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.

 

 

 

In all ten

directions of the universe,

there is just one truth. When we see clearly,

all great teachings are the same. What can ever be lost?

What can be gained?  If we gain something, it was there from

the beginning of time.  If we lose something, it is hiding

somewhere near us. Look: this ball in my pocket:

Can you see how priceless

it is?

 

Ryokan