Keywords
Experiment The keywords are a way to the texts; if they don't suit you, read the texts directly. How to use them →
Ideas, images and stories from the Shobogenzo, the talks and further reading. Each keyword leads to the places where it is spoken of.
Every keyword as a star, grouped into constellations by area. The bigger the star, the more texts. Zoom in and the names appear, and the faint stars of the keywords of one text; a click shows a card.
Map of concepts
The main concepts by area; under each are the keywords that develop it.
action and ethics
action48 aim42 cause and effect26 compassion16 complete action23 effort40 freedom24 intention19 judgement11 mistakes4 precepts26 right and wrong29 sincerity7 sport18 thinking and acting36
body and mind
balance49 body9 brain9 emotions40 health14 mind10 naturalness31 noticing21 oneness of body and mind19 perception14
buddha and awakening
bodhisattva9 buddha38 buddha-nature51 delusion23 dropping off15 enlightenment31 life-and-death16 naturalness31 nirvana7 practice and experience16 realization11
Buddhism in history and culture
Buddhism19 Buddhism in the West19 history of Buddhism11 Japan37 tradition11 Zen8
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist theory28 cause and effect26 Dharma12 dialectic13 emptiness17 four views28 idealism17 materialism8 middle way8 mu10 Nagarjuna24 opposites26 perfection14 realism12 viewpoint27
people
Dogen41 Gautama Buddha20 koan60 Kodo Sawaki22 Nagarjuna24 Nishijima Roshi15 Western thinkers11
practice
aim42 balance49 being where we are13 complete action23 dropping off15 effort40 everyday life43 habit10 importance of simple things9 intention19 middle way8 noticing21 practice and experience16 retreat10 zazen167
reality and the universe
Dharma12 Genjo-koan26 ideas and reality76 nature9 one bright pearl27 oneness52 perfection14 reality64 realization11 sacred and ordinary23 space5 truth42 universe28 whole and parts14
religion and science
belief26 brain9 Christianity9 God6 idealism17 materialism8 rebirth5 religion17 science22 spirituality13 Western civilisation32 Western thinkers11
sangha and ritual
ceremony31 informal group11 monastic life12 organization18 precepts26 retreat10 robe11 sangha15 three treasures3
self and the world
compassion16 conditioning10 constructed world21 ego12 freedom24 habit10 human being11 independence18 judgement11 oneness52 self53 society21 subject and object15
texts and stories
Dogen41 Genjo-koan26 koan60 one bright pearl27 poetry7 Shobogenzo28 sutras30 translation24
thinking and language
constructed world21 dialectic13 ideas and reality76 language51 mind10 perception14 subject and object15 thinking26 thinking and acting36 translation24 understanding30 viewpoint27
time and existence
being where we are13 existence8 impermanence9 life-and-death16 mu10 rebirth5 space5 time139
All keywords from A to Z (1,765)
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À
A
- a month without zazen
- a state we already have
- Abhidharma analysis of matter
- Abhidharma theory of conditions
- ability accumulated day by day
- abstract and real right and wrong 13
- abstract generalisation
- abstract rules and intuition 2
- abstract truth waiting to be grabbed
- acceptance 17
- accepting contradiction without emotional disturbance
- accepting this world as it is
- accepting what we are like
- acting before thinking
- acting before thinking in an emergency
- acting in a balanced way 9
- acting in what is
- acting on your own
- acting right rather than keeping precepts
- acting self
- acting sincerely
- action 54
- action and agent
- action and surroundings 2
- action as basis of life 2
- action as Dharma
- action as mind-body synthesis
- action as the centre of Buddhism 2
- action from our state, not intention
- action in the present moment 6
- action over thinking
- action unrelated to causes and circumstances
- action without a doer
- activity for its own sake 2
- adding your name to the list
- affirming what we do 2
- afraid to be simple 2
- afraid to throw away the mask
- agreement that the world endures
- aigo, loving words
- aim 49
- all beings are without buddha-nature
- all evolution in our speaking
- all of us wild cards
- all theory as Buddhist theory
- all-embracing fourth view
- alone in the group
- ambiguity of ku
- American koan commentaries
- an honest person is stupid
- ancient apprenticeship system 2
- ancient ideas and modern knowledge
- anger as a label 2
- animals caring for their young
- apprenticeship of a cabinet maker
- area separate from the present
- arriving where we started 2
- arrow and target as one thing
- asceticism 6
- assertion that cannot be proven
- astronomers' panorama of time
- athlete throwing away the body
- athletes as buddhas but not Buddhists
- atman and Brahman
- atoms in a rat's brain 2
- attaining the buddha way together
- attaining the truth
- attempt to create Dogen Sangha International
- authority to teach
- autonomic nervous system
- autopoiesis
- Avalokitesvara
B
- babies as Buddhas and devils
- backward step of turning light
- bag of skin full of water
- balance 74
- balance and wisdom as one
- balance as the state of Buddha
- balance between love and hate 2
- balance felt as plus/minus zero
- balance instead of compassion
- balance of body and mind 16
- balance of the autonomic nervous system 12
- balanced action without strong intention
- balanced effort
- balanced point of view
- balanced posture of dhyāna 2
- ball of doubt
- balloon filled with water underwater
- bath of warm water
- be a light unto yourself
- becoming a buddha after death
- becoming a Buddhist by jumping
- becoming a Buddhist teacher
- becoming like a little child
- becoming simple
- becoming stupid for a short time
- becoming whole 2
- beginning of the Universe
- being a certain kind of Buddhist
- being awake is being here
- being buddha-nature rather than having it
- being caught by the truth
- being dependent and independent at once
- being in the flow
- being in the present as action
- being in the zone 2
- being kind to oneself
- being ourselves when we act
- being present as a feeling
- being real, not spiritual 2
- being stupid 8
- being unaware of buddha-nature
- being where we are 29
- being without anything 2
- being without buddha-nature 4
- belief 20
- belief and experience
- belief different from religion 2
- belief in an eternal soul
- belief in process
- belief in the universe
- belief that directs our actions
- believing in reality 2
- Bendowa 2
- benevolent forces
- beyond labels
- beyond movement through time
- bhikṣu's venerative bow
