Discerning with certainty

Foyan’s Instant Zen:

Step Back and See

An early teacher said, “Is it the wind ringing, or is it the chimes ringing?” He should have stopped right there, but he went on to vex others by saying, It is not the wind or the chimes ringing, but only your mind ringing.” What further opportunity to study do you seek?

When Zen came to China, an early teacher said, “It is not the wind or the flag moving; it is your minds moving.” The ancient teacher gave this testimony; why don’t you understand? Just because of subject and object. That is why it is said, “The objec­ive is defined based on the subjective; since the objective is arbi­trarily defined, it produces your arbitrary subjectivity, producing difference where there was neither sameness nor difference.” People nowadays talk about certain discernment, but how do you discern with certainty? It is not a matter of declaring, “This is an initiatory saying, this is a saying for beginners, that is a saying for old-timers.” It’s not like this at all. As a matter of fact, letting go all at once is precisely how to discern with certainty — there will be no different focus at any time.

You get up in the morning, dress, wash your face, and so on; you call these miscellaneous thoughts, but all that is necessary is that there be no perceiver or perceived when you perceive— no hearer or heard when you hear, no thinker or thought when you think. Buddhism is very easy and very economical; it spares effort, but you yourself waste energy and make your own hardships

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Arges: To discern with certainty, there is no discrimination. When you no longer question if it is the flag moving or the wind moving, you see clearly that it is mind moving.

Let go of all of these different views at once, and you will be discerning with certainty.

Submitted January 28, 2020 at 02:46AM by ArgesAwoken https://ift.tt/2tUzEZh