This piece contains some clear instructions on meditation. It is uncommon to find much direct advice given in ancient times. These instructions were given to monks training with him, and the basis of this treatise consists of questions and answers.

Just like the heart of Zen is a teaching beyond words and letters, the teaching of the garden, the wisdom of inanimate objects, is a direct passage beyond the intellect.

Our sense and experience of time naturally changes throughout life. We keep seeing time slip away, so this connection is not difficult to make. However, it is still a challenge to feel impermanence to the degree that we realize there truly is no self. The “experience” of self is so entrancing that the jump to selflessness seems like the greatest mystery in life.

There is a simplicity and directness in this piece that serves as a guide to us all, even centuries later. Without one reference to the technique of meditation practice, Yuan wu manages to hand us the keys of practice and show it doesn’t matter where you are, turning the light back inside is always available to us.

The enchantment surrounds us and creates the almost unmistakable sense of an “I” which is sticky, and like a shadow, which appears attached, seems to be with us everywhere we go.

This piece taken from the Little Manual of Samatha Vipasyana Meditation covers one of the most challenging points in practice: how to bring awareness into daily activities.

When we let go of our conceptions, there is no other possible reality than what is right now; in that sense, what is right now and here is absolute, it’s undeniable. 

Stillness in the midst of action is the fundamental principle of Zazen. 

Please relax your preconceptions of Buddhism, as well as religion in general, in order to explore with a fresh mind.

Whenever the mind is at ease, peacefulness results. However, true peacefulness is only found upon awakening to the mind.