"Let others criticise you. Let them condemn you. Trying to set the sky on fire, they'll just end up exhausted. I hear abusive words as though I were drinking ambrosia; everything melts, and suddenly I enter the inconceivable. When you understand the real value of abuse, your worst critic becomes a wise friend. If harsh words raise no waves of bitterness or pride, how better to show the persistence and compassion of the unborn?" —Yung-Chia

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Seeing into the fundamental fact, you see into its expression as well." —Yung-Chia

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Haven't you met someone seasoned in the Way of Ease, a person with nothing to do and nothing to master, who neither rejects thought nor seeks truth? The real nature of ignorance is buddha-nature itself. The empty, illusory body is the very body of the Dharma. When the Dharma-body is realized, there's nothing at all. The original nature of all things is innately Buddha." âYung-Chia

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Coming from a Judeo-Christian theistically-based approach, there's an unconscious assumption -- or teaching, basically -- that moral and ethical guidelines come from someplace outside... something outside saying, 'This is what I expect.' In the teachings of the Buddhadharma, the moral and ethical precepts do not come from any outside source.... The moral and ethical teachings are expressions of how a realized Buddha lives their life. They are the description of how an awakened being interacts with themself and with others and with society."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"One of the things that people run smack into when they come to a place like this for the first time is, there's a bunch of ritual happening. What's that all about? What's the deal with all the bowing and the incense and all that kind of thing? These are moments of re-awakening, if they're used well. They're supposed to be moments of re-checking-in to the moment, to the now."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"What does it mean to be mindful of the body? This is always the entry gate.... Breath is part of the body awareness, cultivating the practice of being awake to this one breath. In many, many lineages of Buddhist practice, not just Zen, the beginning thing you do is sit down and work with the breath. It's no small thing to be able to actually, completely embody that breath... to just completely, fully, be awake and aware and alive to that breath."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"The pure nature exists in the midst of delusions. With correct practice alone, remove the obstacles. If people in this world practice the Way, there is nothing whatsoever to hinder them. If they always make clear the guilt within themselves, then they will accord with the Way." âHui Neng

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Within the dark home of the passions, the sun of wisdom must at all times shine. Erroneous thoughts come because of the passions; when correct thoughts come the passions are cast aside. Use neither the erroneous nor the correct, and with purity you will attain to complete nirvana." —Hui Neng

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Successive thoughts do not stop; prior thoughts, present thoughts, and future thoughts follow one after the other without cessation. If one instant of thought is cut off, the Dharma body separates from the physical body, and in the midst of successive thoughts there will be no place for attachment to anything. If one instant of thought clings, then successive thoughts cling; this is known as being fettered. If in all things successive thoughts do not cling, then you are unfettered." —Hui-Neng

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Good friends, how then are meditation and wisdom alike? They are like the lamp and the light it gives forth. If there is a lamp, there is light; if there is no lamp, there is no light. The lamp is the substance of light; the light is the function of the lamp. Thus, although they have two names, in substance they are not two. Meditation and wisdom are also like this." â Hui-Neng

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Oftentimes in spiritual teaching, there is a great attempt to deny any kind of shadow, or any kind of difficulty, and it's important to acknowledge it.... It makes the teachings more alive and full and complete and real, but also real honest and very direct. The historical context has a direct influence on what these teachings are, and that's important to know and to acknowledge and to understand."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"The tiny is the same as the large, once boundaries are forgotten." —Relying on Mind, Seng-ts'an

This talk works with some of the differences between Taoist teachings and those of Zen.

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"The wise have nothing to do, while the unwise tie themselves in knots." —Relying on Mind, Seng-ts'an

This talk works with some of the similarities of Taoist teachings with those of Zen.

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"The Supreme Way by nature is all embracing. Not easy, not difficult. But quibbling and hesitating, the more you hurry the slower you go. Holding on to things wrecks your balance, inevitably throwing you off course. But let everything go, be genuine, and the essence won't leave or stay. Accept your nature, accord with the way, and stroll at ease, trouble free." —Relying on Mind, Seng-ts'an

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"There is no need to seek the truth — just put a stop to your opinions! Dualistic constructs don't endure, so take care not to pursue them. As soon as positive and negative arise, the mind is lost in confusion. The two exist because of the one, but don't cling to oneness either..."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Mind has the totality of space: nothing lacking, nothing extra. It's just selecting and rejecting that make it seem otherwise. Don't pursue worldly concerns, don't dwell passively in emptiness; in the peace of absolute identity, confusion vanishes by itself. Suppressing activity to reach stillness just creates agitation..."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"The Supreme Way is not difficult; it just precludes picking and choosing. Without yearning or loathing, the Way is perfectly apparent, while even a hairbreadth difference separates heaven and earth. To see the Way with your own eyes, quit agreeing and disagreeing. The battling of likes and dislikes — that's the disease of the mind..."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"The Ultimate Truth is Beyond words. Doctrines are words, they are not the Way. The Way is wordless. Words are illusions; they are no different from things that appear in your dreams at night..." —Bodhidharma's Bloodstream Sermon.

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Our Nature is the Mind, and the Mind is our Nature. This nature is the same as the mind of all buddhas. Buddhas of the past and future only transmit this mind. Beyond this mind, there is no Buddha anywhere..." —Bodhidharma's Bloodstream Sermon.

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Everything that appears in the three realms comes from the mind, hence the Buddhas of the past and future teach mind to mind, without bothering about definitions."

