Every instance
of recognizing a teacher
is an authorization of spiritual power.
The most important one of these, and the only
absolutely necessary one on the way to
complete realization, is recognizing
yourself as your own
teacher.
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The art of peace
begins with you. Work on yourself
and your appointed task in the art of peace.
Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body
that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path
to follow. You are here for no other purpose than
to realize your inner divinity and manifest your
innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your
own life and then apply the art to
all that you encounter.
Nowadays many have
lost the old way, and many try to
usurp the style of zen, setting up their
own sects, keeping to cliches, and concocting
standardized formulas and slogans. Since they
themselves are not out of the rut, when they try
to help other people, it is like a rat going into
a hollow horn that grows narrower
and narrower until the rat is
trapped in a total
impasse.
When you hold on to something,
don’t let the smallest hair show. When you let go of
something, let it go in all directions. Meeting in heavy mist,
we turn out to be at the top of a thousand peaks.
Starting at the top of a thousand peaks we
turn out to be in heavy mist.
Today I am at Fuyuan Temple
inaugurating this hall and preaching the Dharma.
Yesterday I was outside my hut at Sky Lake ploughing in the clouds.
Thus it is said that the Dharma has no fixed shape but adapts to conditions.
It stirs the wind of perfect stillness and makes effortless
transformation possible. But at this moment,
what is it like?
Only after ninety thousand
miles does the P’eng unfold its wings.
Only after a thousand miles does
the crane take flight.
Red Pine’s “The Zen Works of Stonehouse”
My treasure is the cloud on the peak
The moon over the valley
Traveling east or west
Light and free on the one road
I don’t know whether I’m on the way
Or at home.
