspiration is not for myself, it is not a merely individual desire, it transcends the idea of self. It is desire without attachment. If enlightenment comes, good. If enlightenment does not come, good. Actually, this is enlightenment.

Here is a poem for you: The candy peddler is ringing his bell, and the child cries to its mother. Money becomes candy and candy becomes money. Money goes into the peddler's pocket, and candy goes into the child's mouth and is sweet.

Most people are like this. Something they have made in their minds over and over again strongly prevents them from having a complete life. They are desperately trying to get out of a suffering realm that they have made themselves by becoming blindly attached to sensations. But it doesn’t work that easily. The simple reason for their difficulties is that they don’t understand impermanence. This is the path of human beings’ suffering. Everything in this world happens by natural process. You make everything, so you get everything, which means you get some kind of suffering. “I don’t like getting old.” “Oh, my relationship with him ended. I feel so miserable.” “I hate being sick like this.” “I don’t like him.” “I can’t believe my grandmother died.” We all suffer. But if you correctly attain this insight into impermanence, then you can take away these Eight Sufferings. If you don’t understand that all things are impermanent, however, then you become easily attached to things that must eventually pass. As a result, you cannot take away your suffering, and you only continue to make more suffering for yourself and for this whole world.

One Thursday evening, after a Dharma talk at the Cambridge Zen Center, a young woman asked Seung Sahn Soen-sa, “What is the true way for women?” Soen-sa said, “I don't know—I'm not a woman.” (Laughter from the audience.) Then, after a few moments, “Okay, I ask you: what is woman?” The student said, “I don't know.” Soen-sa said, “This is the true way. Only don't-know mind. In don't-know mind, there is no woman, no man, no old, no young, no people, no Buddhas, no self, no world, nothing at all. If you understand this don't-know mind, you understand the true way. If you don't understand don't-know mind, you cannot understand the true way. Okay?” “I don't know.” “Then you must keep don't-know mind.

When Dae Ju first came to Zen Master Ma-jo, the Master asked him, “What do you want from me?” Dae Ju said, “I want you to teach me the Dharma.” “What a fool you are!” said Ma-jo. “You have the greatest treasure in the world within you, and yet you go around asking other people for help. What good is this? I have nothing to give you.” Dae Ju bowed and said, “Please, Master, tell me what this treasure is.” Ma-jo said, “Where is your question coming from? This is your treasure. It is precisely what is making you ask the question at this very moment. Everything is stored in this precious treasure-house of yours. It is there at your disposal, you can use it as you wish, nothing is lacking. You are the master of everything. Why, then, are you running away from yourself and seeking for things outside?” Upon hearing these words, Dae Ju attained enlightenment.

The student was silent. Soen-sa said, “What color is this?” The student said, “You have eyes.” Soen-sa said, “Eyes? These are not eyes. They are holes in my face.” (Laughter.) “I ask you once again—what color is this door?” The student was silent. Soen-sa said, “It is brown.” “But if I'd said brown, you would've said I'm attached to color!” Soen-sa said, “Brown is only brown.” Then, pointing to a glass of water, “What is this?” “Water.” “Yah. Water is water. This is not thinking. When you said ‘water’—this mind. This mind is very important. It is a clear mirror. Red comes, the mirror is red. Yellow comes, the mirror is yellow. Water comes, there is water. A door comes, there is a door. If you are not thinking, your mind is the same as a mirror. It is only like this. So true emptiness is clear mind. In original clear mind there is no name and no form. Nothing appears or disappears. All things are just as they are. If you are thinking, you are in a dream. You must cut off all your thinking and wake up.

