Mumonkan Explained! Ordinary mind is the Way

The master asked Nan-chu'uan (Nansen), "What is the Way?".
Nan-ch'uan said, "Ordinary mind is the Way.".
The master said, "Then may I direct myself towards it or not?".
Nan-ch'uan said, "To seek [it] is to deviate [from it].".
The master said, "If I do not seek, how can I know about the Way?".
Nan-ch'uan said, "The Way does not belong to knowing or not knowing. To know is to have a concept; to not know is to be ignorant. If you truly realize the Way of no doubt, it is just like the sky: wide open vast emptiness. How can you say 'yes' or 'no' to it?".
At these words the master had sudden enlightenment. His mind became like the clear moon.

Explanation:

If you want to understand the way directly, the normal mind is the way. What I call normal mind is free from artificiality: in it there is no right or wrong, no grasping or rejection, no extinction or permanence, no banality or sanctity. ~ Mazu

All those with conditioned minds are as far apart from the earth. Right now, if you cannot pass through the barrier, it is obviously because your mind has many serious attachments. If you can clear these away and reach the realm where there is no conditioned mind, all delusions and defilements and emotional habits will end, and all the obstructions created by conditioned knowledge and arbitrary views and intellectual understanding will be dissolved away—what else is there?
This is why Nanquan said that, once freed from its conditioning, the ordinary mind is the Way. But as soon as you produce a thought seeking to be "ordinary," you have already turned away and missed it. This is the point that is most subtle and hardest to approach. Even immeasurably great people falter and hesitate when they get here—how much the more so for those still in the stage of learning. You must strive with all your might to bite through here and cut off conditioned habits of mind. Be like a person who has died the great death: after your breath is cut off then you come back to life. Only then do you realize that it is as open as empty space. Only then do you reach the point where your feet are walking on the ground of reality.
When you experience profound realization of this matter, you become thoroughly clear, and your faith becomes complete. You are free and at ease and clean clear through—not knowing anything, not understanding anything s soon as anything touches you, you turn freely, with no more constraints, and without getting put anywhere. When you want to act, you act, and when you want to go, you go. There is no more gain or loss or affirmation or denial. You encompass everything from top to bottom all at once.
How could it be easy to carry into practice or even to approach this realm where there is no conditioned mind? You must be a suitable person to do so. If you are not yet like this, you must put aside mind and body and immerse yourself in silent reflection until you are free from the slightest dependency. keep watching, watching as you come and go. After a long time you will naturally come to cover heaven and earth, so that true reality appears ready-made wherever you touch.
Before there was a natural-born Shakyamuni Buddha, before there was a spontaneously so Maitreya Buddha, who was it who understood while still in the womb? You must be quick to focus your energy. Time does not wait for people .Suddenly, in one bite, you will bite through, and nobody will be able to do anything about you. To succeed at this, a truly great person must reach the realm of self-realization, independence, and freedom. ~Yuanwu

So just get rid of right or wrong, grasping or rejection, extinction or permanence, banality or sanctity; put aside mind and body and immerse yourself in silent reflection until you are free from the slightest dependency, keep watching, watching as you come and go, focus your energy and boom, normal ordinary mind.

And who says zen is hard ha ha ha

Submitted July 16, 2017 at 12:24AM by WildFoxBuddha http://ift.tt/2t2GztS