From Master Xuyun’s Dharma Collection:
“Mental speech arises from the mind, so the mind is the origin of speech; thought arises from the mind, so the mind is the origin of thought. The mind gives birth to everything and it is the origin of everything. In fact, the origin of speech is the origin of thought. The place before thought is the mind. To put it straightforwardly, where a thought is not yet to arise is the origin of speech. Thus we know the observation of the origin of speech is the observation of the mind. The original face before our birth is the mind. And to see the original face before our birth is to observe the mind.”
Zen Master's offer various instructions on what to do with this mind, such as provided by Robert Sharf in his Mindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chan he lists, “maintaining mind” (shouxin 守心), “maintaining unity” (shouyi 守一), “pacifying the mind” (anxin 安心), “discerning the mind” (guanxin 觀心), “viewing the mind” (kanxin 看心), “focusing the mind” (shexin 攝心).
There Sharf then offers some wisdom from Zen Master Daoxin (or at least quotes a text attributed to him, from Fundamental Expedient Teachings for Calming the Mind to Enter the Way):
何等名無所念。即念佛心名無所念。離心無別有佛。離佛無別有心。念佛即是念心。
求心即是求佛。所以者何。識無形。佛無形。佛無相貌。若也知此道理。即是安心. . . .
Why is it called “reflecting without an object”? The very mind that is reflecting on buddha is called “reflecting without an object.” Apart from mind there is no buddha. Apart from buddha there is no mind. Reflecting on buddha is identical to reflecting on mind. To seek the mind is to seek the buddha. Why is this so? Consciousness is without form. Buddha too is without form and without manifest attributes. To understand this principle is to pacify the mind.
And another passage:
諸經觀法備有多種。傅大師所說。獨舉守一不移。先修身審觀以身為本。又此身是四
大五蔭之所合。終歸無常不得自在。雖未壞滅畢竟是空
There are many varieties of contemplation methods specified in the various scriptures, but according to the teachings of Layman Fu [497–569], one need only maintain unity without moving. First you cultivate the body, taking the body as the basis for attentive contemplation. Note that this body is an amalgam of the four elements [earth, water, fire, and air] and the five aggregates [form, sensation, perception, impulses, and consciousness]. In the end [this body] returns to impermanence without achieving freedom. Although it has not yet decayed and disappeared, ultimately it is empty.
Lastly,
又常觀自身空淨。如影可見不得。智從影中生。畢竟無處所。不動而應物。變化無
窮。空中生六根。六根亦空寂。所對六塵境。了知是夢幻。如眼見物時。眼中無有
物。如鏡照面像。了極分明。空中現形影。鏡中無一物。當知人面不來入鏡中。鏡亦
不往入人面。如此委曲。知鏡之與面。從本已來。不出不入。不來不去。即是如來之
義。如此細分判。眼中與鏡中。本本常空寂。鏡照眼照同.
Also, constantly contemplate your own body as clear empty space, like a reflection that can be seen but not grasped. Wisdom arises from the midst of the reflection and ultimately is without location, unmoving and yet responsive to things, transforming without end. The six sense organs are born in the midst of empty space. As the six sense organs are empty and still, the six corresponding sense fields are to be understood as like a dream. It is like the eye seeing something: there is nothing in the eye itself. Or like the image of a face reflected in a mirror: we clearly understand that the various reflections of forms appear in empty space, and that there is not a single thing in the mirror itself. You should know that a person’s face does not come and enter into the mirror, nor does the mirror go and enter the person’s face. From this analysis we know that at no point in time does the face in the mirror emerge or enter, come or go. This is the meaning of “thus come” (tathagata). According to this detailed analysis, what is in the eye and in the mirror is inherently and permanently empty and still; what is reflected in the mirror and reflected in the eye is the same.
Note: Myriad dharmas are all empty.
Submitted March 03, 2018 at 12:46AM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2CVPXmV
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