Hinayana Buddhism also teaches meditation practice based on "insight into impurity." But what is impurity? Let us say a beautiful woman appear, perhaps a very famous model or actress. She has very beautiful makeup on, and her hair is styled very fashionably. She is wearing beautiful clothes and has very expensive perfume on. She has a big diamond necklace, maybe ten carats. Everybody sees her and thinks, "Oh, she is wonderful! So beautiful!" Maybe some man will kill another man in order to sleep with her every day. But inside she has shit. On the outside, she is truly very beautiful; but inside, she is carrying two or three pounds of shit around with her wherever she goes. Even though she may have beautiful clothes, and sweet perfume, and a shiny diamond necklace, and wonderful makeup to cover this shit, everybody understands that that shit-thing inside is not beautiful, you know? Everybody sees these beautiful things on the outside, and they forget for some time about this shit. They are deluded by temporary appearance of her body and makeup and clothes and diamonds. They don't see that what they crave is deeply marked with impurity. This is humans' basic delusion: our desire and attachment leads us to crave and covet things that cannot help out lives.

There is a story that illustrates this view. A long time ago in China there lived a very greedy monk. Whenever there was some temple donation, or a distribution of money from a rich layman, this monk was always the first in line. He officiated at many ceremonies, accumulating enough money to buy even the nicest house in town! He was so greedy for money, it seemed he took pleasure only in the joy of collecting it, and never spent any of it. He never even bothered to spend it on himself. His clothes were still quite shabby despite the fact that everyone knew he had a lot of money. “There’s the greedy monk in his ragged clothes,” the laypeople would say. “He’s so cheap he won’t even buy something for himself.” Then one day, it started to rain, and the rain did not stop for several weeks. The little town below the temple was washed out. Houses were destroyed, farms were submerged weeks before the big harvest, and cattle perished. The whole town faced a terrible winter without food or housing. The villagers were very sad and frightened. Then one day, the villagers woke up to find a great number of carts filling the village square. The carts were loaded with many bags of rice and beans, blankets, clothing, and medicine. There were several new ploughs, and four sturdy oxen to pull them! Standing in the middle was the “greedy monk,” in his shabby, patched clothes. He used half his money to buy these supplies, and he gave the rest to the mayor of the town. “I am a meditation monk,” he told the mayor. “Many years ago I perceived that in the future this town would experience a terrible disaster. So ever since then I have been getting money for this day.” When the villagers saw this, they were ashamed of their checking minds. “Waaah, what a great bodhisattva he is!” This is the story of the greedy monk.

Once Zen Master To An was visiting another temple. He wasn't wearing his Zen Master clothes, only the clothes of a wandering monk. He began a conversation with one of the monks at the temple, who did not recognize that he was a Zen Master. Soon the monk began to talk about his Master. “Every day he does one thousand prostrations. He eats only once a day. He hasn't left the temple for thirty years. He is always sitting Zen. He is the greatest Zen Master in all of China.” To An said, “Well well, he sounds like an extraordinary man. I can't do any of these things. I can't bow a thousand times a day; but my mind is never lazy. I can't eat only once a day; but I never desire food. I can't stay in a temple for more than a short time; but wherever I go I have no hindrance. I can't sit Zen for very long; but I never give rise to thinking.” The monk said, “I don't understand.” To An said, “Go ask your Master to explain.” The monk bowed and went into the temple. Soon the Zen Master came running out to To An and prostrated himself three times in front of him. “You are a great Zen Master,” he said. “Please let me become your disciple. I have been very attached to hard training. But now that I have heard your kind words, my mind is clear.” To An laughed and said, “No no, I can't be your teacher. You are already a great Zen Master. All you need to do is to keep the mind you had when you were bowing to me. Already you are a free man. Before, you were bowing, sitting, and eating only for yourself. Now it is for all people.” At these words, the Zen Master began to weep with joy. He bowed again to To An and said, simply, “Thank you.

There are four kinds of bodhisattva action. The first is generosity—just giving people what they need or want. The next is good speech—giving encouragement, confidence, and a persevering mind. Next is telling them about the Dharma and the way out of suffering. Finally, if they don’t listen, you must act together with them—together-action. Whether it is bad or good action doesn’t matter; your not-moving center shines to their minds. Then someday they will ask for help and listen. If

Soen-sa said, "The universe is infinite; all people are infinite. So the Bodhisattva's attachment is infinite. A Bodhisattva attachment is no attachment. No attachment is a Bodhisattva attachment.