- bird picking up an earthworm
- bizarre nature of reality
- blue lotus flowers in fire
- blue mountains constantly walking
- boat and the moving shore 3
- Bodhidharma did not come east
- Bodhidharma's unplanned coming to China 2
- bodhisattva 8
- bodhisattva appearing in many forms
- bodhisattva returning to society
- bodily health
- body 9
- body is em-minded
- body manifesting itself 2
- Bohm's heresy about time
- book knowledge and experience 2
- book on skiing
- boredom
- born normal, not in sin
- both bound and free 2
- bottomless pot of knowledge
- bowing as balance of opposites
- bowing to a person we dislike
- boy writing truth on trees 2
- Brahmanism and six non-Buddhist teachers 2
- brain 11
- brain as central control 3
- break between body and mind
- breaking the precepts without blame
- bringing ourselves back in zazen
- broken wooden dipper
- bud as wake up
- buddha 45
- Buddha as a human being
- buddha as an image out there
- buddha as an ordinary person
- buddha as someone awake
- buddha in life-and-death
- Buddha leaving the forest 3
- Buddha made into a god
- Buddha walking back into the forest
- buddha-nature 18
- buddha-nature appearing in the officer
- buddha-nature as a seed 3
- buddha-nature as a special quality 2
- Buddha-nature as emptiness
- buddha-nature as soul or spirit
- buddha-nature beyond concepts 2
- Buddha-nature following realization
- buddha-nature is Uji
- buddha-nature just at the present moment 2
- buddha-nature neither big nor small
- Buddha's awakening
- Buddha's praise of Avalokitesvara 2
- Buddha's silence on metaphysical questions
- buddhas as teachers of reality
- buddhas of the three times 2
- buddhas with a small b
- buddhas without knowing it 3
- buddhata as buddha-ness
- Buddhism 30
- Buddhism and psychotherapy 3
- Buddhism and science 3
- Buddhism as a solution to life
- Buddhism as lifelong training
- Buddhism based on real experience 2
- Buddhism doesn't belong to Buddhists 5
- Buddhism free from ‘Buddhism’
- Buddhism in the West 13
- Buddhism not as a religion 2
- Buddhism without bells and clothes
- Buddhist belief as physical belief
- Buddhist centres in Europe
- Buddhist dialectic 3
- Buddhist playground
- Buddhist theory 33
- building a factory
- burdens as gifts
- burned pastries
- Burnt Norton 3
- bursting the balloons of idealism
C
- cabbage leaf coming down the stream
- calm as our natural state
- candle flame dying and reborn
- candy for a crying child
- carrying ourselves past the moment
- carrying water and collecting firewood
- cart pointed north
- castles in the air
- cat and white ox 2
- cat taught to be human
- catching a book in the present
- catching our intuition changes us
- categories on bits of elastic
- cause and effect 20
- cause and effect in a flash
- cause and effect in one instant
- cause and effect in science
- cause and effect without moral judgement
- causes and circumstances
- cellist thinking about supper
- cerebellum and the body's equilibrium
- cerebral cortex and old brain
- ceremonies as simple rituals
- ceremonies outside the sesshin
- ceremony 21
- ceremony as decoration
- ceremony of receiving the precepts
- chair came up to my behind
- Chang drinking and Lee getting drunk
- changeable and unchanging precepts
- changing sides in half lotus
- changing view in the mountains
- chanting about bowls we don't have
- character changing by itself
- characters as momentary mirrors
- charge of nihilism
- chickens eating to be eaten
- child as buddha
- child of fire 3
- childhood patterns we keep using
- children supported but not disturbed
- children's natural state of mind
- chonei, ganzei, kento and biku
- chopping down brambles
- Christianity 20
- civilisation based on planning
- civilisation created by the mind
- clarifying the real state
- clarity from posture
- clarity of the world
- clean the toilet, walk the dog
- cleaning plaque, natural or not
- cleaning the windows 2
- climbing ever higher up a tree
- clouded eyes seeing flowers 3
- coffee cup standing on the floor
- collapse of communism as synthesis
- collection of immediate flowerings
- colour of the robe
- combining as a false act
- coming away from society
- coming back to reality
- coming down to earth
- common reality
- community of the church
- comparing zazen 2
- compassion 11
- compassion as a human invention
- compassion rarely mentioned in the Shobogenzo
- complete action 31
- complete present moment
- concepts as poor pictures of reality
- conceptual and beyond the conceptual
- conceptual cage
- concrete facts and theoretical understanding
- concrete teaching of koans
- conditioning 10
- conflict between idealism and materialism
- conflict between religion and science
- consciousness research and artificial intelligence 2
- constructed self 4
- constructed time
- constructed world 24
- continuous and separate time 2
- contradiction in Dogen's descriptions 2
- contradictory explanations of reality 2
- contribution to society, not alternative
- conveyor belt to eternal bliss
- convincing ourselves of simple things
- cook as the most important person
- coolness in the centre of heat
- copying only the teacher's weaknesses
- copying the Lotus Sutra
- copying the teacher 2
- cork floating on water 3
- cost of straw sandals 2
- country as a name
- covering up action with thoughts 3
- coveting nothing
- cow coming up and mooing 2
- cows in a fenced meadow
- crack in linear time
- created in Gautama Buddha’s image
- criminal and judge inside us
- criticism of our civilization
- crossing on red with a crowd
- crossing the mountain pass 3
- cultivating loving-kindness
- cultural custom and original Buddhism
- cup in two different worlds
- cup of tea 2
- cutting leeks and chopping wood
- cutting through intellectualising
- cycle of the six realms
D
- Daikan Eno's mirror poem 2
- daily life as Buddhist practice
- daily life as the universe itself
- daily zazen practice 11
- dance as one thing
- danger revealing the instant
- Darwin's evolution applied to Buddhism
- David Bohm
- deceived by sutras and commentaries
- deciding before thinking
- deconstructing conceptual thinking
- deliberate violation
- delusion 20
- delusion and realization
- demon's cave in a black mountain 3
- denial of process
- denial of rebirth 4
- denial of subjectivity and objectivity
- dentist's drill
- dependent origination
- depth of the present moment
- description is never the thing 2
- desire 17
- desire as life force
- desire for fame and profit
- desk useful for writing a letter
- destruction of original Buddhism in Japan
