Dainin Katagiri, Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time, edited by Andrea Martin (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2008) ("As long as demons exist in this world, they have their own reasons to exist. That reason is completely beyond our human speculation, but demons exists in Buddha's world. So we have to find the realm of buddhas within the realm of demons. In other words, in the realm of pain and suffering, we have to find the realm of peace and harmony. This is religious practice. You cannot find any peace by escaping from human pain and suffering; you have to find peace and harmony right in the midst of human pain. That is the purpose of the spiritual life." "The important point is: don't react quickly to pain and suffering with hatred or anger, because that is the cause of human troubles. Deal with demons immediately, but try to deal with them with a calm and peaceful mind, not with hatred or anger. If you become angry, as soon as possible make your mind calm, Be kind. Be compassionate. That is the practice of patience. If you do that, very naturally demons subdue themselves." Id. at 60-61.).
Dainin Katagiri, Returning to Silence: Zen Practice in Daily Life, edited by Yuko Conniff & Willa Hathaway (Shambhala Dragon Edition) (Boston: Shambhala, 1988) ("Usually we only want to be near desirable people. When we see an undesirable person, we always want to keep away from him. It is natural, but, on the other hand, sometimes we have to come closer to that person. Then we really appreciate him. We cannot always keep our distance from the undesirable person and we cannot always be near the desirable person. So, is the place where have to stand up a certain place in which we can always be close to the desirable person? Is this the place to stand up in order to see the total picture in equality? No. Should we keep away from the undesirable person? This is not our place either. So, is the place where we have to stand up is the total picture where we can see many things always interchanging. Nevertheless, this place is very stable, steadfast, immovable. If you don't understand, there is a way to experience this. You must be magnanimous, generous, kind compassionate, and you must be joy. This joy does not mean pleasure; this joy comes form the bottom of your heart naturally. If you are generous, even for a moment, joy comes yo from the bottom of your heart. Joy means appreciation, gratitude. Even though you don't see that appreciation or gratitude, if you become generous or magnanimous in whatever situation you may be, joy, appreciation and gratitude come up form the ground, just like spring water, because you are a great being, because you are buddha. That is to know, to accept and to realize. That is the meaning of to realize the truth that all being are buddhas." Id. at 70. "Buddhist percepts are difficult to understand. But it's not necessary to try to understand. Just receive them and form a habit of living them as a vow. It is important to have the guidance of Buddha's teaching, of the ancestors and of living teachers, all walking hand in hand with us, because we don't know how to practice, how to maintain the habit of a way of living based on Buddha's Way." "The main purpose of Buddhism is to form the habit of practice as a vow forever. This is just taking a journey in the universe, day by day, step by step. It is like walking in a mist. We don't know what the mist is, we don't know where we are walking or why; all we have to do is just walk. This is Buddha's practice." Id. at 94-95.).
Dainin Katagiri, You Have to Say Something: Manifesting Zen Insight, edited by Steve Hagen (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2000) ("If you take care of your life--knowing that it is both life and death and that it is backed by activity--you will see that your life is surrounded and supported by many beings.... If you take care of your life properly, as life and death, it will naturally involve all beings. Then once your life includes all being, you can live with them in peace and harmony." "We usually believe that our problems are 'out there': in society, in nature, in other people. But our problem is with us. It's ego. Consciously or unconsciously, we attempt to take care of our life by satisfying our ego's desires. We even sit zazen to satisfy our egoistic desires. But sooner or later we must ask ourselves why we're sitting zazen. Is it really to save all sentient beings? It is a beautiful idea, but I don't think that is why most people do it. Most of us sit to save ourselves. This is why we have difficulty taking care of the sangha. We are just concerned for ourselves. For most people, it is the self that comes first." Id. at 117. "You cannot understand the world just in terms of your own views. You must accept the world as a whole--that is, you must be open to what you don't understand as well as what you do understand. In this way, you will become generous and magnanimous, and you will be able to receive what the universe has to teach." Id. at 142-143.).
Dosho Port, Keep Me In Your Heart A While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2008).
