THE WAY – TIME IS NOT

THE WAY

You wander from room to room
hunting for the diamond necklace
that is already around your neck.

Rumi (1207 – 1273)

A way that can be walked is not the way.
Before the first step is taken the goal is reached.

Lao Tse (c. 550 – 475 BCE)

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where do you expect to find it?
· · · ·
Truth is not far away.
It is nearer than near.
There is no need to attain it, since not one of your steps leads away from it.

Dōgen Zenji (1200 – 1253)

Chao-Chou asked, “What is the Tao?”
The master [Nan-ch’üan] replied, “Your ordinary consciousness is the Tao.”
“How can one return into accord with it?”
“By intending to accord you immediately deviate.”
“But without intention, how can one know the Tao?”
“The Tao,” said the master, “belongs neither to knowing nor to not knowing. Knowing is false understanding; not knowing is blind ignorance. If you really understand the Tao beyond doubt, it’s like the empty sky. Why drag in right and wrong?”

Chao-Chou (778 – 897), Nan-ch’üan (749 – c. 835)

There is no place in Buddhism for using effort.
Just be ordinary and nothing special.
Relieve your bowels, pass water,
put on your clothes and eat your food.
When you’re tired, go and lie down.
Ignorant people will laugh.
But the wise will understand.

Lin-Chi (c. 867)

Zen is not some kind of excitement,
but merely concentration
on our usual everyday routine.

Shrunryu Suzuki (1904 – 1971)

All the universe is an inn; search not specially for a retreat of peace . . . .

Chinese Folk Proverb

Wanting enlightenment is a big mistake.

Seung Sahn (1924 – 2004)

As soon as you make a principle, you fall into a pit.

Commentary on The Blue Cliff Record (12^th Century C.E.)

The chief difference between a wise man and an ignorant one is, not that the first is acquainted with regions invisible to the second, away from common sight and interest, but that he understands the common things which the second only sees.

Starr King (1824 – 1864)

Finding the right way to live does not require any effort or thought; it requires only complete concentration on the ordinary, everyday routine of life.

Ting Chang (929 – 1001)

The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.

Gerard van der Leeuw (1890 – 1950)

The Way cannot be described with words;
it only can be lived.

Hong Lo (870 – 944)

A special contribution of Zen to Eastern thought was its recognition of the mundane as of equal importance with the spiritual. . . . [Mundane] services formed a part of the Zen discipline, and every least action must be done absolutely perfectly. Thus many a weighty discussion ensued [among the members of the Zen monastery] while weeding the garden, paring a turnip, or serving tea. The whole ideal of Teaism [the tea ceremony] is a result of this Zen conception of greatness in the smallest incidents of life.

Kakuzo Okakura (1862 – 1913)

Teach us to delight in simple things.

Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936)

In our all-absorbing everyday life, there is unfortunately little that is unusual which is at the same time healthy. There is little room for obvious heroism. Not that the call to heroism does not reach us! On the contrary, that is just the damnable and burdensome part of it, our banal everyday life makes banal demands on our patience, our devotedness, endurance, self-sacrifice, and so on, which we must fulfil modestly and without any heroic gestures to court applause, and which actually need a heroism that is not seen from without. It does not shine and is not praised, and it seeks ever again the disguise of everyday apparel.

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961)

PAY ATTENTION

Wisdom is to speak the truth
and act in accordance with nature,
while paying attention to it.

Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – 475 BCE)

Once a monk made a request of Joshu.
“I have just entered the monastery,” the monk said.
“Please give me instructions, Master.”
Joshu said, “Have you had your breakfast?”
“Yes, I have,” replied the monk.
“Then,” said Joshu, “wash your bowls.”
The monk had an insight.

Zen Koan of Joshu (778 – 897) [Chinese, Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn; Japanese, Jōshū Jūshin]

Thinking about anything
other than about what you are then doing,
is a distraction from doing what is then being done;
and likely to cause an error to be made
in doing what you are then doing.
Do only what you are doing when you are doing it;
and do not think when actively doing
something other than thinking.

