When you are deluded
and full of doubt, even a thousand
books of scripture are still not enough.
When you have realized understanding,
even one word is already too much.
Zen is communicated personally,
through mental recognition.
It is not handed on directly
by written words.
Depending
on where you look,
what you touch, you are changing
all the time. The carbon inside you, accounting
for about 18 percent of your being, could have existed in any
number of creatures or natural disasters before finding
you. That particular atom residing somewhere
above your left eyebrow? It could well have
been a smooth, riverbed pebble
before deciding to call
you home.
You see,
you are not so soft after
all; you are rock and wave and
the peeling bark of trees, you are ladybirds
and the smell of a garden after the rain.
When you put your best foot forward,
you are taking the north side
of a mountain with
you.
All Buddhas preach emptiness.
Why? Because they wish to crush the concrete ideas
of the students. If a student even clings to an idea of emptiness,
he betrays all Buddhas. One clings to life although there is nothing to be
called life; another clings to death although there is nothing to be
called death. In reality there is nothing to be born,
consequently, there is nothing
to perish.
touch nirvana right here and now
Want to
be happy? Forget
things. Never mind status.
Let go of the obsessions of the body
and the mind and the world.
Now you have everything
you need.
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The tendency of human beings is to rely on the strategies of the ego: desiring, plotting, and striving. When we exercise the ego, our spiritual development stops, and the universe must use shocking events to move us back onto the path. The appearance of the hexagram Chên indicates an immediate need for self-examination, self-correction, and a redevotion to following the path of the Sage. In Chinese, the hexagram translates to mean “thunder over thunder”: a continuing series of shocks occurs until the obstruction in our attitude is removed.
It is important not to react against these shocks.Instead, quiet and open your mind, accept that what is happening has come to teach you a specific and necessary lesson, and look inside to see where you are resisting the will of the Higher Power. The sooner you return to innocence and acceptance, the sooner the shocks will subside.
Those who maintain a reverence for proper principles and an inner commitment to higher things are unperturbed by shocking events; they simply concentrate on deepening their understanding. If you find yourself feeling threatened by circumstances, withdraw into stillness and meditation. The only remedy for doubt and fear is a reconnection with higher truth.Shock is an important and beneficial teacher to those who follow the path of the Sage. Make good use of this new beginning and good fortune results.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 51, Chen / The Arousing (Shock)
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