Nowadays many have
lost the old way, and many try to
usurp the style of zen, setting up their
own sects, keeping to cliches, and concocting
standardized formulas and slogans. Since they
themselves are not out of the rut, when they try
to help other people, it is like a rat going into
a hollow horn that grows narrower
and narrower until the rat is
trapped in a total
impasse.
When you hold on to something,
don’t let the smallest hair show. When you let go of
something, let it go in all directions. Meeting in heavy mist,
we turn out to be at the top of a thousand peaks.
Starting at the top of a thousand peaks we
turn out to be in heavy mist.
Today I am at Fuyuan Temple
inaugurating this hall and preaching the Dharma.
Yesterday I was outside my hut at Sky Lake ploughing in the clouds.
Thus it is said that the Dharma has no fixed shape but adapts to conditions.
It stirs the wind of perfect stillness and makes effortless
transformation possible. But at this moment,
what is it like?
Only after ninety thousand
miles does the P’eng unfold its wings.
Only after a thousand miles does
the crane take flight.
Red Pine’s “The Zen Works of Stonehouse”
Many seek protection
from all hurting influences by building
some wall around themselves. But the canopy over
the earth is so high that a wall cannot be built high enough,
and the only thing one can do is to live in the midst of all
inharmonious influences, to strengthen his will power
and to bear all things, yet keeping the fineness
of character and a nobleness of manner
together with an ever-living
heart.
To become cold with the coldness
of the world is weakness, and to become broken
by the hardness of the world is feebleness, but to live in the world
and yet to keep above the world is like walking on the water. There are two
essential duties for the man of wisdom and love; that is to keep the love
in our nature ever increasing and expanding and to strengthen the
will so that the heart may not be easily broken. Balance is ideal
in life; man must be fine and yet strong, man must
be loving and yet powerful.
When water is pure
and sparkling clear, you can see
straight to the bottom. When your mind
holds no concerns, no circumstance can turn you,
and once your mind doesn’t stray, a kalpa
has no changes. From such awareness
nothing hides.
“Put down
all entangling conditions,
let not one thought arise” is a prerequisite
for the practice of Ch’an. Now that we
know this, how do we
accomplish it?