Shoyoku: Desire Little.

People who always want something will always suffer. Limit your own desires and do not strive after illusions, or you will never be content.

Chisoku: It Is Enough.

Try to be satisfied with what you have, with what you are given. Strive only to get the least you truly need, and when you are given something, let it be enough.

Gyo: Be Unattached.

Everything changes, everything is impermanent. Do not attach yourself to people or to things or to ideas. Delight in each person or thing or idea by accepting each as it is at the moment, and when it changes, accept the change or let it go, but do not pine for what was.

Shojin: Continuing & Continuous Effort.

Continue to practice every day. Do not hurry, do not force. Be like flowing water wearing away the rock.

Fumonen: Seek the Truth.

Do not deceive yourself; do not allow others to deceive you. Even the greatest Masters are only human and capable of error.

Shu Zenjo: Find the Balance.

Learn to control your self so that you can remain calm and balanced in the face of chaos and disorder, and so that you can always bring yourself back into balance with nature.

Jo Riki: Nurture Your Qi.

By developing and nurturing your qi, your internal energy, you bring yourself into harmony with all nature.

Fukero: Let Go.

Let go of all your ideas about what is and what is not, of what is right and what is wrong. Making labels and holding to beliefs will limit your thinking and blind you to the truth. Accept the fact that the cosmos is too large and too complex for human understanding. Let go of the need to define the universe in human terms. Life is impermanent. The world is impermanent. The cosmos is impermanent. No one can understand God.

Embrace Your Humanness.

Among people, there is no such thing as "less than human;" no such thing as "more than human." There is only a possibility of being the best human you can be. Learn your own heart. Accept yourself. Learn to understand the hearts of others. Accept them. And do not seek to be something other than completely human.

Live.

When you have done all these things and know what is right for you to do, do it with your whole heart and do not hold back. Choose your path, and follow it; and do not worry that you have made a mistake, or that there are other paths. All paths are correct paths, and all lead to the same place. Live fully, embracing life with with your whole body, heart, mind, and spirit, and be joyful in the living.

 

 

---

 

Copyright © 2005 New Moon