.
If you are a full-grown man of heroic determination, you should resort to pondering on kung-an. Take, for instance, Chaochou’s answering “No!” to the question whether there is Buddha-nature in a dog. You should meditate on this word wu day and night without cease. Keep at it while you are walking, resting, sitting, and sleeping, while you are putting on clothes, taking meals, sitting on the stool, making water. Let every thought of your mind be focused on it, fiercely stir up your spirits, and never lose hold of the word wu. After holding on for days and months, your whole being becomes one continuous attention. Suddenly the flower of your mind will burst in no moment; and you will apprehend the initial insight of all the Buddhas and Patriarchs. You will have such a firm grasp on it that you can no longer be deceived by the tongues of all the old monks of the world; and great truths will flow from your wide-open mouth. You will realize that the coming of Bodhidharma is like the rising of a wave without wind, and that the Buddha’s holding of the flower is but a fiasco. Once arrived at this state, all the holy ones can do nothing to you, to say nothing of the old fellow Yama. Who can ever believe in the possibility of such inconceivable wonders? Yet, nothing is impossible to him who has set his heart and his mind to it.
He concluded the talk with a great gatha:
To detach oneself from the dust of the world, This is no ordinary task.
Hold firmly to the end of the rope, and go at it With all your might.
Without undergoing a whole spell of cold That bites into your bones,
How can you have the plum-blossoms regale you With their piercing fragrance?
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Submitted October 27, 2019 at 06:00PM by UhExist https://ift.tt/2qJTX9L
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