No happiness is
greater than attaining the Way.
A day learning the Way is a day of happiness;
every day learning the Way is everyday happiness;
a lifetime learning the Way is lifetime happiness.
Learning the Way is basically a method of
peace and happiness; that is why
sages study it tirelessly.
The
great truth of zen
is possessed by everybody.
Look into your own being and seek
it not through others. Your own mind is
above all forms; it is free and quiet and sufficient;
it eternally stamps itself in your six senses and four elements.
In its light all is absorbed. Hush the dualism of subject and object,
forget both, transcend the intellect, sever yourself from
the understanding, and directly penetrate deep
into the identity of the buddha-mind;
outside of this there are
no realities.
…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.
The ancient Masters slept
without dreams and woke up without worries.
Their breath came from deep inside them. They didn’t cling
to life, weren’t anxious about death. They emerged without desire
and reentered without resistance. They came easily; they went easily.
They didn’t ask where they were from; they didn’t ask where
they were going. They took everything as it came,
gladly, and walked into death without fear.
They accepted life as a gift, and
they handed it back
gratefully.
You eat to satisfy your hunger
and drink to quench your thirst. You wear clothes
to keep warm and go home to be with your families. You cultivate
the tao to reach the place even the buddhas can’t describe.
And you practice zen to find the place even
the patriarchs can’t enter.
But if you rely on the
doors and walls of others and you listen
to their instruction and accept their drivel,
you’ll never stand on your own. I put it like
this: Good medicine tastes bitter.
True words sound harsh.
Red Pine’s “The Zen Works of Stonehouse”
postsecret / all the blessings
Suffering is a
special kind of knowledge.
There is something in human life
that it is impossible to convey and preserve
in any other way, especially among us.
That is how the world is made;
that is how we are
made.