Namu Dai Bosa

Text

Namu Dai Bosa! I call out to the Great Bodhisattva—but who is this Great Bodhisattva? It is none other than you, reading these words. It is the pine tree outside the window. It is the stone in the garden. Namu means 'I take refuge,' but true refuge is not hiding. It is opening yourself completely to this moment. Dai Bosa is not somewhere else, not in some distant Pure Land. Dai Bosa is this very breath, this very step. Namu Dai Bosa!

license: fair_use

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Nakagawa Soen

Lineage: Rinzai

By Nakagawa Soen

• This One Momentproverb
• On Haiku as Zen Practicesaying

From Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa

• On Haiku as Zen Practice

Sources

• contentWikisource — English-language free library

  Endless Vow, on the invocation Namu Dai Bosa

  Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa: Namu Dai Bosa