Top 7 Quotes by Kosho Uchiyama

Whatever way you put it, I am here only because my world is here. When I took my first breath, my world was born with me. When I die, my world dies with me. In other words, I wasn't born into a world that was already

Whatever way you put it, I am here only because my world is here. When I took my first breath, my world was born with me. When I die, my world dies with me. In other words, I wasn't born into a world that was already here before me, nor do I live simply as one individual among millions of other individuals, nor do I leave everything behind to live on after me. People live thinking of themselves as members of a group or society. However, this isn't really true. Actually, I bring my own world into existence, live it out, and take it with me when I die.

Kosho Uchiyama

Thinking, People, Groups

Kōshō Uchiyama (1993). “Opening the Hand of Thought: Approach to Zen”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

The power of life that is buried deep inside you will never rise up until you have become convinced that you're walking the only path open for you.

Kosho Uchiyama

Path, Buried, Walking

Kosho Uchiyama, Tom Wright, Jisho Warner (2004). “Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice”, p.120, Simon and Schuster

When we let go of all our notions about things, everything becomes really true.

Kosho Uchiyama

Letting Go, Really True, Notion

Kōshō Uchiyama (1993). “Opening the Hand of Thought: Approach to Zen”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

Our life is whatever we are encountering right now, and our practice is shikantaza, which is literally 'just sitting.' More broadly it means to put our energy into settling everything in our world here and now, where we really live.

Kosho Uchiyama

Mean, Our World, Practice

The first undeniable reality is that every living thing dies, and the second undeniable reality is that we suffer throughout our lives because we don't understand death. The truth derived from these two points is the importance of clarifying the matter of birth and death. The third undeniable reality is that all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in my head simply arise haphazardly, by chance. And the conclusion we can derive from that is not to hold on to all that comes up in our head. That is what we are doing when we sit zazen.

Kosho Uchiyama

Death, Truth, Reality

Kosho Uchiyama, Tom Wright, Jisho Warner (2004). “Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice”, p.11, Simon and Schuster