Huanbo tells me " All living beings are one and the same body with all buddhas and bodhisattvas"

[Huang-po, Extracts from Essential Method of Transmission of Mind Translated by Thomas Cleary In: The five houses of Zen, 1997]

This reality is mind; there is no truth outside of mind. This mind itself is truth; there is no mind outside of reality. Mind is inherently mindless; and there is no mindless one, either. If you mindfully try to be mindless, then minding is there.

It’s just a matter of silent accord; it is beyond all conception. That is why it is said that there is no way to talk about it, no way to think about it.

This mind is pure at the source. Buddhas and ordinary human beings both have it. All living beings are one and the same body with all buddhas and bodhisattvas; it is only because of differences in their subjective thoughts that they create all sorts of activities, with their various results.

Basically there is nothing concrete in buddhahood; it is just open perception, serene clarity, and subtle bliss. When you realize it profoundly in yourself, this is directly it—complete fulfillment, with no further lack. Even if you exert yourself at spiritual exercises for three incalculable eons, going through all the stages and grades, when you reach that one instant of realization, you have just realized the Buddha within yourself; you have not added anything at all. Rather, you will see your eons of effort as the confused behavior of dreams.

This is why the Tathagata said, “In supreme perfect enlightenment I have not acquired anything. If I had acquired anything, Dipankara Buddha would not have given me direction.” He also said, “This truth is impartial, without high or low; this is called enlightenment.” This is the mind pure at the source, impartial in respect to sentient beings, buddhas, worlds, mountains and rivers, forms, formlessness, everything through the universe, with no image of other or self.

{ My commentary} Who picks and chooses? What directly realizes? Stupid questions really, a buzzing mind seeking honey. Huanbo talks about students fear of ' voidness' I have tasted this. Anyone else? It sounds like a psychological defense mechanism, which is yeah totally theoretical. All the wasted effort, I am on a good one now, just wanted to post something related to zen before I started berating the community :)

Submitted March 07, 2018 at 12:04PM by windDrakeHex http://ift.tt/2Fxacgo