You haven't ever reached emptiness, so what are you afraid of?

All this time there's just been a lump of flesh born of your parents. Unless you come up with a bit of energy, it is subject to the control of others. What else is there outside the lump of flesh? What can you hold to be wonderful, mysterious, or marvelous? What can you take to be Enlightenment or Nirvana? What can you take to be True Thusness or Buddha Nature? You wanted to investigate this affair to the end, but from the first you have not gotten to the root of its reality- you just wanted to seek knowledge and understanding from the public cases of the ancients. Even if you had a thorough knowledge and understanding of the entire Buddhist Canon, on the last day of your life, when birth-and-death comes upon you, you wont be able to use it at all.

There's another sort: as soon as they hear a wise advisor speak of such an affair, they still use their conceptual minds to figure it out and say, "If it's like this, then wont I fall into emptiness?" 10 out of 10 gentlemen of affairs entertain this kind of view. I have no choice but to tell them, "You haven't ever reached emptiness, so what are you afraid of? It's as if you're trying to leap out og the water before the boat has capsized." When I see that they don't understand, I don't spare the mouth-work, but try once more to create trailing vines for them: (I say,) "This one who fears falling into emptiness- has he been emptied or not? If your eyes aren't empty, how can you see forms? If your ears aren't empty, how can you hear sounds? If your nose isn't empty, how can you smell scents? If your tongue isn't empty, how can you taste flavors? If your body isn't empty, how can you feal contact? If your intellect isn't empty, how can you distinguish the myriad phenomena?" ~Dahui Zonggao, Swampland flowers

I'm a coward. When ever I try to reach emptiness I choke. I just can't seem to forfeit my life. I just wanted to seek knowledge and understanding from the public cases of the ancients.

Submitted June 23, 2017 at 11:36PM by ZenMovie http://ift.tt/2s04f5A