A. Longgrin (1924 – )

Every moment we do something without being aware of it; facility increases, and in the end a man would get to do everything without knowing it, and in a literal sense become a rational animal.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 – 1799)

How can you think and hit at the same time?

Yogi Berra (1925 – 2015 )

Within yourself is a stillness and a sanctuary
to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.

Hermann Hesse (1877 – 1962)

When I dance, I dance; when I sleep I sleep;
yes, and when I walk alone in a beautiful orchard,
if my thoughts drift to far-off matters for some part of the time,
for some other part I lead them back again
to the walk, the orchard,
to the sweetness of this solitude,
to myself.

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)

An old Master has said: “Take one step beyond the top of a hundred foot pole.”
This means that you must cast away both body and mind, as though climbing to the top of a hundred-foot pole and letting go with both hands and feet.

Zen Master Dogen (1200 – 1253), as recorded by his disciple Ejo (1198 – 1280)

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.

Kurt Vonnegut (1922 – 2007)

I went to the woods
because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)

The way to live is to proceed softly and calmly.
Like a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall.
Follow the stream, have faith in its course.
It will go its own way,
meandering here, trickling there.
It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices.
Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight.
It will take you.

Adaptation of text of Sheng-Yen (c. 1950)

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

Chuang tzu (4th century BCE)

You do not need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait.
Do not even wait, be still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked.

Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924)

Easy is right.
Begin right and you are easy.
Continue easy, and you are right.
The right way to go easy is to forget the right way
and forget the going is easy.

Chuang-tzu (4th century BCE)

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

Hakuin Ekaku (1686 – 1769)

BE AWARE THAT
WORDS HAVE THE MEANING THAT WE GIVE TO THEM
AND THAT
THINGS DO NOT HAVE ANY MEANING AT ALL

It was previously a question of finding out whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear, on the contrary, that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning.

Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1913 – 1960)

THE WAY ENTAILS THE REALIZATION THAT
DESIRE IS A MALADY OF THE MIND

Despise me not, for I am not poor – Poor is he only who has material desires.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519)

A short cut to riches is to subtract from our desires.

Petrarch (1304 – 1374)

A man once told Buddha,

“I want happiness.”

Buddha replied.

“First, remove ‘I”; that’s ego.

Then remove ‘want’; that’s desire.

And now all you’re left with is happiness.”

Buddha (c. 563 – 483 BCE)

Sit, rest, work.
Alone with yourself, never weary.
On the edge of the forest.
Live joyfully, without desire.

Buddha (c. 563 – 483 BCE)

The Way is not difficult; only there must be no wanting or not wanting.

Chao-Chou (778 – 897)

Do not trouble yourself by wishing that things happen as you desire; instead be satisfied that they should happen as they do.

. .

Upon every fresh accident, turn your eyes inward, and examine how you are qualified to encounter it. And if you thus prepare, and use your faculties and powers, to resolve each hazard and trial, no accident will be able to surprise or subdue you.

. .

When any omen of some future event appears do not let any superstitious illusion disturb or frighten you. Instead quiet any fears you may have by knowing that nothing of that kind can foretell what will happen, and that it is in your own power to make everything auspicious [lead to something favorable and beneficial] to you; because whatever disaster happens, you may, if you please, reap some very considerable advantage from it.

Epictetus (55 – 135)

The mind of man loves stillness, but his desires draw him into activity. When a man is constantly able to govern his desires, his mind becomes spontaneously still. . . . The reason men do not possess the ability to achieve this is because their minds are not clear and their desires are unrestrained.
Ko Hsuan (c. 222 – 277)

Peace of mind is impeded and reality is obscured
by a mind that is not clear and by desires that are unrestrained.
Peace of mind will be achieved and reality will reveal itself to you
without any effort or thought on your part.
They will do so in the silence of your mind.

