Huineng cuts the crap

From the Sutra of Huineng:

Prefect Wei asked, "How should we train ourselves at home? Will you please teach us?"

The patriarch replied, "I will give you a 'formless stanza', if you put its teaching into practice you will be in the same position as those who live with me permanently. On the other hand, if you do not practice it, what progress can you make in the spiritual path, even though you cut your hair and leave home for good [i.e. join the order]? The stanza reads:

For a fair mind, observation of precepts [shila] is unnecessary.

For straightforward behavior, practice in dhyana [contemplation] may be dispensed with.

On the principle of gratefulness, we support our parents and serve them filially.

On the principle of righteousness, the superior and the inferior stand for each other [in time of need].

On the principle of mutual desire to please, the senior and the junior are on affectionate terms.

On the principle of forbearance, we do not quarrel even in the midst of a hostile crowd.

If we can persevere till fire can be obtained through rubbing a piece of wood,

Then the red lotus [the buddha-nature] will shoot out from the black mire [the unenlightened state].

That which is of bitter taste is bound to be good.

That which sounds unpleasant to the ear is certainly frank advice.

By amending our mistakes, we get wisdom.

By defending our faults, we betray an unsound mind.

In our daily life, we should always practice altruism.

But buddhahood is not to be attained by giving away money as charity.

Bodhi is to be found within our own mindm

And there is no necessity to look for mysticism from without.

Hearers of this stanza who put its teaching into actual practice

Will find paradise in their very presence.

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Note:

Here the father of Ch'an, the sixth patriarch, "rejects the practice of meditation", but clearly being of the "meditation school", and with his other words, says that we, followers of the way, must put his teachings into practice. This insistence upon moving beyond intellectualizing, and into actual practice, is something echoed throughout the sutra.

Practice is by definition the putting into use an idea, belief, or method. If using the definition not as a noun, but as a verb, even then there are two definitions, many are apparently caught on the hook of the first:

1. perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain one's proficiency.

2. carry out or perform (a particular activity, method, or custom) habitually or regularly.

Submitted February 10, 2019 at 07:43PM by Dillon123 http://bit.ly/2WW9Mpp