- developing prajñā by practising balance
- devotion to the three treasures
- dew-drop on a blade of grass
- Dharma 10
- Dharma as how things are
- Dharma before body and life
- Dharma hard to meet
- Dharma transmission as affirmation
- dharmas as fundamental particles 2
- dhyāna 2
- dialectic 12
- difference between thinking and doing 2
- different societies, different teachings
- difficulties in zazen 4
- digesting thoughts
- diligence step by step
- direct and abstract reality
- direct hit here and now
- disappearing interface
- disappointed expectations 2
- disappointment and pride in our efforts
- discussing swimming from a book 2
- dissatisfaction from wanting 2
- dissolving inner conflict in zazen
- dividing into opposites
- dog always in the moment
- Dogen 32
- Dogen against traditional Buddhism
- Dogen and relativity
- Dogen as an orphan and aristocrat 2
- Dogen Sangha as a gathering 3
- Dogen Sangha based on two things
- Dogen without mysticism
- Dogen's decision to write
- Dogen’s different reading of the poem
- Dogen's doubt about original nature 2
- Dogen's four teachings
- Dogen's holistic view
- Dogen's inexperience of the ordinary world
- Dogen's rules for temple life 2
- Dogen's search for the right words
- Dogen's unhappiness like ours
- Dogen's word games
- Dogen's writings in modern society
- Dogen's writings nothing like reality
- doing instead of thinking
- doing our best at every moment
- don't go back to Japan 2
- donkey and horse 3
- donkey looking into the well
- Dotoku
- doubt 7
- doubt as time
- doubting a stable physical world
- doubting as buddha-nature
- doubts as the bright pearl 2
- drawing only with water
- dream of spiritual Japan 3
- dreaming as a third way
- dressing up as a Buddhist
- drifting in and out of wholeness
- drive of life
- driving ourselves as delusion
- dropping off 37
- dropping off body and mind 16
- dropping off body as releasing stress 5
- dropping off muscular habits
- dropping off versus throwing away
- drunk on our delusions
- dukkha as dissatisfaction
- dynamic, not intellectual state
- dyne instead of state 2
E
- ears level with the shoulders
- earthworm cut in two 3
- easy to understand, hard to live
- easy way to become buddha
- eating a tangerine as enlightenment
- eating and thinking about eating
- eating this meat or not
- eating with three bowls
- edgeless state
- editions of the Shobogenzo
- EEG study with a ticking clock
- effects of zazen 3
- effort 34
- effort for the sake of effort 3
- effort to be present as delusion
- effort to be upright
- effort to reach no effort
- effort to understand
- effort without worrying about results 2
- ego 16
- elephant and three blind men
- elephant behind the settee
- embracing lots of things
- emotion affecting the decision
- emotion and the one feeling it
- emotions 29
- emotions and thoughts as the universe
- emperor worship
- emptiness 15
- emptiness as an intellectual philosophy
- emptiness as awareness without concepts
- emptiness as nihilism
- emptiness of own identity 2
- empty trappings
- enduring image
- enjoying zazen as the last one
- enlightened person at the top
- enlightened until you open your mouth
- enlightenment 37
- enlightenment as a dangled carrot
- enlightenment as a special state 3
- enlightenment as graduation
- enlightenment as recognizing reality 2
- enlightenment as the aim of zazen 2
- enlightenment as the most ordinary
- entity and reality
- equal practice of balance and wisdom
- equality of men and women
- esoteric Buddhism in China
- eternity in the present moment
- euphoric state and the Buddhist state
- European glasses
- evading the truth
- evaluation strengthening belief
- every generation one step
- everybody is in their time
- everybody practising zazen is Buddha 3
- everyday life 37
- everyday life, not a metaphor
- everything can be a mirror
- everything has two sides 2
- everything is teaching
- excited explanation of truth
- existence 9
- existence and non-existence
- existence-time and Einstein’s space-time
- existential self
- expectations of a retreat 4
- experience 21
- experience beyond words
- experienced by the myriad dharmas 2
- experiencing instead of learning lessons
- experiencing reality in zazen 2
- experiment called life
- expressing your real self
- extracting principles as a modern ability
- eyes of learning in practice 2
F
- faces of angels or devils
- facing our situation
- failure of Japanese temple Buddhism
- faint line traced in the sand
- faith and doubt in Zen
- falling flower as vanishing imagination
- falling in love as a trance
- false values of modern life
- family as training
- fashion and what is left
- fear of fear
- fear of freedom
- feeling good as motivation
- feeling of change
- feeling one side lacking 2
- feeling replete with Dharma 2
- feelings as a change in balance
- fences, walls, tiles and pebbles
- fern leaf as a fractal
- fighting for what is real
- filling in the visual field 2
- finding a place to sleep outdoors
- finding a way past the screen
- finding an explanation we can believe
- finding one's own way 2
- finding our own place
- finding our own words
- finding our way as we move
- finding ourselves in zazen 2
- finding value in oneself
- fine wood and the carpenter
- finger pointing at a person
- finger pointing at the ground
- finger pointing at the moon 2
- finger, whisk, fist and shout
- fingers pointing in the right direction
- firewood and ash 5
- fish and birds 2
- fish with the golden scales
- fisherman who abandoned his boat
- five skandhas 3
- fixed viewpoint as belief
- flames and burning wood
- flexible mind
- flower and time producing each other 2
- flower opening as world manifesting itself
- flower scent and fallen petals
- flowers fall and weeds flourish 2
- flowers in a vase
- flowers in space 3
- flowers in space causing clouded eyes
- following Dogen outside Soto Zen
- following the truth of the mountain
- foot of water, one-foot wave 3
- foot on the floor
- football and prajñā
- football making the universe real
- forcing ideas into reality
- forest with rustling leaves
- forgetting Buddhism in difficult circumstances
- forgetting ourselves 4
- form is emptiness 3
- founding of Dogen Sangha
- four bases of Buddhist philosophy
- four bonno
- four conditions and four views
- four conditions as characteristics of reality
- four contents of belief
- four meanings of Dharma
- four noble truths 3
- four noble truths without shoulds
- four phases of world history
- four phases of zazen 2
- four philosophies as a pyramid
- four stages of koan stories
- four views 25
