contact with good and bad

the most authentic master I ever encountered

Something in prolonged contact with rouge eventually becomes red, something in prolonged contact with soot eventually becomes black. What I realize as I observe this is the tao of habituation to good and bad.

When you live with good people, what you always hear are good words and what you always see are good actions. Hearing and seeing good words and actions over a long period of time plants good seeds in your mind, so that you spontanteously become accustomed to goodness.

When you live with bad people, what you always hear are bad words and what you always see are bad actions. Hearing and seeing bad words and bad actions over a long period of time plants bad seeds in your mind, so that you naturally become accustomed to badness.

Good and bad people are said to be so by nature, but most become so through habit. Therefore wise people choose their associates carefully.

Liu I-Ming

awakening to the tao

☯️

the practice of repaying wrongs

this is the pure buddha-land

Entering through practice

refers to the Four Practices — all other

practices are contained within these. What are

the Four Practices? First, the practice of repaying wrongs.

Second, the practice of going along with the causal

nexus. Third, the practice of not seeking

anything. Fourth, the practice of

according with the

Dharma.

What is the practice

of repaying wrongs? When receiving

suffering, a practitioner who cultivates the Path

should think to himself: “During countless ages past

I have abandoned the root and pursued the branches, flowing

into the various states of being, and giving rise to much rancor and

hatred — the transgression, the harm done, has been limitless.

Though I do not transgress now, this suffering is a disaster

left over from former lives — the results of evil deeds

have ripened. This suffering is not something

given by gods or humans.”

You should willingly

endure the suffering without anger

or complaint. The sutra says: “Encountering

suffering, one is not concerned. Why? Because one

is conscious of the basic root.” When this attitude toward

suffering is born, you are in accord with inner truth,

and even as you experience wrongs, you advance

on the Path. Thus it is called “the practice

of repaying wrongs.”

Records of the Teachers and Students of the Lanka

full text here

abandon devilish actions

by fbi and fdle your names are known

Once any sentient beings

see the Buddha, it will cause them

to clear away habitual obstructions and

forever abandon devilish actions:

this is the path traveled by

Illumination.

Avatamsaka Sutra

how can it be taken by force?

one robe, one bowl

Having left the Fifth Ancestral Teacher’s place, Hui Neng traveled south for two months, and had reached the Ta Yu Range. He was pursued by the monk Hui Ming, who was originally a general, accompanied by several hundred men, who wanted to seize the robe and bowl (emblematic of succession to the ancestral teachers).

Ming was the first to overtake him. The Sixth Ancestral Teacher threw down the robe and bowl on a rock and said, “This robe signifies faith: how can it be taken by force?” Ming tried to pick up the robe and bowl, but was unable to move them. At that point he said, “I have come for the Dharma, not for the robe.”

The Ancestral Teacher said, “Since you’ve come for the Dharma, you should put to rest all your motivations, and don’t give rise to a single thought, and I will explain for you.” After a silence, he said, “Without thinking of good, and without thinking of evil, at just such a time, which is your original face?”

At these words, Hui Ming was greatly enlightened. He also asked, “Besides the intimate words and meaning that struck home a moment ago, is there any further intimate message?”

The ancestral teacher said, “If it were said to you, it wouldn’t be intimate. If you turn around and reflect, what’s intimate is in you.”

Dahui

i don’t know

🪷