melt and let go and rest

mady morrison

All the myriad things are neither opposed to nor contrary to your true self. Directly pass through to freedom and they make one whole. It has been this way from time without beginning.

The only problem is when people put themselves in opposition to it and spurn it and impose orientations of grasping or rejecting, creating a concern where there is none. This is precisely why they are not joyfully alive.

If you can cut off outward clinging to objects and inwardly forget your false ideas of self, things themselves are the true self, and the true self itself is things: things and true self are one suchness, opening through to infinity…

Time and again I see longtime Zen students who have been freezing their spirits and letting their perception settle out and clarify for a long time. Though they have entered the Way, they immediately accepted a single device or a single state, and now they rigidly hold to it and won’t allow it to be stripped away. This is truly a serious disease.

To succeed it is necessary to melt and let go and spontaneously attain a state of great rest.

Yuanwu

zen letters

🪷

the central benefit of zen

nothing is problematic

The central benefit of zen,

in the context of ordinary ups and downs

of life, is not in the context of preventing the minus

and promoting the plus, but in directing people

to the fundamental reality that is not

under the sway of ups

and downs.

Musō Soseki

more muso

yield, accept, nourish

accept everything that is

Bear

with things as

the earth bears with us: by

yielding, by accepting,

by nourishing.

K’un the Receptive is the complement to Qián the Creative: the dark which is illuminated by light, the earth which receives the blessings of heaven, the vessel into which nourishment flows. This is a time to follow rather than lead, to assist rather than initiate, to listen rather than talk. Redevote yourself to the cultivation of modesty, receptivity, and gentleness now, and let go of concerns about the conduct of others or the progress of your worldly ambitions.

The wisdom of cultivating receptivity cannot be overstated; receptivity is the rich earth without which the Creative cannot take root in our lives. This fundamental hexagram serves as a strong encouragement to you to concentrate on your capacities to nourish, to support, to accept, to work without desiring recognition, to follow the guidance of the Sage.

You can benefit greatly in a period like this from time spent in solitude; in quietness we have an opportunity to focus on purification of our hearts and minds. It is a good time to ask oneself, “Am I sincerely pursuing the good for its own sake, or do I have a hidden agenda?” If so, detach from it and return to the path of independence and balance. Through humility and openness we become receptive to the assistance of the Higher Power.

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 2, K’un / The Receptive

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this is the pure buddhaland

within purity

There is no dharma

that can be explained, no mind that

can be spoken of: inherent reality-nature is empty.

Going back to the fundamental basis is the Path. The real

identity of the Path is empty and boundless, vast and pure.

With its stillness and solitude, it obliterates the cosmos.

It pervades ancient and modern, but its nature

is pure. It is perfect from top to bottom

and everywhere pure. This is the

pure buddha-land.

…The Path

of enlightenment

cannot be charted or measured:

highest of the high, vast beyond limit,

deepest of the deep, profound beyond

fathoming, big enough to contain

heaven and earth, small enough

to enter an infinitesimal

point—thus it is called

the Path.

Records of the Teachers and Students of the Lanka

full text here

The Sixth Patriarch

heard someone recite the Diamond

Sutra phrase “arouse the mind without

placing it anywhere,” and

he awakened.

Daito

chosen limits empower growth

go on alone meeting it everywhere

Voluntarily chosen limits
empower your growth.

The practice of economies is a valuable notion everywhere in life. In your financial dealings, a reasonable thrift practiced today assures you of opportunity tomorrow. In your emotional life, the practice of balance and equanimity allows steady spiritual progress. The hexagram Chieh comes as an encouragement to set practical limits throughout your life.

Life lived without guidelines is confusing and troubling. In order to make genuine progress in any direction, we must first give some definition to our path. However, limits that are overstrenuous are not helpful; having too many rules causes rebellion in the one on whom they are imposed, whether one’s self or another. Therefore there must be limits even on one’s limits.

To yourself, the setting of limits means defining your purpose and responsibilities so that you have a clear idea of where your energies are to be aimed. Your limits should be determined by yourself, not another or the culture in which you live. Avoid harshness and impatience with yourself; true progress is made in gradual steps. Allow yourself pleasure, but avoid careless self-indulgence.

With others, place limits both on your own actions and the indulgences you offer them. To encourage another’s inferior qualities is to invite misfortune. Allow your interactions with others to take place within the limits of gentleness, tolerance, and innocence. If you will define and observe reasonable limits in all things, you will be assured of steady progress.