or how to become a true human being Our social life is governed by codes: codes of good behaviour, codes of decency, codes of politeness… The important thing is to live out these codes with a sincere, open, pure heart. The form must be in accordance with the substance. You can’t come with a big […]

Nature is continuously teaching but we don’t always hear its teaching. The song of the cuckoo reminds us to return urgently to our true nature, to our true home.   We are the children of ultimate reality, the children of the universe. Of course, we often wander off in dreams, in mental fabrications. More and […]

Rather than letting your thoughts wander, rather than giving free rein to your madness, please bring your mind back to the body. Come back to the normal condition where thoughts glide without clinging to the mirror. Some people tell me: “Is that all? Is there nothing else to do?” Yes, that’s all. There is nothing […]

In the Shōdōka, we find this poem: I enter the deep mountains where I live in a hermitage. Under a tall pine tree on top of a steep slope above a profound valley, I sit in my humble abode, at peace and carefree. Silent retreat, serene simplicity. It is a mistake to think that the […]

Master Dôgen wrote: The Buddhas and Patriarchs sweated blood. How could we get out of making efforts? We who have strayed so far away from the normal condition, how could be come back to the normal condition without making any efforts? The patriarchs were people like us, but they tore themselves away from the claws […]