Hakuin Ekaku: “Song of Meditation”

Essential Quotes

“Sentient beings are primarily all Buddhas: / It is like ice and water, / Apart from water no ice can exist; / Outside sentient beings, where do we find the Buddhas?”

“Not knowing how near the Truth is, / People seek it far away,—what a pity!”

“Going astray further and further in the darkness, / When are we able to get away from birth-and-death?”

“And many other good deeds of merit,— / All these issue from the practice of Meditation;

“Even those who have practised it just for one sitting / Will see all their evil karma wiped clean; / Nowhere will they find the evil paths, / But the Pure Land will be near at hand.”

“Testify … to the truth that Self-nature is no-nature.”

“This very earth is the Lotus Land of Purity, / And this body is the body of the Buddha.”