Contrived

^{inspired by U/NothingisForgotten}

 

Uncontrived; not appearing artificial.

antonyms; concoct, devise, dream¹ , fabricate, artificial² , laboured

 

BANKEI

(The Unborn, trans. Waddell)

Since the Buddha-mind takes care of everything by means of the Unborn, it has nothing to do with samsara or nirvana. Seen from the place of the Unborn, both of them are like the shadows in a dream.

 

DESHAN

What you should do is avoid artificialities and concocted eccentricities: just take care of your physical needs, passing the time according to your place in life. (In Instant Zen, trans. Cleary)

 

FOYAN

(Instant Zen, trans. Cleary)

This is not a matter of forced understanding, or all sorts of contrived understanding.

~___~

Since it does not admit of rationalization and contrived understanding, and does not admit of being explained away, how can you work on it? An ancient said, “I only use what you bring me to point out an entryway to you.” Take care.

~___~

It is like seeing all sorts of things in a dream— is there all that when you wake up.

~___~

People may sleep on the same bed, under the same covers, yet their individual dreams are not the same.

~___~

Do not be someone who finally cuts off the seed of enlightenment; if you do not discern the ultimate within yourself, whatever you do will be artificial.

 

GANTO

What you should do is avoid artificialities and concocted eccentricities: just take care of your physical needs, passing the time according to your place in life. (In Instant Zen, trans. Cleary)

 

GUISHAN

Pure and clear, without contrivance, quiescent and still, without hindrance; such is called a man of the Way. He is also called an unconcerned man. (In The Blue Cliff Record, trans. Cleary)

 

HUANGBO

(Transmission of Mind, trans. Blofield)

You will come to look upon those aeons of work and achievement as no better than unreal actions performed in a dream.

~___~

When a sudden flash of thought occurs in your mind and you recognize it for a dream or an illusion, then you can enter into the state reached by the Buddhas of the past—not that the Buddhas of the past really exist, or that the Buddhas of the future have not yet come into existence.

~___~

To you, the profoundest doctrines ever heard will seem but dreams and illusions.

 

JOSHU

(Radical Zen, trans. Hoffmann)

The one who desires to understand life and death/is like a lunatic recounting his spring night's dream.

~___~

In vain do you attempt to take hold of a dream, a phantom, a flower in the sky. If your mind does not diverge, nothing will. It is not something that can be attained from the outside. Why, then, should you be possessed by anything? What would be the point of being like a sheep that picks up things at random and puts them in its mouth?

 

LINJI

(The Record of Linji, trans. Sasaki)

What is my purpose in speaking this way? I do so only because you followers of the Way cannot stop your mind from running around everywhere seeking, because you go clambering after the worthless contrivances of the men of old.

~___~

Followers of the Way, true buddha has no figure, true dharma has no form. All you’re doing is devising models and patterns out of phantoms.

~___~

Churning up the sea of breath in your belly and clacking your teeth together, you devise wordy interpretations. So it’s clear that these are only illusory transformations.

~___~

As for me, whoever comes here, whether monk or layman, I discern him through and through. Regardless of where he comes from, his words and phrases are all just dreams and illusions.

~___~

There is nothing to practice, nothing to realize, nothing to gain, nothing to lose. Throughout all time there is no other dharma than this. ‘If one claims there’s a dharma surpassing this, I say that it’s like a dream, like a phantasm.’ This is all I have to teach.

 

MATSU

(Sun-Face Buddha, trans. Cheng Chien Bikshu)

What is defilement? When with a mind of birth and death one acts in a contrived way, then everything is defilement.

~___~

The Way does not need cultivation; just don’t pollute it. What is pollution? As long as you have a fluctuating mind creating artificialities and pursuing inclinations, all is pollution. If you want to understand the Way directly, the normal mind is the Way. What is the normal mind? It has no artificial contrivance, no right or wrong, no grasping or rejection, no nihilism or eternalism, no ordinariness and no sanctity. (In Instant Zen, trans. Cleary)

 

MUMON

(Mumonkan, trans. Blyth)

Before a fool,/Do not expound your dream./The beardless barbarian,—/It is adding obscurity to clarity! (Case IV)

(Mumonkan, trans. Cleary)

As for the Last Word, neither Yantou nor Deshan has ever dreamed of it. Check it out: it’s like a scene in a puppet show. (Case 13)³

 

PAO-CHI

In true thusness, "ordinary" and "holy" are all dream talk; "Buddha" and "Nirvana" are both excess words. (In The Blue Cliff Record, trans. Cleary)

 

SENGCAN

(On Trust in the Heart)⁴

It is not good to belabor the spirit; why estrange the familiar?

