Every instance
of recognizing a teacher
is an authorization of spiritual power.
The most important one of these, and the only
absolutely necessary one on the way to
complete realization, is recognizing
yourself as your own
teacher.
You
can now buy
Wei wu Wei Ching as part of a
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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”
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?