The Soul of man loves purity, but his mind is often rebellious.
. .
The mind of man loves stillness, but his desires draw him into activity.
. .
When a man is constantly able to govern his desires, his mind becomes spontaneously still.
. .
When the mind is unclouded, the soul is seen to be pure.
. .
Then, with certainty the six desires [the desires of the mind, and of the eyes, ears, nostrils and tongue, and sense of touch] will cease to be begotten, and the three poisons [greed, anger and stupidity] will be eliminated and dissolved.
. .
The reason men do not possess the ability to achieve this is because their minds are not clear and their desires are unrestrained.
. .
He who has the power to transcend his desires, looking within and contemplating mind, realizes that in his mind, mind is not; looking without and contemplating form, he realizes that in form, form is not; looking at things still more remote and contemplating matter, he realizes that in matter, matter is not.
When he has clearly thought about these three he perceives only a void, but when he contemplates the void, he realizes that the void is also void and has become a nothingness. The void having vanished into nothingness, he realizes that the nothingness of nothing is also nothing, and when the nethermost nothingness is reached, there is most truly to be found a deep and unchanging stillness.
. .
In this profound stillness how can desires be begotten?
. .
When desires are no longer begotten, then there is essential and unchanging stillness . . . .
. .
He who attains Purity and Stillness enters into the Immutable Tao.

Ko Hsuan (c. 222 -277)

Those indeed are conquerors who, as I have now, have conquered the intoxications (the mental intoxications arising from ignorance, sensuality or craving after future life) . . . .

Siddhãrtha Gautama [Buddha] (c. 563 – 483 BCE)

The way of the superior man is threefold, but I am not equal to it. Virtuous, he is free from anxieties: wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear.

Confucius (551 – 479 BCE)

THE WAY OF NONDISCRIMINATION

The perfect Way is not difficult, for those who have no preferences.

Only when there is neither love nor hate is everything clear and undisguised.

Make the smallest distinction however, and you are set infinitely apart from it.

If you want the truth of the Way to appear, hold no opinions for or against anything.

To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of the Way is not known, the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

. . . .

Do not remain in the dualistic state, avoid such pursuits carefully.

If there is even a trace of this and that, of right and wrong, the mind-essence will be lost in confusion.

. . . .

Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and undisturbed.

. . . .

To seek mind with the discriminating mind is the greatest of all mistakes.

. . . .

Gain and loss, right and wrong, such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.

. . . .

When all things are seen equally the timeless self-essence is reached. No comparisons or analogies are possible in this causeless, relationless state.

. . . .

Consider movement stationary and the stationary in motion, both movement and rest disappear.

. . . .

For the unified mind in accord with the Way all self-centered striving ceases. Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible. With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing, all is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind’s power. Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value. In this world of suchness there is neither seer nor other-than-seer.

. . . .

To come directly into harmony with this reality just simply say when doubt arises, ‘Not two.’

. . . .

Infinitely large and infinitely small, no difference, for definitions have vanished and no boundaries are seen.

. . . .

One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in this realization is to be without anxiety . . . . To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because non-duality is one with the trusting mind.

. . . .

Words! Words! The Way is beyond language, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.

Attributed to Seng-ts’an (c. 600 C.E.)
[The foregoing are excerpts from a translation of the Zen poem Faith in Mind. A translation of the entire poem appears here.]

In original nature there is no this and that.

The great round mirror has no likes or dislikes.

Seung Sahn (1927 – 2004)

Attraction and aversion are two feelings that keep people within the bondage of ignorant repetitive behavior.

Muso Soseki (1275 – 1351)

Joy is not in things, it is in us.

Richard Wagner (1813 -1883)

. . . Tao . . . means the Road or Way in which the Universe moves, its methods and its processes, its conduct and operation, the complex of phenomena regularly recurring in it, in short the Order of the world, Nature, or Natural Order.
. .
. .
Men who possess the Tao by having assimilated themselves with nature. . . . behav[e] as nature behaves.

