Zen has nothing to do with letters, words, or sutras. It only requests you to grasp the point directly and therein to find your peaceful abode. When the mind is disturbed, the understanding is stirred, things are recognized, notions are entertained, ghostly spirits are conjured, and prejudices grow rampant. Zen will then forever be lost in the maze.

The wise Sekiso (Shih-shuang) said, ‘Stop all your hankerings; let the mildew grow on your lips; make yourself like unto a perfect piece of immaculate silk; let your one thought be eternity; let yourself be like the dead ashes, cold and lifeless; again let yourself be like an old censer in a deserted village shrine!’

Put your simple faith in this, discipline yourself accordingly; let your body and mind be turned into an inanimate object of nature like a stone or a piece of wood; when a state of perfect motionlessness and unawareness is obtained all the signs of life will depart and also every trace of limitation will vanish. Not a single idea will disturb your consciousness, when lo! All of a sudden you will come to realize the light abounding in full gladness.

It is like coming across the light in thick darkness; it is like receiving treasure in poverty. The four elements and the five aggregates are no more felt as burdens; so light, so easy, so free you are. Your very existence has been delivered from all limitations; you have become open, light, and transparent.

 

Yuanwu

 

That we are

attached to some beauty is

also the Buddha’s

activity.

 

Shunryu Suzuki

 

 

Great bodhisattvas

arrive at consummate skill in means;

they are always concerned with the welfare of all

sentient beings, they do not reject the realm of common

ignorance, do not seek individual escape, do not cling to their own

happiness. They only strive to edify and liberate others; they are

able to enter and exit meditations and liberations, and have

attained mastery of all concentrations. They come

and go in birth and death as though

roaming through a park,

never getting sick

of it.

 

 

They

may live in the palace

of demons or may be celestial beings —

they manifest their bodies in all realms of life.

They may become mendicants in non-buddhist groups,

yet they always avoid false views…They may appear as beautiful

women, intelligent and talented, foremost in the world…Though they

show attainment  of true enlightenment moment to moment, still

they do not stop the practice of bodhisattvas. This is their

fourth  unique quality, the ultimate consummation

of skill in means without relying

on the teaching of

another.

 

Avatamsaka Sutra

 

 

Men are afraid

to forget their minds,

fearing to fall through the Void

with nothing to stay their fall. They

do not know that the Void is not

really void, but the realm of

the real Dharma.

 

So you students

of the Way should immediately

refrain from all conceptual thought.

Let a tacit understanding be all!

Any mental processes must

lead to error.

 

Huangbo Xiyun

 

Center

your attention. Stop

listening with your ears and listen with

your mind. Then stop listening with your mind and

listen with your primal spirit. Hearing is limited to the

ear. Mind is limited to tallying things up. But

the primal spirit is empty: it’s simply

that which awaits

things.