You must understand what is in pain. Then you will understand Utmost Vehicle Zen, and see that everything in the universe is the truth.

is your treasure. It is precisely what is making you ask the question at this very moment. Everything is stored in this precious treasure-house of yours. It is there at your disposal, you can use it as you wish, nothing is lacking. You are the master of everything. Why, then, are you running away from yourself and seeking for things outside?" Upon hearing these words, Dae Ju attained enlighten- ment. 22. The Moon of Clear Mind One Sunday evening, after a Dharrna talk at the Providence Zen Center, a student asked Seung Sahn Soen-sa, "How can I get beyond just verbalizing the question 'What am I?' " Soen-sa said, "You want this question to grow. This mind is no good. This is attachment thinking. You must cut off this thinking, and only do hard training. It is not important for the question to grow. What is important is one moment of clear mind. Clear mind is before thinking. If you experience this mind, you have already attained enlightenment. If you experience this for a short t i m e - e v e n for one moment-this is enlightenment. All the rest of the time you may be think- ing, but you shouldn't worry about this thinking. It is just your karma. You must not be attached to this thinking. You must not force it to stop or force clear mind to grow. It will grow by itself, as your karma gradually disappears. "Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky. Sometimes

The man who has come to this is the man who was here from the beginning. He does what he always did. Nothing has changed.

Soen-sa said, “Do you understand?” The first student shouted “KATZ!!!” Soen-sa said, “Very good. But your understanding is still only conceptual. Sometimes your answers are ‘like this,’ sometimes they show an attachment to emptiness. I will explain the Zen circle once more. At 90° the book is the pencil, the pencil is the book. At 180° you can only answer with a hit or a shout. At 270° the pencil is angry, the book laughs. At 360° the book is blue, the pencil is yellow. Now which one of these four answers is the best?” The student said, “They're all good.” Soen-sa hit him and said, “Today is Saturday.

One evening, after a Dharma talk at the Boston Dharma-dhatu, a student asked Seung Sahn Soen-sa, “Is the Bodhisattva attached to compassion?” Soen-sa said, “The universe is infinite; all people are infinite. So the Bodhisattva's attachment is infinite. A Bodhisattva attachment is no attachment. No attachment is a Bodhisattva attachment.” The student said, “Does he have it in mind to save all people or does this just happen wherever he is?” Soen-sa said, “Do you understand what the Bodhisattva is?” “No.” “First, understand what the Bodhisattva is. Then you will understand the Bodhisattva's attachment. The Bodhisattva is your true self. Your true self is Big I. Big I is all people. All people and I become one mind. So Bodhisattva action is always for all people. When people are happy, the Bodhisattva is happy. When people are sad, the Bodhisattva is sad. He always acts together with all people.” The student bowed and said, “Thank you.

If you think the tea is dirty, it is dirty. If you think it is clean, it is clean.’ He said, ‘You're right. I will drink the tea.’” (Laughter.)

It is better to keep your mouth shut as spring passes. Here is a kong-an: “When the bell is rung, you put on your kesha.” What does this mean? Your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind all deceive you. The true you is without the six senses. But the six senses use you, so you ask ten thousand questions. You must return to your true self. Then you will understand. The butterfly alights on the flower and drinks its nectar. Here is a poem for you: What is Buddha? “Three pounds of flax.” “Dry shit on a stick.” I don't understand these words. The infant is sucking on his toes.

Seung Sahn,

be very careful about wanting enlightenment. This is a bad Zen sickness. When you keep a clear mind, the whole universe is you, you are the universe. So you have already attained enlightenment. Wanting enlightenment is only thinking. It is something extra, like painting legs on the picture of a snake. Already the snake is complete as it is. Already the truth is right before your eyes.