Jan Jakob Maria de Groot (1854 – 1921)

Myocho’s Poem

Hardships still come

one upon the other

enabling me to see

if my mind truly has

cast off the world or not.

Daito Kokushi (1282 – 1336)

Strange as it may seem today to say, the aim of life is to live, and to live is to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, divinely, serenely aware. In this state of godlike awareness one sings, and in this realm the world exists as poem, no why or wherefore, no direction, no goal, no striving, no revolving. . . . One is rapt by the ever-changing spectacle of changing phenomenon; this is the sublime, the amoral state of the artist, he who lives only in the moment, the visionary moment of utter far-seeing lucidity. Such clear icy sanity that it seems like madness.

Henry Miller (1891 – 1980)

But one thing you must know: the one thing I have learned is that one must live this life.

This life is the way, the long sought-after way to the unfathomable, which we call divine.

There is no other way, all other ways are false paths.

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961)

The Way cannot be explained with
thought, words and logic;
it can only be lived.

Mai Ding (742 – 807)

At some point spellbinding talk has to stop
so we can all go to lunch.

Addaitu Ling (c. 1930 – )

For in the immediate world everything is to be discerned, for him who can discern it, and centrally and simply, without either dissection into science, or digestion into art, but with the whole of consciousness seeking to perceive it as it stands; so that the aspect of a street in sunlight can roar in the heart of itself as a symphony, perhaps as no symphony can: and all of consciousness is shifted from the imagined, and revisive to the effort to perceive simply the cruel radiance of what is.

James Agee (1909 – 1955)

Whether he were acting rightly or wrongly he did not know, and far from trying to prove that he was, nowadays he avoided all thought about it.

Reasoning had brought him to doubt, and prevented him from seeing what he ought to do and what he ought not. When he did not think, but simply lived, he was continually aware of the presence of an infallible judge in his soul, determining which of two possible courses of action was the better and which was the worse, and as soon as he did not act rightly, he was at once aware of it.

So he lived, not knowing and not seeing any chance of knowing what he was and what he was living for, and . . . he was afraid, . . . yet firmly laying down his own individual definite path in life.

Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828 – 1910)

To see the things of the present moment is to see all that is now, all that has been since time began, and all that shall be unto the world’s end; for all things are of one kind and one form.

Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 BCE)

Right now a moment of time is fleeting by!
Capture its reality in paint!
To do that we must put all else out of our minds.
We must become that moment,
make ourselves a sensitive recording plate . . .
give the image of what we actually see,
forgetting everything that has been seen before our time.

Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906)

Whereas a bird in a painting made by a Western artist insists on teaching us some kind of a lesson, a bird in a painting made by a Far Eastern artist is content simply to exist, to be intensely and absolutely there.

Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) [paraphrased]

If you study Japanese art, you see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic, and intelligent, who spends his time how? In studying the distance between the earth and the moon? No. In studying the policy of Bismarck? No. He studies a single blade of grass. But this blade of grass leads him to draw every plant and then the seasons, the wide aspects of the countryside, then animals, then the human figure.
So he passes his life, and life is too short to do the whole.

Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890)

After lunch — nap:

On Waking up — two cups of tea.

Raising my head, I see the sun’s light

Once again slanting to the south-west.

Those who are happy regret the shortness of the day;

Those who are sad tire of the year’s sloth.

But those whose hearts are devoid of joy or sadness

Just go on living, without regard to “short” or “long”.

Po chü-i, aka Bai Juyi (772 – 846)

The knowledge of the ancients was perfect. How perfect? At first they did not know that there were things. This is the most perfect knowledge; nothing can be added. Next, they knew that there were things, but did not yet make distinctions between them. Next, they made distinctions between them, but they did not yet pass judgments upon them. When judgments were passed, Tao was destroyed.

Chuang-tzu, aka Zhuang Zhou, more commonly Zhuangzi
(4th century BCE)

Your going and coming takes place nowhere but where you are.