- four-phased pattern 3
- fox zazen (yakozen)
- fractal time
- fractal truths
- free butterfly at the Mass
- freedom 20
- freedom as a feeling of space
- freedom in present action 2
- freedom in prison 3
- freedom in the present moment 5
- freedom to act
- freedom to act in circumstances
- freedom to be ourselves
- freedom to find the truth
- freedom within society's rules
- frogs in a paddy field 2
- from mountaineering to zazen 2
- fruit ripens by itself
- frustrated monks in Japan
- Fueko
- Fukan zazengi
- fulfilling our function
- full cup and empty mind
- full-lotus and half-lotus posture
- fullness of action
- fullness responding to fullness
- fully manifesting existence 5
- fundamental belief in humanity
- funeral Buddhism in Japan 2
- funeral ceremonies that pay well
- futility of stopping thought
G
- gaman suru
- gap between cause and effect 2
- gap between knowing and doing 2
- gap between moments 2
- gap between thinking and acting
- garlic is just a name
- Gautama and the drink of milk 3
- Gautama Buddha 15
- general theory of truth
- Genjo-koan 15
- Gensa Shibi 3
- Gensa stubbing his toe 5
- Gensa's circle in the air
- genuine practice versus doctrinal debate
- getting free from life and death
- getting rid of conditioning
- getting rid of delusions 2
- getting rid of selfish pride 3
- getting the body out
- ginger and lemon tea
- giving a cow a large field
- giving up eagerness
- giving up the aim now
- giving up trying to be better 5
- glass of water with ash 3
- glasses we wear 2
- go and live your life
- go and wash your bowl 4
- goal as only an idea 4
- God 7
- god as ultimate idealist
- gods and demons as explanation
- gods in heaven read literally
- golf as a teacher of prajñā
- good and evil not separated 13
- grasping as throwing away
- grasping the true ego
- great human being
- Greek and Zoroastrian roots of dualism
- Greek idealism and Christianity
- groping for who we are
- group size not mattering 2
- grumpy human being on the zafu
- guarding prajñā
- guessing what Dogen meant
- gyo
H
- habit 10
- Hachi Dainingaku
- hadron collider and its spin-offs
- half existence-time 2
- handing responsibility to a perfect individual
- happiness 6
- happy land far away
- harmonizing zazen with other teachings
- having and being
- having and throwing away goals
- having no rules is our rule
- health 24
- hearing buddha-nature in the bell
- Heart Sutra 6
- Heart Sutra describing zazen
- heart-mind 3
- heaven and earth as one
- heedless blundering 2
- hell as training
- here and now 3
- hetus as reason and cause
- hidden crisis in Western Buddhism
- hierarchy of special people
- hierarchy of wisdom
- hijacking of Buddhism
- Himalayan expedition 2
- history of Buddhism 12
- history of Western philosophies 2
- Hitler passing through the centre
- honesty and lying to oneself
- hope versus the present moment
- hot tub
- Hotei's clear and cloudy mind
- Hotokesama
- house of buddha
- human ability to split ourselves
- human being 12
- human beings as mildew 2
- human endeavour making the truth clearer
- human value
- Hyakujo and the wild fox
- Hyakujo spreading his arms
- hygiene and kitchen care as Buddhism
I
- I am a cold
- idea of a better person
- idea of a better place
- idealism 18
- idealism and materialism as legs
- ideas and reality 60
- ideas as viruses
- identity rather than cause
- illusion of arising and ceasing
- illusion of movement 2
- image of someone else inside ourselves
- images in the brain and facts
- imagining something which is not
- immediacy of the present
- impermanence 12
- importance of simple things 15
- impossible to die for this world
- imprisoned by our brain
- imprisoning ourselves
- independence 13
- independent of everything 2
- independent time-presents 2
- individual moments of time
- infinite chain of causes and effects
- infinitely thin pulse
- informal group 7
- inhibiting ourselves and allowing
- inner dialogue about feeling cold
- inside of the donkey
- instances of prajñā
- instant of action 2
- instantaneous view and change 2
- instantaneousness 2
- instantaneousness of life and death
- instants of body and action
- insult to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
- intellectual flowers in the sky
- intellectual ideas and practice
- intellectual understanding 2
- intellectualising from concrete situations
- intelligent action 5
- intention 30
- intention and desire
- intention to take the next step
- interdependence of the three times
- interpretations influenced by our preferences
- interpreting the teacher idealistically
- intuition and emotion
- intuition covered by thinking
- intuition explained by our belief
- intuitive body-mind decision 3
J
- Japan 31
- Japan as a group society
- Japanese control of European Zen
- Japanese dislike of zazen
- Japanese schoolchildren's fear of zazen
- Japanese tea ceremony
- Japanese temples leaving no gaps 2
- jewels within jewels
- jijuyo zanmai 4
- John Daido Loori
- Joshu's dog 5
- journey to Japan and back
- joy of ordinary life
- judgement 11
- judgement as background music
- judging soldiers before they finish acting
- judo champion throwing away winning
- just as it is
- just here in kinhin
- just life, just death
- just the right amount of suffering
- just to be alive is enough
K
- Kaikyoge
- kaleidoscope of images
- Kant
- karma as action
- karma both absolute and without effect
- karma from past lives
- kaṣāya worn as a joke 2
- keeping the precepts through zazen
- Kegon Sutra mental block
- kinhin 2
- kinhin as zazen
- kinhin like a duck
- Kiso Chijo and the snake 2
- kitten at the dinner table
- knife-edge and plateau
- knowing satisfaction
- knowing we are buddha 2
- knowing who we are
- known unknowns and unknown unknowns
- koan 58
- koan that cannot be discussed
- koans as a hidden philosophy
- koans as illogical riddles
- koans as real conversations
- Kodo Sawaki 13
- Kodo Sawaki's criticism of group-mindedness
- Kodo Sawaki's criticism through action
- Kodo Sawaki's wartime remarks
- kotsu as a stylised femur
- Kumarajiva's Chinese translation
- Kyogen and the pebble striking bamboo
L
- language 42
- language dividing the world
- lantern coming to the pole 2
- layers over underlying normality
- learning 29
- learning by copying in Japan
- learning life from life
- learning to ride a motorcycle
- learning to run
- learning to skate 2
- learning to ski
- leave the group and just live
- leaving family to find the truth 2
- leaving things as they are
- legend of the burned monastery
- lengthening the spine
- let's go to Venice