Tirando cenizas sobre el Buda (La Liebre de Marzo, 1991), del maestro zen Seung Sahn,

But originally, "impurity" is not impure. Our ideas about pure and impure come from thinking and are determined by our thinking. Human beings don't like shit. But there are many kinds of animals that actually like to eat shit. Maggots eat shit. Ants eat shit. Flies eat shit. Also, many dogs like to eat cat shit. Horses will stay away from grass that has their own waste on it, but many sheep will happily eat grass that is smeared with their own waste. There is a special kind of pork you can buy in certain parts of Asia that is made from pigs raised on human excrement. The pigs are fed human shit every day. Later they are butchered, and this pork is a delicacy in parts of Asia. It is very expensive pork. That is very interesting. Some people will pay a lot of money to buy this pork in restaurants. So these animals and insects have some kind of consciousness, and this consciousness likes shit. Their sense of impurity is not the same as our own.

The student said, “Sometimes you hear of people struggling with kong-ans for years. That bothers me. The implication is that either they're on the wrong path or it takes all that time to realize you shouldn't struggle at all. Are you saying there shouldn't be a struggle?” Soen-sa said, “Keeping the mind that desires enlightenment is the wrong way to use the kong-an. Only keep the great question. The great question means cutting off all thinking, becoming empty mind. So the mind that keeps the great question is enlightenment! You are already enlightened, but you don't know it. So after much hard training: ah, this is enlightenment! It is very easy. Can you see your eyes?” “No.” “You have no eyes? You have eyes. Can you grasp your mind?” “No.” “You have no mind? It is the same. Can you see this cup? Can you hear my voice?” “Yes.” “This is your mind. My eyes can't see my eyes. To try to see my eyes is the wrong way. My mind can't understand my mind. So to try to understand my mind is the wrong way. If you cut off this mind, you will soon attain enlightenment. I can see this cup; so I have eyes. I can hear this sound; so I have mind. What am I? I am asking I. So there are no opposites. Having no opposites is the Absolute. So all thinking is cut off. Only don't know, only empty mind. This is my true self. It is very easy.

Soen-sa said, “In the past, you have sown certain seeds that now result in your encountering Buddhism. Not only that—some people come here only once, while others stay and practice very earnestly. When you practice Zen earnestly, you are burning up the karma that binds you to ignorance. In Japanese the word for ‘earnest’ means ‘to heat up the heart.’ If you heat up your heart, this karma, which is like a block of ice, melts and becomes liquid. And if you keep on heating it, it becomes steam and evaporates into space. Those people who practice come to melt their hindrances and attachments. Why do they practice? Because it is their karma to practice, just as it is other people's karma not to practice. Man's discriminating thoughts build up a great thought-mass in his mind, and this is what he mistakenly regards as his real self. In fact, it is a mental construction based on ignorance. The purpose of Zen meditation is to dissolve this thought-mass. What is finally left is the real self. You enter into the world of the selfless. And if you don't stop there, if you don't think about this realm or cling to it, you will continue in your practice until you become one with the Absolute.” The first student said, “What do you mean by the Absolute?” Soen-sa said, “Where does that question come from?” The student was silent. Soen-sa said, “That is the Absolute.” “I don't understand.” “No matter how much I talk about it, you won't understand. The Absolute is precisely something you can't understand.

May 22, 1975 No wall, no plant, no air, no sky Clinging to form Clinging to emptiness Stops the love We create this earth To teach us the love We are here on this earth To practice the love. Hae Mi

You know the story about Zen Master Huang Po. He was traveling with another monk, and they came to a river. Without breaking stride, the monk walked across the water, then beckoned to Huang Po to do the same. Huang Po said, “If I'd known he was that kind of fellow, I'd have broken his legs before he reached the water.” A keen-eyed Zen Master understands people's karma. The Buddha said, “Karma that you have made for yourself can only disappear if you want it to. No one can make you want it to disappear.” He also said, “I have many kinds of good medicine, but I can't take it for you.” The Buddha has already given instructions for someone who is blind or disabled. But most people want easy solutions. They want someone else to do their work for them.

