Don’t worry that
you won’t attain oneness.
Work on it!
Posts Tagged → dahui zonggao
zen is a sword about to be drawn
This matter Zen
is like a great mass of fire:
when you approach it your face is sure
to be scorched. It is again like a sword about
to be drawn; when it is once out of the scabbard,
someone is sure to lose his life. The precious
vajra sword is right here and its purpose
is to cut off the head.
The body does not know
how to discourse or to listen to a discourse.
This which is unmistakably perceivable right where
you are, absolutely identifiable yet without
form, this is what listens to
the discourse.
if you can penetrate “i don’t know”
where does your mind come from?
Emperor Wu
of Liang asked Bodhidharma,
“I have built temples and had monks
ordained without number: what merit is there
in this?” Bodhidharma said, “There is no merit.”
The emperor said, “Why no merit?” Bodhidharma
said, “These are just the lesser fruits of gods
and men, causes of defilement: like
shadows following shapes,
though they’re there,
they’re not
real.”
The Emperor
said, “What is true merit?”
Bodhidharma answered, “The subtle
perfection of pure wisdom, its essence naturally
empty and still. Such merit is not to be sought with worldly
means.” Only then did the Emperor ask, “What is the
highest meaning of the holy truths?” Bodhidharma
answered, “Empty, without holiness.”
The Emperor said, “Who is facing
me?” Bodhidharma replied,
The Emperor
did not understand, so
Bodhidharma crossed the river
into Wei. If you want to see real merit
right now, don’t look for it anywhere else,
just comprehend it in “I don’t know”.
If you can penetrate those three
words, the task of your whole
life’s study will be
completed.
escape into the coals of a furnace
In times past
there was a monk who asked
an old adept, “The world is so hot, I don’t know
where to escape.” The old adept said, “Escape into a
boiling cauldron, into the coals of a furnace.
The multitude of sufferings cannot
reach there.”
This is my
own prescription for
getting results.
into the immensity
Unless you go
into the immense waves,
how can you reveal the person
sporting in the tide?
treasury of the eye of true teaching