
Body impermanent like spring mist;
Mind insubstantial like empty sky;
Thoughts unestablished like breezes in space.
Think about these three points over and over.

Body impermanent like spring mist;
Mind insubstantial like empty sky;
Thoughts unestablished like breezes in space.
Think about these three points over and over.

You must realize
that what is at stake here
does not reside in words and phrases:
it is like sparks from struck flint, like the brilliance
of flashing lightning. However you mange to deal
with this, you cannot get around losing
your body and life.

Favor
and disgrace are
equally problematic. Hope
and fear are phantoms
of the body.
What
does it mean that
“favor and disgrace are
equally problematic”? Favor
lifts you up; disgrace knocks you down.
Either one depends on the opinions
of others and causes you to
depart from your
center.
What
does it mean that
“hope and fear are phantoms
of the body”? When you regard your
body as your self, hope and fear have real
power over you. If you abandon the
notion of body as self, hope
and fear cannot
touch you.
Know
the universe as
your self, and you can live
absolutely anywhere in comfort.
Love the world as your self,
and you’ll be able
to care for it
properly.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
You
can now buy
Tao te Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.


When the illusory body
is extinguished, the illusory mind is
also extinguished. When the illusory mind
is extinguished, the illusory sense objects are
also extinguished. When the illusory sense
objects are extinguished, the illusory
extinguishing is also
extinguished.
When the illusory
extinguishing is extinguished, that
which is not illusory is not extinguished.
It is similar to how, when the dust
is polished off a mirror, the
brightness appears.
Virtuous one,
you should know that body
and mind are both illusory dust.
When the form of this dust is wiped
away, purity pervades
the universe.
The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment
from Dialogues in a Dream
by Musō Soseki