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Reading texts is no substitute for meditation and practicing Zen. If you read a book about a place, and you want to go there, you don’t keep reading the book.

Bill Porter

There’s not even any leaving. What we see are flowers in the sky, the moon in the water. As for the meditative powers of Zen masters like Hsu-yun, sometimes it’s useful to meditate and sometimes it isn’t.
BILL PORTER

Leaving Meditative Powers Sometimes Useful Waste
When you’re blind to your own nature, the Buddha is an ordinary being. When you’re aware of your own nature, an ordinary being is the Buddha.
BILL PORTER

Blind Buddha Nature Ordinary
You have to travel. That’s what practice is about. Traveling. Walking the path.
BILL PORTER

About Pian Practice Traveling Walking
Every place is a place to practice. Every time is a time to practice. Zen is concerned with the thought we have this moment rather than with rituals or rules of behavior
BILL PORTER

Moments Practice Time
Reading texts is no substitute for meditation and practicing Zen. If you read a book about a place, and you want to go there, you don’t keep reading the book.
BILL PORTER

Book Meditation Reading Travel
This building we’re in has doors and windows. If we close the doors and windows, we can’t get out.
BILL PORTER

Doors Flower Moon
There is so much baggage we burden ourselves with over the years that keeps us from seeing things the way they are.
BILL PORTER

Baggage Pieces Years
When you are free of form and not confused, you are focused. To be free of form externally is ‘Zen.’ Not to be confused internally is ‘meditation.’ External Zen and internal meditation, this is what we mean by ‘Zen meditation.
BILL PORTER

Confused Extremally Mean Meditation
The world has no hold on you. Whatever has a hold on you comes from your mind.
BILL PORTER

Hold Mind Whatever World
In the face of impermanence, if your next thought is good, this is what we call the realization body.
BILL PORTER

Body Next Realization

Reading texts is no substitute for meditation and practicing Zen. If you read a book about a place, and you want to go there, you don’t keep reading the book.

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Reading texts is no substitute for meditation and practicing Zen. If you read a book about a place, and you want to go there, you don’t keep reading the book.

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Popular Authors

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