Hakuin Ekaku (1686 – 1768)

It is just man’s turning away from instinct – his opposing himself to instinct – that creates consciousness. Instinct is nature and seeks to perpetuate nature; while consciousness can only seek culture or its denial. As long as we are still submerged in nature we are unconscious, and we live in the security of instinct that knows no problems. Everything in us that still belongs to nature shrinks away from a problem; for its name is doubt, and wherever doubt holds sway, there is uncertainty and the possibility of divergent ways. And where several ways seem possible, there we have turned away from the certain guidance of instinct and are handed over to fear. For consciousness is now called upon to do that which nature has always done for her children – namely, to give a certain, unquestionable, and unequivocal decision. And here we are beset by an all-too-human fear that consciousness – our Promethean conquest – may in the end not be able to serve us in the place of nature. Problems thus draw us into an orphaned and isolated state where we are abandoned by nature and are driven to consciousness.

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961)

Supreme sublime Zen that is to be found at the highest reaches of attainment . . . is a matter of simply being Buddhas the way we are right now – “covered bowls of plain unvarnished wood.” It is the state of great happiness and peace; the great liberation. Put a stop to all the chasing and hankering in your mind. Do not interfere or poke around after anything whatever. That mind-free state detached from all thought is the complete and ultimate attainment.

Zen Master Hakuin (1686 – 1768)

The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten the words? He is the one I would like to talk to.

Chuang tzu (4th century BCE)

“The Great Tao” is the “Ultimate Way”, the “Supreme Truth”, the essence of Zen. The Great Tao has no gate. There is no gate in Zen. Because it is gateless it is now in front of you. It pervades the universe. You can enter it from anywhere freely. It is open in every direction, without any gate. There is no passing through or not passing through to it. That it is gateless means that everything as it is is “it.”

An old Zen Master said, “Look under your feet!” If you stand, the very place where you stand is Tao. If you sit down the very place that you sit is Tao.

Long ago in China a monk asked Master Gensha, “I am a novice just arrived at this monastery. From where can I enter into Zen?” Gensha said, “Can you hear the murmuring of the mountain stream?” “Yes, I can,” replied the monk. “Enter Zen from there,” was Master Gensha’s answer.

An old proverb says, “Fish do not know of water while they are in water.”

Although it is true that everyone lives in the Great Tao, if a person does not realize that fact then we must say that for such person there is the gate of no-gate. Zen Masters then insist that that person break through the gateless barrier.

It is foolishness to cling to words, or to use concepts and thoughts, to try to obtain an understanding of Tao in an effort to enter the gateless gate to achieve the Way. To use words, concepts and thoughts is uncalled for meddling. It is foolishness to cling to words and phrases, or to try to interpret them intellectually; because attempting to understand or achieve the Way by those means is a fool’s errand, as Tao is beyond description.

Zen is not to be philosophically thought about or intellectually understood. It is a concrete fact, a state of being, personally attained by one’s realization. The religious Zen experience of breaking through the gateless barrier is the absolute requisite for every student. When one has actually broken through the barrier, one can for the first time declare as a fact that it is gateless. A person who has done so is then wholly free; there will be nothing in the universe that interferes with such person’s creative working. However, until one has achieved this experience of Zen mind the gateless barrier persists.

Adaptation of a text of Zenkei Shibayama (1894 – 1974)

– Mumon’s Poem –

Gateless is the Great Tao,

There are thousands of ways to it.

If you pass through this barrier,

You may walk freely in the universe.

Mumon [Chinese, Wumen Huikai; Japanese, Mumon Ekai] (1183 – 1260)

He who replies to one asking about Tao, does not know Tao. Although one may hear about Tao, he does not really hear about Tao. There is no such thing as asking about Tao. There is no such thing as answering such question. To ask a question which cannot be answered is vain. To answer a question which cannot be answered is unreal. And one who thus meets the vain with the unreal is one who has no physical perception of the universe, and no mental perception of the origin of existence.

