Having discovered the existential sufferings of human beings – illness, old age, death, etc. – Shakyamuni Buddha left his father’s palace. He followed the many teachings that existed in India in his time, but none satisfied him. So he sat in zazen, determined not to get up until he had the answer to the suffering […]
The Way of the Buddha does not, under any circumstances, require you to sacrifice yourself for others. One day, during the time of the Buddha, the king of Kosala asked his wife: ‘Of you or of me, who do you love the most?’ The queen replies: ‘Your Majesty, it is I that I love the […]
Zazen 11 a.m. The monk Joshu asked Master Nansen : ‘What is the Way?’ Master Nansen’s answer has become famous: ‘The spirit of daily life is the Way.’ There is no need to stand on your head, to do strange things or flagellate yourself. The spirit of daily life is the spirit we need to have […]
The past no longer exists, the future does not yet exist. What exists is the present moment, even if this present moment has no temporal duration; for this reason it is said to be elusive. Ultimate reality, even if we can’t grasp it, manifests itself at every moment. The best way to live is not […]
Master Dôgen presents zazen as a universal practice. He explains that this practice of awakening requires us to ‘take a step back and turn the light inwards’. This attitude concerns all human beings, without exception. Step back from our convictions, which are often illusions, self-interested points of view, personal points of view that suit us… […]
Bodhisattvas pray before the suffering of human beings. They pray before those who have no other way out of suffering than to burn their lives. Some even commit suicide. The artist Serge Gainsbourg, who smoked three packets of cigarettes a day, said with a bitter smile: ‘Each cigarette is a nail in my coffin.’ The […]
No Buddha conceived by human thought is a Buddha, only an illusion. Seeking truth through thought only leads to confusion. Buddha is beyond any fixed form, impossible to enclose in concepts. Unfortunately, this is what we do most of the time. We look for truth in words. We are constantly in a conflict between what […]
Zazen 6 h 30 To turn towards the path of awakening is to turn our gaze inwards and shed light on our illusions. Too often we look outside. We are for this team, against the other, we are on the side of this group rather than the other… Master Dôgen says: ‘You should cut your […]
In our societies, we devote a lot of energy to the pursuit of pleasure, to satisfying our desires, to constantly improving our well-being, our comfort. But as Einstein said: “It is only good for cattle.” The slightest disagreement, the slightest conflict is resolved with axes or bombs. Our greed has no limit, our aversion has […]
Zazen is no ordinary practice. In fact, Zazen requires great humility. Humus means earth, returning to the earth of the mind, returning to the mind in its most original form. Zazen requires us to let our thoughts pass, not to identify with our thoughts; thoughts are productions of the mind or rather, a particular functioning […]
Sotoshu :
Ecole zen Sôtô
UBF :
Union Bouddhiste de France