- letting go of viewpoints 3
- levels of enlightenment
- life 24
- life as a story
- life as an emergent property
- life created moment by moment
- life full of wobbles
- life happening while we think
- life itself is intelligent 3
- life not caring what we want
- life underneath the picture
- life unfolding without a plan 2
- life-and-death 10
- lift in a coal mine
- lifting a cup of tea 2
- light of the present 3
- limits of analysis
- limits of our freedom
- linear view of time 3
- lion meeting another lion
- listening to a little Japanese man
- listening to teachings and practicing Zen
- literal translation 2
- little birds in the garden
- little in common between Buddhist teachings
- little plan, then action
- living by prajñā
- living-and-dying as nirvana 3
- logical and intuitive ways of living
- longing for peak experiences
- looking back at one's footprints
- looking for reality elsewhere 2
- looking for thinking in zazen
- loose organization and newcomers
- losing freedom as a Buddhist teacher
- losing rather than getting 14
- lost in thought while driving
- Lotus Sutra
- loving life, fearing death
- loving ourselves as acceptance
M
- making a buddha-image
- making oneself real 2
- making pots while on the telephone
- making reality
- making the teaching one's own 3
- making the universe real 3
- making your own combination of teachings
- making yourself as a pot
- male and female elements
- Man Against Himself
- man from south of the Peaks 3
- manifesting ourselves as we are
- mantra that heals all suffering 3
- many faces of reality 3
- many views of compassion
- many ways to the same point
- Maradona's boots
- marrow as truth
- Master Dogen's life 2
- Master Dogen's paradigm
- Master Hone facing the wall
- Master Hotetsu's fan 2
- materialism 7
- matter as a human concept 2
- Matthew Passion and Hannya Shingyo
- meaning and fact
- meaning not in the words
- meaning of sesshin 2
- meaning of Zen master
- meaningless chants
- measured dots and the drawn line
- medical knowledge as bodily morality
- meditative insight as imagination
- meeting of me and the world 2
- meeting of symbol and person
- meeting ourselves
- meeting Shobogenzo at seventeen
- Meiji-era spiritualization of Buddhism
- mental illusion 2
- merit extended to all beings
- merit of the kasaya
- middle existence
- middle view 6
- middle way 28
- middle way and compromise 4
- mind 13
- mind as conscious awareness
- mind as part of reality
- mind busy interpreting reality
- mind elsewhere 3
- mind empty 4
- mind of the moon
- mindfulness as watching oneself 6
- Minister Hyo's poem 2
- mirroring not divided into two
- missing the disturbance
- missionary sister
- mistakes 6
- mistakes as the product of effort
- mistakes leading to the truth 3
- mistaking thoughts for reality 3
- misty mountain temples
- mitochondria as an eaten cell
- mobile phone while driving
- model of the atom
- models of the world 2
- modern loss of belief
- modern world of reason
- momentary action uniting self and world
- momentary continuance of effort 2
- momentary passing of time
- momentary spring 4
- moments like frames of a film 2
- moments of oneness while listening
- monastic life 14
- monk, tiger and berries
- monks as researchers of reality
- moon reflected in water 3
- morality grounded in reality 6
- mosquito on an iron ox 5
- mountain of work as imagination
- mountaineering one step at a time
- mountains and waters as a book
- mountains are mountains
- mountains, rivers, and the Earth 2
- movement of brain molecules
- moving between trance and reality
- moving smoothly in the kitchen
- Mr. I and Mr. M
- mu 12
- mu translated as without
- Mulamadhyamakakarika 4
- my legs are on fire
- myriad dharmas are not self
- mystical or realistic interpretation
- mystification and hierarchy
N
- Nagarjuna 12
- Nagarjuna as a teacher of zazen
- Nagarjuna as the full moon 5
- Nagarjuna's critique of the Abhidharma
- name as a concept
- naming of the Zen sect 2
- namu-kie-Butsu at death
- narrow intellect
- natural action without intention
- natural as normative or usual
- natural carefulness through zazen
- natural curve of the spine
- naturally religious children
- naturalness 32
- naturalness of babies and animals
- nature 10
- nature as face of truth
- need for all three views
- need for theory in Buddhism
- need to explain Buddhism
- negative space
- negotiating without strong desire
- neither building nor resisting a group 2
- neither discrete nor continuous
- neither thinking nor not thinking 6
- never anywhere but today
- never escaping cause and effect
- never finding what's in our mind
- nine years facing the wall
- nirvana 11
- nirvana as a present state
- nirvana as daily life 2
- Nishijima Roshi 12
- Nishijima's dream
- Nishijima's four main beliefs
- no appearance and no disappearance 2
- no blank minds
- no delusions
- no eye, no ear
- no fixed posture in zazen
- no I in Japanese
- no ladder in Buddhism
- no laundry without ecstasy
- no leakage
- no permanent soul 4
- no primary cause
- no second person 2
- non-Buddhist view of Senika
- non-enduring buddha-nature 2
- non-separateness of here and now
- non-separation in reality 2
- normal state 5
- not an ordinary name
- not comparing yourself to others
- not deceived by others 3
- not doing wrong 7
- not forcing the full lotus
- not getting rid of unhappiness
- not having to like the teacher
- not holding on to a plan
- not knowing 11
- not like selling biscuits
- not making an organization 2
- not making practice special 2
- not putting forward
- not trying to attract people 3
- not trying to become a Buddha 3
- not understanding what freedom is
- nothing to get 2
- noticing 31
- noticing an abnormal society 2
- noticing as a solution 4
- noticing how we are 6
- noticing ourselves through restraint
- noumenal and phenomenal 2
- numbers as abstraction
O
- ocean as palace or pearls
- ocean of Buddha-nature
- ocean that looks round 3
- old man planting pine trees 3
- old woman’s prostrations
- Olympics as celebration of balance
- one bright pearl 12
- one moon, two moons 3
- one step at every moment
- one thing with two names
- one whose essence is wisdom
- one-sided perception
- one-sided spiritual religions
- one-to-one transmission 5
- oneness 44
- oneness in action
- oneness of body and mind 27
- oneness of practice and experience 3
- oneness of self and world 3
- oneness of subject and object 2
- oneness with the universe 6
- only gardening while gardening
- only one Buddhism
- opening the drawer
- opposites 34
- opposites as a continuous whole
- opposites as constructs