Chuang-tzu (4th century BCE)

There is a gateless barrier to achieving the Way as a result of which few achieve the non-dualistic, non-discriminatory Way of unified Zen mind. There is no wonder this is so. William James said: “Man thinks always by the same methods. He observes, discriminates, generalizes, classifies, looks for causes, traces analogies, and makes hypotheses.” And it is those observations, discriminations, generalizations, classifications, causes, analogies and hypotheses that are barriers to achieving the Way. They are mental constructs, fictions of human imagination that do not exist in reality in the physical world outside of the mind, that are gateless barriers to achieving the Way. For achieving the Way does not require thinking about, or understanding, knowing, comprehending, or expressing the Way. Rather, what is required is not consciously thinking, understanding, knowing, comprehending, expressing, or being aware of anything about the Way.

Anon

With Respect to Subjective Opinions:
Do not seek or think in terms of certainty.
Do not seek or think in terms of absolutes.
Avoid seeking and thinking in terms of always or never.
Rather, think in terms of sometimes, probability, propensity, and complexity.
Nothing is simple.
Everything is complicated and circumstantial.
Understand that minor exceptions do not affect generalities.
Know that a generality is generally true notwithstanding its exceptions.
Know that probabilities that are regularities are reliable.
Avoid expressing an opinion about something that you know little about.
Understand what the differences are between having a desire, having a belief, and knowing that something is factually, objectively, demonstrably true.

Anon

Our world is so exceedingly rich in delusions that a truth is priceless, and no one will let it slip because of a few exceptions with which it cannot be brought into accord.

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961)

As soon as there is language, generality has entered the scene.

Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)

Whoever thinks, a faultless piece to see
Thinks what ne’er was, nor is, nor e’er shall be.

Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744)

The desire for perfection is the worst disease that ever afflicted the human mind.

Louis-Marcelin de Fontanes (1757 – 1821)

People are generally unaware that they are engaged in a constant internal conversation with themselves. They are preoccupied by consciously speaking silently in their head to themselves about the future and the past, and by consciously talking silently to themselves as they imagine, recall, categorize, analyze, classify, identify, discriminate, name, evaluate, differentiate and compare things. To their detriment, as their mind is busy doing that, there is little or no time left for them to clearly and simply pay attention to and experience what is in reality happening in the present outside of themselves in their immediate surroundings.

They should, instead, to the extent possible, pay attention to and live in the present as it exists and unfolds outside of themselves.

Only when necessary should a person consciously speak to one’s self in one’s mind: For example, when necessary to analyze situations, when plans are required to be made, or when it is necessary to review something that has happened in the past to determine what should then or thereafter be done. However, that internal dialog should be indulged in with restraint, so as to avoid unnecessarily re-living the past and pre-living the future.

In short, one should avoid unnecessarily talking to one’s self, and pay attention to doing whatever one is doing in the physical world as it is being done.

Unnecessarily re-living in one’s mind what previously happened is a great mistake. A person cannot re-live or change what has already happened. Re-enacting what has happened causes a person to depart from reality, and to miss and misinterpret experiences as they actually occur in the present.

Unnecessarily pre-living in one’s mind what may happen is a great mistake. Unnecessarily daydreaming about future events is likely to affect how a person acts and reacts in the future. It is likely to make one act and react in the future in response to what was imagined to have occurred in the prior daydream, rather than in response to what later actually occurs in reality. As a result, daydreaming does not merely interfere with life by making a person miss living in the present while daydreaming; it often also distorts and interferes with future events when they do in fact occur.

All told, when consciously thinking about the past or the future the mind is not entirely focused on the present; it misses and is likely to later misinterpret things that are happening in the present, and is also likely to make mistakes in the present that would not have been made if one had paid attention to and clearly focused on the present.

