The Real Dahui : Big Surprises, Explosions

Have you been reading BCR or Mumonkan?

Are you dead certain you know what you're doing?

Do you know that actually the bread and butter of Dahui is huatou practice, not hating Buddhists or hating meditation? (more on Dahui's actual stance on meditation and what the anti-sitting talks were really about in a later post)

Surprise!

(Dahui shows the exertion of mind in gongfu)

If you want to take the direct-and-quick path to comprehension, you must obtain the explosive shattering of this single thought—then you will bring samsara to an end. That’s called “awakening.” But you absolutely must not maintain your mind in a state of waiting for this shattering. If you maintain your mind in the state of [waiting for] shattering, then the time of shattering will never come in an eternity of aeons. Just take the mind of false thought and upside-down viewpoints, the mind of reflection and discrimination, the mind that loves living and hates death, the mind of knowing-seeing and understanding, the mind that takes joy in stillness and loathes noisiness— and all-at-once lay them aside! Precisely in the state where you have laid them aside, keep an eye on the huatou: A monk asked Zhaozhou: “Does even a dog have buddha-nature?” Zhou said: “No [Wu 無 aka Mu].” This one word [No] is a weapon to dampen down a lot of bad knowing and bad awareness.

(Dahui shows what not to do with it)

• You must not produce an understanding [of No as the No of the polarity] there is / there is not.

• You must not produce an understanding [of 'No'] based on reasoning.

• You must not, during the operation of the mind sense-organ, engage in reflection and conjecture [concerning 'No'].

• You must not, during [actions such as] raising eyebrows or winking eyes, allow the mind of calculation to stop on a single point [such as 'No'].

• You must not make a “lifestyle” out of the word ['No']. Also, you must not remain confined to the tiny hidden-away closet of nothing-to-do.

• You must not, while raising ['No'], understand and “own” it.

• You must not quote texts as proof [of 'No'].

(Dahui instructs what to do)

Just twenty-four hours a day, in all four postures [i.e., walking, standing, sitting, and lying down] constantly rally the huatou to awareness, constantly lift the huatou to awareness: Does even a dog have buddha-nature? “No.” Without leaving your round of daily activities, try to do gongfu in this way. In short order you will understand for yourself.

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That, friends, is what Dahui is actually about and what to actually [not] do with a koan.

Have fun! 🌸

Submitted January 26, 2019 at 11:24AM by ZaoPing http://bit.ly/2RgH8v6