The Sixth patriarch Huineng: Then is there any real practice to do, or awakening to experience?

When Huairang first arrived, Master Huineng asked, "Where did you come from?"¹
Huairang said, "From Mt. Song."²
The master asked, "What is it that has come?"³
Huairang was stuck and couldn't answer.⁴ He then decided to stay and practice there.

Eight years later Huairang one day said to Master Huineng, "Now I have an understanding."⁵
The master asked, "What is it?"⁶
Huairang said, "To say or do anything misses the mark."⁷
The master asked further, "Then is there any real practice to do, or awakening to experience?"⁸
Huairang said, "It's not that there isn't practice and awakening, it's just that they can't be defiled."⁹
The master said, "Just this that can't be defiled is what is upheld and sustained by all the awakened ones.¹⁰ You are like this, I am like this, all the ancestors in India were like this."

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From Encounter Dialogues of Nanyue Huairang, compiled by Satyavayu of Touching Earth Sangha

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Wandering Ronin commentary and questions:

1. An immediate test, and the master wastes no time; the ordinary is interwoven with the absolute.
2. Huairang seems to remain steadfast; perhaps this fellow believes he knows something?
3. Dragon teeth sink directly into flesh and through bone; what in the world of form could withstand?
4. Huairang was relying on the half-measure of reason, so he was bound in chains before he even realized it.
5. Only the fearless will leap back into the dragon's mouth willingly like this.
6. Could it be said that the master already knew the answer to this question on Huairang's approach?
7. Perfection; not even a master can bring himself to say a single true word about it.
8. Though unlimited, the myriad forms can only take one so far. What is the underlying principle?
9. What is it that is beyond all purity and defilement? Is it right here in front of us?
10. Such patience and craft this patriarch reveals; eight years to hatch, but still the blink of an eye.

Submitted June 05, 2019 at 07:27PM by WanderingRoninXIII http://bit.ly/2JZx7DK