Yantou said,
“Abandoning things is
superior, pursuing things is inferior.”
The Ultimate Path is simple and easy —
it is just a matter of whether
you abandon things or
pursue them.
Posts Tagged → yuanwu
aid should all be clear and free
As you
help people and
respond to their potential,
it should all be clear and free. You mustn’t
roll around in the nest of weeds or play with your
spirit in the ghost cave. If the supposed teacher uses
contrived concepts of “mysteries” and “marvels” and “the
essence of truth”, if he cocks his eyebrows and puts a gleam
in his eye and cavorts around uttering apt sayings and thereby
binds the sons and daughters of other people’s families
with doctrines he claims are absolute realities, then
he is just one blind man leading a crowd of
blind people — how can this produce
any genuine expedient
teaching?
as soon as you seek
Yongjia said,
“Without leaving where you are,
there is constant clarity.” No words come closer
to the truth than these. If you start seeking, then we
know that you are unable to see. Just cut off any duality
between “wherever you are” and “constant clarity”,
and make yourself peaceful and serene. Avoid
concocting intellectual understanding
and seeking. As soon as you seek,
it is like grasping at
shadows.
don’t covet name and fame
Those who wear the
patched robe of a zen wayfarer
should be completely serious about
taking death and birth as
their business.
Don’t
covet name and fame.
Step back and turn to reality, until
your practical understanding
and virtue are fully
actualized.
open, light, and transparent
The
great truth of zen
is possessed by everybody.
Look into your own being and seek
it not through others. Your own mind is
above all forms; it is free and quiet and sufficient;
it eternally stamps itself in your six senses and four elements.
In its light all is absorbed. Hush the dualism of subject and object,
forget both, transcend the intellect, sever yourself from
the understanding, and directly penetrate deep
into the identity of the buddha-mind;
outside of this there are
no realities.
…Put your
simple faith in this,
discipline yourself accordingly;
let your body and mind be turned into
an inanimate object of nature like a stone or
a piece of wood; when a state of perfect motionlessness
and unawareness is obtained all the signs of life will depart and
also every trace of limitation will vanish. Not a single idea will disturb
your consciousness, when lo! All of a sudden you will come to realize
the light abounding in full gladness. It is like coming across the
light in thick darkness; it is like receiving treasure in poverty.
The four elements and the five aggregates are no more
felt as burdens; so light, so easy, so free you are.
Your very existence has been delivered
from all limitations; you have
become open, light, and
transparent.