Anon

A man asked a Zen Master: “Master, please tell me a maxim of the highest wisdom.”
The Master said: “Attention.”
“That’s it?” asked the man.
The Master said: “Well, then: attention, attention.”
“That’s all?” said the man.
“Attention, attention, attention!” said the Master.
“What does ‘attention’ mean?” said the man.
“Attention means attention.” said the Master.

Stay alert.

Pay attention.

Be aware of the present.

The present is the only time that there is.

The present is the only time that there ever will be.

The present is the only time in which you will ever exist.

The present is the only time that ever was.

All realities occur in this presently existing moment.

Thinking about the past is merely memories in the present.

Thinking about the future is merely daydreams in the present.

The time is always now.

All of life exists now.

This is it.

Klar Himmel (1942 – )

The Great dominant, all-controlling fact of this life is the innate bias of the human spirit, not towards evil, as the theologians tell us, but towards good. But for this bias, man would never have been man; he would only have been one more species of wild animal ranging a savage, uncultivated globe, the reeking battle-ground of sheer instinct and appetite. But somehow and somewhere there germinated in his mind the idea that association, co-operation would serve his ends better than unbridled egoism in the struggle for existence. Instead of “each man for himself” his motto became “each man for his family, or his tribe, or his nation, or – ultimately – for humankind.” And, at a very early stage, what made for association, co-operation, brotherhood, came to be designated “good”, while that which sinned against these upward tendencies was stigmatized as “evil”. From that moment the battle was won, and the transfiguration of human life became only a matter of time. The prejudice in favour of the idea of good is the fundamental fact of our moral nature. It has an irresistible, a magical prestige. We have made, and are still making, a myriad mistakes – tragic and horrible mistakes, in striving for good things which are evils in disguise. A few of us (though relatively not very many) try to overcome the prejudice altogether, and say, “Evil, be thou my god!” But even these recreants and deserters from the great army of humanity have to express themselves in terms of good, and to take their stand on a sheer contradiction. Evil, as such, has simply not a fighting chance. The prestige of good is stupendous. We are all hypnotized by it; and the reason we are slow in realizing the ideal is, not that we are evil, but that we are stupid.

William Archer (1856 – 1924)

The teachers of the purpose of existence.— Whether I contemplate men with benevolence or with an evil eye, I always find them concerned with a single task, all of them and every one of them in particular: to do what is good for the preservation of the human race. Not from any feeling of love for the race, but merely because nothing in them is older, stronger, more inexorable and unconquerable than this instinct—because this instinct constitutes the essence of our species, our herd. It is easy enough to divide our neighbors quickly, with the usual myopia, from a mere five paces away, into useful and harmful, good and evil men; but in any large-scale accounting, when we reflect on the whole a little longer, we become suspicious of this neat division and finally abandon it. Even the most harmful man may really be the most useful when it comes to the preservation of the species; for he nurtures either in himself or in others, through his effects, instincts without which humanity would long have become feeble or rotten. Hatred, the mischievous delight in the misfortunes of others, the lust to rob and dominate, and whatever else is called evil belongs to the most amazing economy of the preservation of the species. To be sure, this economy is not afraid of high prices, of squandering, and it is on the whole extremely foolish. Still it is proven that it has preserved our race so far.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)

The tendency of man’s nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downward. There are nought but have this tendency to good, just as all water flows downward.

Mencius (372 – 289 BCE)

The great nineteenth century ethicist Henry Sidgwick (1838 – 1900) was correct: Evolution is not the foundation of Ethics. Evolution and ethics have the same foundation: The driving force that compels living beings to strive to stay alive and thrive.

M. S. Aman (1942 – )

At night, deep in the mountains, I sit in meditation.

The affairs of men never reach here:

Everything is quiet and empty.

All the incense has been swallowed up by the endless night.

My robe has become a garment of dew.

Unable to sleep I walk out into the woods.

Suddenly, above the highest peak, the full moon appears.

Ryokan Taigu (1758 – 1831)

Old pond,

frog jumps in –

plop.

Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694)

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