Nothing to Do with Rules
"That's why, in my place, I'm always telling everyone, 'Abide in the Unborn Buddha Mind and nothing else!' Other than that, I'm not setting up any special rules and making them practice. All the same, since everyone got together and decided to practice for [a period of] twelve sticks of incense every day, I told them, 'Go ahead, do whatever you like'; so I'm letting them practice every day for [a period of] twelve sticks of incense. But the Unborn Buddha Mind isn't a matter of sticks of incense! When you abide in the Buddha Mind and don't become deluded, then, without looking for enlightenment outside, you'll just sit in the Buddha Mind, just stand in the Buddha Mind, just sleep in the Buddha Mind, just get up in the Buddha Mind—just abiding in the Buddha Mind, so that in all your ordinary activities you function as a living buddha. There's really nothing to it.
"As for zazen, since za ['sitting'] is the Buddha Mind's sitting at ease, while zen ['meditation'] is another name for Buddha Mind, the Buddha Mind's sitting at ease is what's meant by zazen. So when you're abiding in the Unborn, all the time is zazen; zazen isn't just the time when you're practicing formal meditation. Even when you're sitting in meditation, if there's something you've got to do, it's quite all right to get up and leave. So, in my group, everyone is free to do as he likes. Just always abide at ease in the Buddha Mind. You can't simply remain sitting from morning till night, so do walking meditation for one period; and you can't just keep on your feet, either, so sit down and meditate for one period. You can't very well do nothing but sleep, so you get up; and you can't just keep on talking, so I let you practice meditation. But this has nothing to do with rules
(Haskel)
Submitted August 31, 2019 at 02:54AM by GreenSage45 https://ift.tt/30Nf0We
No comments:
Post a Comment