From Manual Of Zen Buddhism by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki:
Good friends, the passions are no other than enlightenment (bodhi). When your antecedent thought is confused yours is an ordinary mind; as soon as your succeeding thought is enlightened, you are a Buddha.
Good friends, Prajnaparamita is the most honored, the highest, the foremost; it is nowhere abiding, nowhere departing, nowhere coming; all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future issue out of it. By all means of Great Wisdom (ta-chih-hui=mahaprajna) that leads to the other shore (paramita), the five skandhas, the passions, the innumerable follies are destroyed. When thus disciplined, one is a Buddha, and the three passions [i.e. greed, anger, and folly] will turn into Morality (sila), Meditation (dhyana), and Wisdom (prajna).
Good friends, according to my way of understanding this truth, 84,000 wisdoms (chih-hui) are produced from one Prajna. Why? Because there are 84,000 follies. If there were no such innumerable follies, Prajna is eternally abiding, not severed from Selfnature. He who has an insight into this truth is free from thoughts, from recollections, from attachments; in him there is no deceit and falsehood. This is where the essence of Suchness is by itself. When all things are viewed in the light of wisdom (chihui=prajna), there is neither attachment nor detachment. This is seeing into one's Nature and attaining the truth of Buddhahood.
Good friends, if you wish to enter into the deepest realm of Truth (dharmadhatu), and attain the Prajnasamadhi, you should at once begin to exercise yourselves in the life of Prajnaparamita; you just devote yourselves to one volume of the Vajracchedikaprajnaparamita Sutra and you will, seeing into the nature of your own being, enter upon the Prajnasamadhi. It should be known that the merit of such a person is immeasurable, as is distinctly praised in the sutras, of which I need not speak in detail.
Now, above Suzuki kept calling us "Good friends", why?
From the Buddhist Catechism:
Q. What other good words have been used to express the essence of Buddhism?
A. Self-culture and universal love.
Q. What doctrine ennobles Buddhism, and gives it its exalted place among the world's religions?
A. That of Mitta or Maitreya—compassionate kindness. The importance of this doctrine is moreover emphasised in the giving of the name "Maitri" (the Compassionate One), to the coming Buddha.
This mitta is "Kalyāṇa-mittatā"... what is that? Wikipedia offers the following:
Kalyāṇa-mittatā (Pali; Skt.: -mitratā) is a Buddhist concept of "spiritual friendship" within Buddhist community life, applicable to both monastic and householder relationships. One involved in such a relationship is known as a "good friend", "virtuous friend", "noble friend" or "admirable friend" (kalyāṇa-mitta, -mitra)
Those within the Sangha (who are people who remove themselves from social order and enter into Buddha's order, devoting themselves to the Dharma) are good friends.
In the Pali Canon's Upaddha Sutta (SN 45.2), there is a conversation between the Buddha and his disciple Ananda in which Ananda enthusiastically declares, 'This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.' The Buddha replies:
'Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path.'
Note: Good friends, have you seen your Buddha nature today?
Submitted September 11, 2017 at 10:37PM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2jj9zNu
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