The matter of a lifetime resolved; breath and body fallen away of themselves. All that is known, emptied; all who are cared for, gone —
with everything I have and everything I am. (homage to Master Dogen)
The thought-cluttered bucket's bottom broken. The bucket is the container, the bag of skin, the illusion, the thing that we think we are. It's the thing that's in a constant state of becoming and change, the thing that we cling to, put our armor around, and try to protect so desperately. It's the illusion that separates us from everything else, from everything that we need and from everything that we love. The illusion. When the thought-cluttered bucket's bottom is broken, the body and mind fall away. The illusion falls away.
A capping verse: The thought-cluttered bucket's bottom broken; Neither water nor moon remains. The water — mind. The moon — enlightenment. Both gone. What is it that remains? You should understand that when the ten thousand things have been extinguished, there is still something that is not extinguished. What is it? What is it?! (John Daido Loori, ~1990)
Therefore, as long as we experience ourselves in prayer as an "I" standing on the threshold of the abyss ... we are still far from the most intimate and secret unitive knowledge that is pure contemplation. There is nothing we can do about entering in. We cannot force our way over the edge, although there is no barrier. But the reason is perhaps that there is also no abyss. There you remain ... When the next step comes, you do not take the step, you do not know the transition, you do not fall into anything. You do not go anywhere, and so you do not know the way by which you got there or the way by which you come back afterward. Would you call this experience? I think you might say that this only becomes an experience in a man's memory. Otherwise it seems wrong even to speak of it as something that happens. (Merton, 1961)
I entered I knew not where and remained without knowing, there transcending all knowledge. Where I entered, I did not know, but once I found myself there, not knowing where I had entered, I remained in unknowing. I found the narrow way: a secret giving such release that I was stunned and stammering, rising beyond all science. It was perfect knowledge of peace and piety, a thing of great secrecy understood in solitude and through immediacy ... (San Juan de la Cruz, 1580)
Therefore stop the intellectual practice of investigating words and chasing after talk; study the backward step of turning the light and shinning it back. Body and mind will drop away of themselves, and your original face will appear. If you want such a state, urgently work at such a state. (Eihei Dogen, 1233)
Transcending the profane and surpassing the holy are always contingent on this condition; shedding while seated and fleeing while standing are totally subject to this activity. (Ch'ang-lu Tsung-tse, 1103)
And He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)
They entered those oceans of mystical projections of Buddha by way of various devotions, various paths, various doors, various entries, various penetrations, various methods, various approaches, various directions, various capacities, various places, various worlds, various attainments, various provisions, various transformations, various means, and various concentrations. Those enlightening beings gained access to the mystical projections, the miraculous transfigurations, of the blessed Buddha Vairocana by means of such enlightening beings; concentrations as these—adornment of the entire cosmos, illumination of the realm of unobstructed knowledge of all times, light of knowledge of the continuity of the planes of the cosmos, entry into the plane of the sphere of those who realize Thusness, illumination of the plane of space, free access to the ten powers of buddhas, bold emergence adorned by the fearlessness of the enlightened, whirlpool of the principles of the reality realm, moon pervading all universes with unhindered sound, and light of principles of universal order. (Gaṇḍavyūha, c. 500CE)
Submitted February 04, 2019 at 02:05AM by aWiznae http://bit.ly/2GmLJKO
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