- order of the universe
- ordinary action as return to reality
- ordinary life as a ceremony
- ordinary people, not special Buddhists
- organization 12
- original state of human nature
- originally existing in the truth
- our actions make our life
- our life is living us 3
- our real behaviour here and now
- out-of-body experience
- overcoming or transcending suffering
- own life as the basis
P
- pain filling the universe
- painted circle
- painted rice cake
- paintings at A-iku-o-zan
- parallels between Nagarjuna and Dogen
- parents who are only parents
- participating in the world 2
- particles or an indivisible whole 2
- parts of ourselves in different directions
- passed-on versus written teaching
- passing through the middle 4
- past and future cut off
- pea balanced on a razor blade
- peaceful golden Buddha
- pearl hidden in the garment 4
- pearl recognised only later
- pearl slipped into a pocket
- pearl under the black dragon's chin
- pebbles on the stream bed 2
- penetrating one dharma
- people of our time
- people starving in Ethiopia
- perception 13
- perfect Zen practitioner as a plan
- perfection 14
- perfection as this chaotic mess
- perfection of real life 3
- person and sofa inseparable
- person from an ineffable place
- philosophy of action 4
- physical and mental as two sides 2
- physical self
- picture of our life
- pieces of coloured glass
- pin numbers and bank accounts 2
- pine tree and chrysanthemums
- pine tree is time-present
- place beyond logic
- plant going round a stone
- Plato's perfect world of ideas 2
- playing the violin while nowhere
- poems from the gap between thoughts
- poetry 13
- post-war collapse of Japanese morals
- posture between straight and slumped
- power to assert belief
- practice after attaining the truth
- practice and experience 13
- practice bank and thought bank
- practice gives mental simplicity
- practice of profound prajñā pāramitā
- practice steering our life
- practice that does not help others
- practising balance 6
- practising balance every day
- practising like someone who is dying
- practising with stupid thoughts
- pragmatic way of living
- prajñā 37
- prajñā as before thinking 8
- prajñā as intuition 5
- prajñā as only a word
- prajñā as the natural state 2
- prajñā becoming part of body-mind
- prajñā has no I
- prajñā in a modern sense
- prajñā paramita as zazen
- prajñā-pāramitā 2
- prajñā-pāramitā as the buddhas
- pre-conceptual experience
- preaching of fences and walls
- precept not to criticise other Buddhists
- precepts 16
- precepts and God's laws
- precepts as guidelines 2
- precepts as habit, not goal 2
- preferring words to reality
- presence and absence
- presence in body and mind
- presence of a baby 2
- present as its own cause
- present contains past and future 2
- present moment outside the process
- present understanding
- press the key, push the broom
- problems as water we swim in
- problems like sea waves
- process and no process
- process as a mental construction
- process view 3
- projecting onto a perfect teacher 2
- projection onto the teacher
- prostration to the marrow
- prostrations as a nice exercise
- pure activity
- purpose of ceremony
- pursuing one thing to know all
- pursuing the truth 2
- pursuing things and self
- putting awakening into words
- putting ourselves into our own life
- putting the present right
- putting together sacred and ordinary
Q
R
- raising an eyebrow and winking 5
- rakusu and the precepts
- re-definition of the word perfect
- re-establishing balance
- reaching for a cup
- reading and studying koan stories
- reading Dogen critically
- reading Dogen from real experience 2
- real balanced state
- real Big Bang at this moment
- real buddhas in this room
- real death and the word death
- real dharmas as bare manifestations
- real dog versus abstract existence
- real events of everyday life
- real illusions
- real present time 2
- real real
- real rituals of daily life
- realisation as ambiguity 2
- realisation as wholeness
- realisation without logical connection
- realised universe 5
- realising and knowing
- realising through one's own experience
- realising we are deluded 3
- realism 10
- realistic meaning of Buddhist scriptures 2
- realistic philosophy and peace
- realistic way of looking at things
- reality 51
- reality as another picture
- reality as everyday life
- reality as universal Dharma
- reality beyond description 4
- reality beyond thinking 2
- reality in front of us
- reality is the present moment 11
- reality making us part of it
- reality prior to words
- realization 15
- realization amid hindrances and delusions 2
- rebirth 10
- received knowledge
- receiving affirmation
- receiving and keeping the Dharma
- receiving nothing in Dharma transmission
- reciting sutras and buddhas' names 2
- reciting the three devotions
- recognising a true teacher
- recognising the human condition
- recognising the truth in ourselves
- reconciling Buddhism with normal life
- red glasses
- rediscovering the Buddha's truth
- refusing a temple of his own
- regret and acting now
- regret as energy supporting effort
- reincarnation as irrelevant
- Reinhold Messner's luck
- Reiun and the plum blossoms
- rejection of easy practice
- relationships rather than precepts
- relativism of right and wrong 2
- relieving stress by not doing
- religion 14
- religion in an age of science
- religion of ceremonies
- religion of science
- religions lagging behind
- relying on intuition 2
- Renaissance discovery of the physical body
- repeating the master's words
- researching prajñā as space
- resisting building hierarchies 2
- resonance
- responsibility for what we do
- restriction restricts restriction
- retold life of Gautama Buddha
- retreat 18
- retreat and daily life 3
- retreat as a strange holiday
- return to the natural state 4
- revering the teaching without following it
- revering whatever teaches the truth 3
- reversing subject and object 2
- revolution in Buddhism 2
- rich person who is not happy
- riding the adversary's horse 2
- right and left both wrong
- right and wrong 43
- right and wrong in action 16
- right belief 2
- right motivation for zazen
- right-Dharma-eye treasury 2
- robe 10
- robe and cotton 3
- robe as a fishing net
- robe dropped on the floor
- robots and balance
- rock climbing 5
- roomus
- routine as protective cover
- rules and freedom
- rules followed without their reason
- rules for the zazen hall
- Ryosui calling his own name
S
- sacred and ordinary 22
- sacred and ordinary time
- sacred in ordinary acts
