"If we have ambitions—even if our aim is enlightenment— then there is no meditation, because we are thinking about it, craving it, fantasizing, imagining things. That is not meditation. This is why an important characteristic of shamatha meditation is to let go of any goal and simply sit for the sake of sitting. We breathe in and out, and we just watch that. Nothing else. It doesn’t matter if we get enlightenment or not. It doesn’t matter if our friends get enlightened faster. Who cares? We are just breathing. We just sit straight and watch the breath in and out. Nothing else. We let go of our ambitions. This includes trying to do a perfect shamatha meditation. We should get rid of even that. Just sit."

Do nothing - Tricycle: The Buddhist Review - Winter 2009

"What is zen? Zen is the unsymbolization of the world and all the things in it."

The tao of zen

"The deliberate, conscious practice of zen is a self-defeating process, an exercise in futility. This self-defeating process is ended when the practice of zen becomes the same as ordinary activity. When nothing noteworthy distinguishes zen from anything else, zen becomes unpretentious and inconspicuous. Thus those who practice everyday zen simply disappear into the ordinary."

The tao of zen

"The dilemma is that zen, once it seems to be lost, can only be found by becoming more lost."

The tao of zen

"The aliveness of zen has entirely to do with eliminating the conceptualizations that organize, categorize and institutionalize experience."

The tao of zen

"The only purpose of zazen is to prevent the 'something else' that distracts from a sense of total presence. Any activity will suffice."

The tao of zen

The Mind of Absolute Trust
(translated by Robert F. Olson)


The Great Way isn’t difficult
for those who are unattached to their preferences.
Let go of longing and aversion,
and everything will be perfectly clear.

When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction,
heaven and earth are set apart.
If you want to realize the truth,
don’t be for or against.

The struggle between good and evil
is the primal disease of the mind.
Not grasping the deeper meaning,
you just trouble your mind’s serenity.

As vast as infinite space,
it is perfect and lacks nothing.
But because you select and reject,
you can’t perceive its true nature.

Don’t get entangled in the world;
don’t lose yourself in emptiness.
Be at peace in the oneness of things,
and all errors will disappear by themselves.

If you don’t live the Tao,
you fall into assertion or denial.
Asserting that the world is real,
you are blind to its deeper reality;
denying that the world is real,
you are blind to the selflessness of all things.

The more you think about these matters,
the farther you are from the truth.
Step aside from all thinking,
and there is nowhere you can’t go.
Returning to the root, you find the meaning;
chasing appearances, you lose their source.

At the moment of profound insight,
you transcend both appearance and emptiness.
Don’t keep searching for the truth;
just let go of your opinions.

For the mind in harmony with the Tao,
all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt,
you can trust the universe completely.
All at once you are free,
with nothing left to hold on to.
All is empty, brilliant,
perfect in its own being.

In the world of things as they are,
there is no self, no non-self.
If you want to describe its essence,
the best you can say is “Not-two.”

For the mind in harmony with the Tao,
all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt,
you can trust the universe completely.

In this “Not-two” nothing is separate,
and nothing in the world is excluded.
The enlightened of all times and places
have entered into this truth.

In it there is no gain or loss;
one instant is ten thousand years.
There is no here, no there;
infinity is right before your eyes.

The tiny is as large as the vast
when objective boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small as the tiny,
when you don’t have external limits.

Being is an aspect of non-being;
non-being is no different from being.
Until you understand this truth,
you won’t see anything clearly.
One is all; all are one. When
you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom?

The mind of absolute trust
is beyond all thought, all striving,
is perfectly at peace; for in it
there is no yesterday,
no tomorrow,
no today.

"When our mind works freely without any hindrance, and is at liberty to come or to go, we attain liberation." Such a mind "is everywhere present, yet it sticks nowhere."

The world is made of stories - p. 90

"Let your mind come forth without fixing it anywhere."

The world is made of stories - p. 90

"The buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna refers to shunyata, emptiness, as "the exhaustion of all theories and views." Those who make shunyata into a theory are "incurable". Reifying it into something is grasping a snake by the wrong end." 

The world is made of stories - p. 38

"Cada momento de consciência plena, de presença tranquila e alerta, cada momento em que a mente não está às voltas com alguma coisa de que ela julga precisar, ou tentando livrar-se de alguma coisa que ela julga não querer é um momento de liberdade."

Não faça nada, só fique sentado - p. 84

"Desejar é um aspecto normal de estar vivo. Ficar obcecado por um desejo que não pode ser atendido é o que agita e confunde a mente."

Não faça nada, só fique sentado - p. 76

"A principal prática de meditação ensinada por Buda denomina-se consciência plena: a percepção tranquila, sem apego e sem aversão, da experiência presente."

Não faça nada, só fique sentado - p. 18