"Why do you not teach me the Dharma?"

A certain person asked Master Yuan: "Why do you not teach me the Dharma?"

Answer: "If I were to set up a Dharma to teach you, it would not be leading you. If I were to set up a Dharma, it would be deceiving you; it would be failing you. If I had a Dharma, how could I explain it to someone else? How could I speak of it to you? It comes down to this: If there are terms and written words, all of it will deceive the great path? If I could speak of it, what purpose would that serve?"

Question: "[What if] I gather the mind into dhyana so that it does not move?"

Answer: "This is bondage samadhi. It is useless. This holds even for the four dhyanas, each of which is merely one stage of quiescence from which you will return to disturbance again. They are not to be valued. These are created dharmas, dharmas that will be destroyed again, not the ultimate dharma.

The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen - Translator: Jeffrey L. Broughton

Submitted May 25, 2019 at 03:03PM by RealityWarper01 http://bit.ly/2HBf4RS