- sacred life of buddha
- samadhi as making whole 3
- same conflict inside and outside
- same experiment in the dojo
- same thing from different viewpoints
- samsara and nirvana
- sangha 12
- sangha as learning from each other
- saved from future and past
- saving the world is saving yourself
- Sawaki's strength before zazen
- scholars who only think about reality
- science 21
- science and religious explanation
- scientific models of speech
- search for something reliable
- searching for truth right here 2
- seated buddhas of the sixth century
- secretly working concrete mind
- seeing a picture, not the person
- seeing different things in one scene
- seeing from two sides at once
- seeing ourselves warts and all
- seeing through the form
- seeing with ears, hearing with eyes
- seeing yourself smaller when sober
- Sekitei asking about the original self
- self 45
- self comes and goes
- self disappearing in a saxophone solo
- self put together in time-present
- self-centered point of view
- selfish pride as a mask
- selfishness and selflessness 3
- semi-permeable membrane 2
- separate from society
- separation of thinking and doing 4
- serving life and death
- serving the coffee now
- sesshin on Vulture Peak
- settling down on a retreat 4
- seven legendary buddhas 4
- severe experience as a great teacher
- severe view from a severe life
- sewing a robe, not a button
- sewing the perfect robe
- shading eyes with a sutra
- Shakkyo pulling Seido's nose 2
- shared belief in time 3
- shared constructed world 4
- shared real world
- sharing space with the whole universe
- shikantaza 4
- shikantaza as pure zazen
- ship called civilisation
- Shoaku Makusa 2
- Shobogenzo 32
- Shobogenzo as a handbook to reality
- Shobogenzo as a vast picture 2
- Shobogenzo as interactive teaching material
- Shobogenzo as the whole of Buddhism
- Shobogenzo shut in a box
- Shoko and the real dragon 2
- short walk and long hike
- showing one's character clearly
- Shunryu Suzuki
- silent agreement to sit without moving
- simple action, not supernatural powers
- simple and severe teaching of action
- simple order of truth
- simple original Buddhism
- simple state of action
- simplicity 5
- sincere attitude of asking
- sincere question for a teacher
- sincerity 9
- single-minded effort
- sitting as a waste of time
- sitting in the balanced state 6
- sitting in the water
- sitting in zazen angrily
- sitting like a zombie
- sitting without hands in the lap 2
- six powers
- sixteen precepts 2
- skilful means as attentiveness
- skin, flesh, bones, and marrow 2
- slow revolution
- small desire 3
- small gatherings
- smallest actions steering our lives
- smriti, sati and nen
- SOAR structure
- social reality and ultimate reality 4
- socialisation covering up prajñā 2
- society 14
- society as an emergent property
- soldier versus television viewer
- solipsism
- solving problems by walking
- someday, someday
- something different from formal Buddhism
- son wandering through foreign lands
- Soto Sect in wartime Japan
- sound of one hand clapping
- sound teaching reality
- south and north as concepts
- space 6
- speaking manifests the world
- speeding on the way to euthanasia
- spider making its web 3
- spine as a pile of stones 5
- spirit as a figurative expression
- spiritual attainment as a hobby
- spiritual attitude and physical desire
- spiritual force outside the world 2
- spiritual leaders hiding their humanity
- spirituality 13
- split between Hinayana and Mahayana
- sport 29
- sport and the natural state
- sport as acting 2
- sport as antidote to intellectualism 2
- sports psychology
- stability of the deep ocean
- staff swallowing two people 3
- standard method of zazen 2
- stars in the evening sky 2
- state before our parents were born
- state between thinking and feeling 2
- state here and now
- state in zazen 2
- state of body and mind
- state of brightness and colour
- state of buddha
- state of buddha as a goal
- state which is empty
- state without duality
- state without principles
- state without thinking and feeling
- step different from the plan
- Stephen Batchelor
- stepping off a hundred-foot pole 3
- stern parent and timid child
- stick instead of explanation
- stiffness of strong beliefs
- still as a mountain
- still point of a turning world
- stockbroker jogging
- stones as living beings
- stop saying I can't
- stop stopping ourselves
- stopping anger as a hope
- stopping categorisation
- stopping looking
- stopping thinking as life’s basis
- stopping thinking by thinking
- straightforwardness over intellect
- straining to sit straight
- strangeness lost in smooth translation
- strength and fragility
- striving too hard for truth
- structure as relief from freedom
- stuck with our symbols and metaphors
- student of medicine forgetting medications 2
- study as an individual decision
- study in experience 2
- studying Buddhism based on zazen 9
- studying Buddhism for impure reasons
- studying with a teacher 2
- stupid but valuable zazen
- stupid person as a great buddha
- stupid way 2
- subject and object 21
- subjective and objective time
- subjectivism and objectivism 2
- subtle teaching beneath the teacher's character
- suffering 12
- suggesting reality with words
- suicide as aggression turned inward
- sun appears as the sun
- suppressed feelings turning into anger
- sutras 20
- swelling and shrinking self
- symbolic value of Buddhist objects 2
- sympathetic idealism, parasympathetic materialism
- synthesis of religion and science 2
- system one and system two
Ś
T
- taking charge of your own sitting
- taking the precepts without knowing them
- talking beyond labels with labels
- talking in simple human terms
- taste of our own experience
- tasting chocolate
- Tathagata as thus come
- teacher 38
- teacher in front of us
- teacher more important than partner
- teacher who seemed crazy
- teacher who shatters illusions
- teacher without glasses
- teacher's character
- teaching according to the people
- teaching as opening oneself
- teaching as teaching oneself 6
- teaching is learning 2
- teaching only what we know
- teaching without spiritual attainment
- teaching zazen
- teachings spreading without Buddhism
- tennis players returning to the present 4
- testing whether the student is realistic
- testing words in our own experience
- thanking the toilet cleaner
- The Construction of Social Reality
- the decision that made me
- the king has no clothes
- the name exists
- the now beyond conceptual explanation
- the other shore 3
- the past is now
- the present grasps us
- the undiscoverable