Soen-sa said, “If you understand emptiness, this is not emptiness. It is only a word. You understand the word ‘emptiness.’ Have you ever tasted kim-chee, Korean pickled cabbage? It is very hot. When guests come to dinner here, I tell them that kim-chee is very hot. But they don't really know what this ‘hot’ means until they experience it for themselves. So I give them a piece of kim-chee. Ow!! Hot!!!” (Laughter.) “Other people understand that kim-chee is hot, but they haven't tasted it. Once they taste it, then they really understand what hot means. They have attained ‘hot.’ So understanding ‘hot’ is not the same as attaining ‘hot.’ Many young Americans understand one mind. But this is not true understanding; it is only thinking. So understanding emptiness and attaining emptiness are different. If you attain emptiness one time, you have attained it forever. You don't forget. You say you understand emptiness. Then what is emptiness?

Then I ask you: Once, during Buddha's lifetime, a woman was sitting in samadhi—very deeply into samadhi. She didn't wake up, only samadhi, as if she were dead. The Bodhisattva Manjushri, who is a tenth-class Bodhisattva, the highest class, tried to wake her, but couldn't. Finally a first-class Bodhisattva appeared, walked around her three times, and hit her on the back. She woke up immediately. Why couldn't this great Bodhisattva bring her out of samadhi, while the low-class Bodhisattva could? If you understand this, you will have a true understanding of samadhi and enlightenment. Do you understand?” The student was silent. Soen-sa said, “You must understand this. There is another kong-an with the same meaning. An eminent teacher said, ‘If I kill my parents, I can repent to Buddha. But if I kill all Buddhas and eminent teachers, to whom can I repent?’” The student said, “Myself?” Another student called out from the back of the room, “Go drink tea!” Soen-sa said, “Who said that?” The student raised her hand. Soen-sa said, “Oh, very good! Wonderful! These two kong-ans are the same kong-an. If you understand this, you understand samadhi and enlightenment.

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra says, “All things are impermanent. This is the law of appearing and disappearing. When appearing and disappearing disappear, then this stillness is bliss.

What's the difference between Bodhidharma's sitting in Sorim for nine years and your sitting here now?” “Don't you know?” “I'm listening.” “Bodhidharma sat in Sorim for nine years. I am sitting here now.” The student smiled.

One evening, after a Dharma talk at the Cambridge Zen Center, a student asked Seung Sahn Soen-sa, “What is love?” Soen-sa said, “I ask you: what is love?” The student was silent. Soen-sa said, “This is love.” The student was still silent. Soen-sa said, “You ask me: I ask you. This is love.

difficulty understanding this. An eminent teacher said, “To cure the sickness of deluded views, we must give people mirage medicine. When the sickness is cured, then we must take away the mirage medicine.” How do we take away this mirage medicine? This is very important. If we don't take away the medicine, then the patient will fall down into the mirage. In your teaching, you are trying to cure the sickness of attachment to opposites, and you use nonsense medicine. But how do you take away this nonsense medicine? Where does this nonsense go? So the area from nonsense to “like this” is not clear.

Zen teaching is like a window. At first, we look at it, and see only the dim reflection of our own face. But as we learn, and our vision becomes clear, the teaching becomes clear. Until at last it is perfectly transparent. We see through it. We see all things: our own face.

So if you are thinking, words are very bad. But if you are not thinking, all words and all things that you can see or hear or smell or taste or touch will help you. So it is very important for you to cut off your thinking and your attachment to words.

Si mantienes tu mente despejada, encontrarás felicidad en todas partes. Es la paz completa, como la mente de un niño, que no se apega a nada.