On Preserving the Line in Difficult Times

Text

During a period of political disruption that threatened the Daitoku-ji community's stability, Juō told the assembly: 'A flame does not become less fire because the wind is strong. It may become smaller. It may move sideways. But if it does not go out, it is still fire, and fire is what matters. Survive. Practice. Pass it on. The great teachers did not live in peaceful times either.'

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Juo Sohitsu

Lineage: Rinzai

By Juo Sohitsu

• On the Ōtōkan Bonedialogue

From Daitoku-ji Historical Records

• On the Ōtōkan Bone
• What Tettō Left
• Verse on Calligraphy

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Daitoku-ji historical records; cf. Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History, Vol. 2, pp. 155–158

  Daitoku-ji Historical Records: On Preserving the Line in Difficult Times