- the universe teaching us 2
- the whole nobody has seen
- the world before thinking
- theoretical Buddhism brought from China
- theoretical manager
- theory based on real experience
- theory of instantaneous being 2
- theory of no-self
- theory of non-substantiality
- theory that matches reality
- things making up the world
- things-as-it-is
- think not-thinking 3
- thinking 30
- thinking and acting 34
- thinking during zazen 5
- thinking is self
- thinking, frustration, and stupidity 2
- thirty-five years with Shobogenzo
- this very moment as enlightenment
- this world as the only world 3
- thoughts as reality 2
- thoughts pointing to life’s basis
- thousands of peaks 6
- three heads and eight arms
- three hundred koan stories
- three philosophies and one reality 3
- three poisons
- three treasures 3
- three universal precepts
- three worlds 2
- three-layered theory of time
- three-year-old and eighty-year-old 6
- throwing a book at the teacher
- throwing away and discussing
- throwing away cause and effect
- throwing away our abilities
- throwing away the interview plan
- throwing away the perfect picture
- throwing away the precepts
- throwing mud at a wall
- throwing the words out
- tied up in knots by thinking
- tightrope walker 2
- time 76
- time and place of fire
- time as a human concept 3
- time as a journey 3
- time as concrete events 2
- time as flowing away 2
- time as this moment now
- time dependent on things
- time is us
- time never arrives 2
- time passing without external object
- time relative to the observer
- time-present 15
- time-present always flowering and fruiting
- to describe is to restrict
- to whom buddha-nature is clear
- total involvement in action
- tough love
- traceless realisation
- tradition 9
- tradition learned from a real person
- training a small dog to sit
- training to un-train
- trance of civilisation
- transcending abundance and scarcity
- transcending conflict by acting
- transferability of skills
- translating Dogen into English
- translation 17
- transmission 14
- trapping and taming the tiger
- treasure as something very important
- treasure concealed in the human body 2
- treating things preciously 2
- tree bending in the wind 2
- trigger from the past
- truce between warring factions
- true master 2
- true person without position
- trust develops over years
- truth 34
- truth as action moment by moment
- truth as concrete and abstract
- truth as something real
- truth in the kitchen
- truth of the path
- truth originally all around
- truth table
- truth we already have 2
- try not to try
- trying to be perfect
- trying to catch the present
- trying to get rid of ego 2
- trying to give up smoking
- turning of the Dharma-wheel
- turning the universe
- twenty-eight flowers in space
- twenty-four hours as now
- two Buddhas
- two faces of reality 2
- two halves of Buddhism
- two kinds of realisation
- two oxen made of mud 2
- two viewpoints fighting inside us
- two-way recognition
U
- U and MU
- Uji
- unbroken lineage
- unbroken wholeness
- unchanging entity through time 2
- unclouded perception
- unconscious Buddhist habits 3
- unconscious tensions in the body
- uncovering intuition through zazen
- understanding 30
- understanding and giving up understanding
- understanding Buddhism in Europe
- understanding circumstances before acting
- understanding Dogen by editing translations
- understanding life
- understanding the Tathagata's true meaning
- understanding which books are valuable
- unfairness of life
- unfinished holiday hotel
- Ungan sweeping the floor
- uniting opposites
- unity of experience
- universe 29
- universe as a whole 2
- universe as God
- universe as interwoven container
- universe beyond description 3
- universe breathing into us
- universe inside the atom
- universe of all things and phenomena
- universe rolling along 2
- unreal past and future
- unreliability of the world
- unreliable sense perception
- uselessness of words
V
W
- waiting for future buddha-nature
- waiting to be named successor
- waking from a disturbing dream
- walking only forward
- walking slowly on the rope
- walking toward an unseen hut
- walking without planning
- walking, standing, sitting, lying down
- walls, streets, bricks, and concrete
- wanting to see ourselves doing good
- wanting to stop and stopping
- washing cups and pouring tea
- watching life living
- watching where we put our feet 3
- water in pure sake
- wavelength of the universe
- way out of illness
- we can never escape the present 5
- we can't live in reality
- wearing the kaṣāya
- Western bias towards achieving goals
- Western bias towards the conceptual
- Western civilisation 29
- Western idea of a perfect world
- Western idealism
- Western mind-body dualism
- Western thinkers 12
- what Buddhism is
- what is already there
- what kind of man Dogen was 2
- what use is understanding 2
- when the time has come
- where we look for reality
- whole and parts 13
- whole body
- whole human being
- whole of existence in each moment
- whole universe practising with us
- wholehearted effort 2
- wholehearted effort creating the now
- why Dogen wrote so much
- will and words 3
- will to practice
- will to the truth 5
- willow twig toothbrush
- windbell chattering prajñā
- window into a lifetime of effort
- wine of delusion
- wisdom of the body
- wisdom received unexpectedly
- without dislike and longing
- Wittgenstein on silence
- Wittgenstein's students after his change
- wobbling a head to find rigidity
- wobbling as real balance 8
- words pointing outside words
- words with nobody speaking
- work 4
- world as a cinema
- world assuming the Buddha's posture
- world created at this moment
- world in a grain of sand 2
- world not centred around me 2
- world of ideas
- world without beginning or end 2
- worm’s physical energy
- worries evaporating into the universe
- worrying about the world
- writing about ourselves
Y
Z
- zazen 129
- zazen all day
- zazen and health
- zazen as action 2
- zazen as escape 2
- zazen as mental aerobics
- zazen as slicing bread
- zazen as the authentic gate 9
- zazen as the simplest sport 3
- zazen as the state of buddha 7
- zazen as waking up
- zazen changing the point of view
- zazen for alcoholics
- zazen from four viewpoints
- zazen is good for nothing 5
- zazen is not meditation 4
- zazen like going to the toilet
- zazen like ringing a bell 5
- zazen posture 7
- zazen practicing me
- zazen solving all problems 3
- zazen with hair on fire
- zazen without intention 10
- Zen 9
- Zen beyond the intellect
- Zen masters' secret teaching