Be the same

all the way through: 

quiet, still, at home. In the 

absence of mind, all phenomena 

can be seen for what they 

are — empty. This is 

freedom.

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 26

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I have seen many people who are intellectually brilliant but whose faculties are unstable and whose practice is shallow. They think they witness transformation in verbal statements, and they assume that there is no way to go beyond the worldly. Thus they increase the thorns of arbitrary opinion as they show off their ability and understanding. They take advantage of their verbal agility and think that the buddhadharma is like this. When situations are born from causal conditions, they cannot pass through to freedom, so they wind up vacillating back and forth. This is really a great pity!
 
This is why the ancients went through all sorts of experiences and faced all sorts of demons and difficulties. They might be cut to pieces, but they never gave it a thought; they took charge of their minds all the way along and made them as strong as iron or stone…
 
It will always be hard to tame the will for fame and rank and power and position, not to mention all the myriad starting points of vexation and turmoil associated with the burning house of worldly existence. The only way is for you yourself to realize your fundamental, real, wondrous wholeness and reach the stage of great calm and stability and rest.
 
It would be best if you managed to cast off everything and be empty and ordinary. Thoroughly experience the absence of conditioned mind, and observe that all phenomena are like dreams and magical illusions. Be empty all the way through, and continue on clearing out your mind according to the time and the situation. Then you will have the same correct foundation as all the great enlightened laymen in buddhist tradition.
 

Yuanwu

The ego

is a monkey

catapulting through

the jungle. Totally fascinated

by the realm of the senses, it swings from

one desire to the next, one conflict to the next,

one self-centered idea to the next. If you threaten it,

it actually fears for its life. Let this monkey go.

Let the senses go. Let desires go. Let conflicts

go. Let ideas go. Let the fiction of life and

death go. Just remain in the center,

watching. And then forget

that you are

there.

Hua hu Ching, Chapter 10

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The

origin and mother

of everything in the world is Tao. 

Know the mother and you can know the children. 

Having known the children, return to their source and hold on

to her. Abiding by the mother, you are free

from danger, even when your

body dies. 

Don’t live

for your senses. 

Close your mouth,

close all the body’s openings, 

reside in the original unity. In this way

you can pass your life in peace and contentment. 

Open your mouth, increase your activities, 

start making distinctions between

things, and you’ll toil

forever without

hope. 

See the subtle

and be illuminated.

Abide in gentleness and be strong. 

Use your light and return to insight. 

Don’t expose yourself to trouble. 

This is following

Tao. 

from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 52

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book.

There

is no reality but God,

meaning oneness. Open into that.

Scrape away the wishing and the careful figuring.

What you most fear has already happened.

Your container is already

broken.

What

if someone offers bread,

then takes it away? Sometimes a father

shows gold and silver to his young children, then

puts the coins away. They want their presents now. But the father is

saving it for their weddings. If he gave it to them now, they would waste it,

and later they would feel ashamed. God hides inside a cottonseed

the strong canvas we use to make tents. Smooth silk waits

in the wormy cocoons. If inept and immature thieves

were to steal those — the cottonseed and the

silkworm casing — they would have

no way to enjoy the

value.

…But

being sealed is

a closed state, as when a mirror

rusts over. If you bury a mirror, the brown lichen will

encrust the surface and keep it from reflecting. You have discarded

your heart-mirror on the world’s midden heap, leaving it out

in the weather for a long while. The images of eternity

it used to reflect have now

been lost.

With

laziness and neglect

the heart loses its ability to reflect

the beauty around it. There are slowly

accumulating consequences for

what we do and

don’t do.

Bahauddin, father of Rumi

For

students of mystic wisdom

seeing the real nature of things and

awakening to the true pattern and treading

in the steps of the buddhas is

everyday food and

drink.

You

should realize that on

 the crown of the heads of the buddhas and

enlightened adepts there is a wondrous way of “changing the bones”

and transforming your existence…At all times just remain free and uninvolved.

Never make any display of clever tricks — be like a stolid simpleton in

a village of three families. Then the gods will have no road

on which to offer you flowers, and demons

and outsiders will not

be able to spy

on you.

Be

undefinable,

and do not reveal any

conspicuous signs of your special attainment.

It should be as if you are there among myriad precious goods locked up

securely and deeply hidden in a treasure house. With your face

smeared with mud and ashes, join in the work of

the common laborers, neither

speaking out nor

thinking.

Live

your whole life

so that no one can figure you out,

while your spirit and mind are at peace.

Isn’t this what it is to be imbued with the Way

without any contrived or forced

actions, a genuine

unconcerned

person?

Among

the enlightened adepts,

being able to speak the Truth has nothing

to do with the tongue, and being able to talk about the Dharma

is not a matter of words. Clearly we know that the words spoken by the ancients

were not meant to be passively depended on. Anything the ancients said was

intended only so that people would directly experience the fundamental

reality. Thus, the teachings of the sutras are like a finger

pointing to the moon, and the sayings of the

zen masters are like a piece of

tile used to knock on

a door.

If you

know this, then rest.

If your practice is continuous and

meticulous and your application broad and all-pervading,

and you do not deviate from this over the years, then you will mature

in your ability to handle the teachings, to gather up and release,

and you will be able to see through petty things

and cut them off without leaving

a trace. 

Then

when you come to

the juncture of death and birth,

where all the lines intersect, you won’t get mixed up.

You will be clear and immovable, and you will be set free as

you leave this life behind. This is deathbed

zen, for the last day of

your life.

Yuanwu