"But if they don't define it, what do they mean by Mind?"

"You Ask, That's Your Mind. I Answer, That's My Mind..."
—Bodhidharma's Bloodstream Sermon.

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Entering through practice refers to four all-encompassing practices: the practice of requiting animosity, the practice of accepting one's circumstances. The practice of craving nothing, and the practice of accord with the Dharma."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Entering through practice refers to four all-encompassing practices: the practice of requiting animosity, the practice of accepting one's circumstances. The practice of craving nothing, and the practice of accord with the Dharma."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

This workshop begins with a historical overview of Bodhidharma's time and the teachings ascribed to him as they relate to other spiritual teachings of the day. After this, Chikyo begins working with the text: "There are many avenues for entering the Way, but essentially they all are of two kinds: entering through Principle and entering through Practice..." - Bodhidharma's Two Entrances and Four Practices

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"There once was a beautiful young girl who loved nothing more than to gaze at her reflection in the mirror. Every morning she would get up and look and she was very well pleased with herself. One morning, however, she looked in the mirror, but she didn't see her reflection..."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Opening the space, what I really want to do is connect with you, connect with your heart. And have all of our hearts connect with one another, and the beauty of this silence, and this breath, and this vast and spacious moment without beginning, and without end. This is where I want to live with you..." - Karen Zuihan Weik

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"The Way is perfect like vast space / where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. / Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject / that we do not see the true nature of things." -Seng T'san, Faith Mind

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"There are four basic ways that a bodhisattva will guide or help or engage sentient beings to the purpose of helping to relieve suffering. The first one is called Giving, the second one is Kind Speech, the third one is Beneficial Action, and the fourth one is called Identity Action."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Typically, what are taught as being the primary challenges or the main difficulties have to do with the six realms. In the center of those realms, there are three poisons that are providing the gravity that's holding these beings in these various realms of suffering. What those three poisons are called are Greed, Anger, and Ignorance."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"Today, our mission is to talk a little bit about the things that might get in the way of maintaining a spiritual practice; now that we have a sense of what the practice is, what kind of things arise that actually get in the way and obstruct and hinder us in that effort; and then some solutions. What can we do to help that?"

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at hermitageheart.org.

"For reasons as varied as the people who have them, we have a really hard time letting ourselves be. We find it almost impossible to just not be so aggressive with ourselves.... If you are sitting on that cushion and you have some subtle or overt aggressive gaining agenda... it's just a matter of time before you give the whole endeavor up. And probably you'd be better served to give it up, if that's what you're practicing. Better yet, to learn how to practice well; to practice with real sincerity."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit www.toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at www.hermitageheart.org.

"From Master Dogen's Bodhidharma Shisoho: 'Giving means non greed.' This has to do with not just a physical thing.... In the dharma, the giving can be vastly more encompassing than material things. 'Giving means non-greed. Non-greed means not to covet. Not to covet means not to curry favor.... It is to give away unneeded belongings to someone you donât know, to offer flowers blooming on a distant mountain to the womb of suchness itself, or to offer treasures you had in your former life to sentient beings.'"

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit www.toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at www.hermitageheart.org.

The great way is not difficult / for those who have no preferences / When love and hate are both absent / everything becomes clear and undisguised / Make the smallest distinction however / and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart / If you wish to see the truth / then hold no opinions for or against anything / To set up what you like against what / you dislike is the disease of the mind / When the deep meaning of things is not understood / the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
—Sosan Zenji, Faith Mind

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit www.toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at www.hermitageheart.org.

"The second truth is that there is a cause for that [suffering]. There's a very specific thing that creates that sense of unsatisfaction. It's not just the way things are, actually. There's a reason why that's the way the experience communicates to us. And to make it as simple as we can, the cause of that suffering is basically craving, or thirst."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit www.toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at www.hermitageheart.org.

"One thing that will help make this talk a little more real, more helpful for you, is if you bear in mind that what we're talking about here is your own experience of your life. It's not an abstract.... It's not some story about how the universe came to be or anything like that. It's talking about how it is when you wake up in the morning; what it feels like between your bed and the bathroom; and how you deal with that child, that job, that ex-spouse, or that credit card. That's what it's about.... it's not intended to be abstract. However, it comes from a different culture; it comes from a very different time, and it takes a little digestion to get it to actually be helpful."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit www.toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at www.hermitageheart.org.

"Buddhism itself is a really large worldwide religion; there are many different facets and approaches. The Buddha himself taught for something like forty years, and he taught different things to different groups of folks.... The kinds of things that we're going to cover today would be included by any of the schools of Buddhism that exist, and there are many. But they all have certain things in common, and basically they revolve around these truths."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit www.toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at www.hermitageheart.org.

"So, what is it about? ...There are many different routes and different practices and different techniques... but, basically, they all lead to expressing your true nature."

Chikyo wishes to acknowledge Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi and his Big Mind process, which influenced a portion of this presentation.

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit www.toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at www.hermitageheart.org. For more information about Okugyo Aikido retreats with Chikyo and Bill Gleason Sensei, please visit www.shobuokugyo.com.

"So then [the Buddha] sat under a tree, and started to actually practice what we now know as zazen, sitting zen. In that process, he made a radical shift in his way of perceiving himself and the universe and everything around him. It's that shift in perception that has come to be called enlightenment, or awakening."

For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit www.toledozen.org. The Toledo Zen Center is a member of the Hermitage Heart Sangha, online at www.hermitageheart.org.