~___~

The wise do not contrive; fools bind themselves.

~___~

To use Thought to devise thoughts, what more misguided than this?

 

(Inscription on Trust in the Mind)

Not knowing the profound purpose, one labors in vain thinking of tranquility.

~___~

All dualities come from ignorant inference./They are like dreams of flowers in air:/foolish to try to grasp them.

~___~

(When) “no good” belabors the spirit, what use are “unfamiliar” and “intimate”?

~___~

The clear light shines by itself and does not belabor the mind’s strength.

~___~

In empty brightness your light shines of itself,/without labor to mind or sinew,...

 

WANSONG

(The Book of Serenity, trans. Cleary)

Prajnatara once instructed Bodhidharma, our great teacher, "Sixty-seven years after my death you will go to China to present the medicine of the great teaching, showing it directly to those of excellent faculties; be careful not to go too fast and wither under the sun. And when you get there, don't stay in the South--there they only like fabricated merit and don't see the inner reality of buddhahood, so even if you go there, you shouldn't stay too long." (Case 2)

~___~

This monk said, "Apart from the four propositions and beyond the hundred negations, please point out to me directly the meaning of living Buddhism." Everywhere they call this a question in the mouth of a shackle; but Mazu wasn't flustered--he just said, "I'm too tired to tell you today. Go ask Zhizang." He spared his own eyebrows and pierced that monk's nose; that monk did not escape being sent away--he really went and asked. Zhizang too fit in the groove without contrivance--"Why don't you ask the teacher?" The monk didn't open his eyes; he said, "The teacher told me to come ask you." (Case 6)

~___~

...the Mahayanasamgraha says, "'Existence' is slander by exaggeration, 'nonexistence' is slander by underestimation; 'both existence and nonexistence' is slander by contradiction, and 'neither existence nor nonexistence' is slander by intellectual fabrication." (Case 6)

~___~

Haven't you read how as Chan Master Fori was having tea with his group he saw a cat coming and tossed a dove from his sleeve, giving it to the cat, which took it and went away. Fori said, "Excellent!" This too cannot be false contrivance of empty action. (Case 9)

~___~

...how can Chan be divided into five branches and the teachings arranged in three vehicles? Here in, not even one can stand up--all are artificial. How much the more so is going out the mouth into the ear, asking for instruction, reciting and eulogizing--the vines of entanglements and complications have extended into the next county already. (Case 12)

~___~

Introduction:Yangshan takes a dream for reality, Nanquan points to wakefulness as unreal. If one knows that wakefulness and dreaming are fundamentally nonexistent, for the first time one will believe unreality and reality are absolute. But tell me, what eye does this person have?

Case: Officer Lu Geng said to Nanquan, "Teaching Master Zhao was quite extraordinary: he was able to say, 'Heaven and earth have the same root, myriad things are one body.' " Nanquan pointed to a peony in the garden and said, "People today see this flower as in a dream."

...

I have talked of a dream: first there is someone who doesn't sleep; then there is sleep. Because of not awakening from sleep there are dreams: by dreams scenes are seen; based on these scenes you see the existence of another body applying discernment within the scenes. (Case 91)

~___~

Really [those who make up fantasies about death and practices] are fooling people, fabricating artificial nests, leaving to posterity the derision of eminent people. (Case 96)

 

YUANWU

(The Blue Cliff Record, trans. Cleary)

Fundamentally there is no gain or loss, no illusions or dreams, no multiplicity of names. (Twenty-First Case)

~___~

Self-contrived, self-experienced. It swallows a thousand, ten thousand, but what is accomplished? No one on earth can find it. (Twenty-Second Case)⁵

~__~

If you can penetrate all evil and poisonous words and phrases, even down to a thousand differences and ten thousand forms, then all conventional fabrications will be the excellent flavor of purified ghee. (Fifty-Seventh Case)

~___~

Slavishly fawning deceitful people would all imitate [Chao Chou], at once becoming mere contrived false imitations: these are the obsequious phoney followers. Hsueh Tou is eulogizing "A mud Buddha does not pass through water"... (Ninety-Sixth Case)

~___~

The Flower Garland scripture says, "If a person wants to know all the Buddhas of past, present, and future, he should observe that the nature of the cosmos is all just the fabrication of mind." (Ninety-Seventh Case)

 

YUNMEN

Once you have gobbled down your meal, you only speak of dreams and say, "I have understood the Buddha Dharma." (In The Blue Cliff Record, trans. Cleary)

 

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^{1: I have deliberately skipped references to dreams that occur while sleeping. Labour, referring to manual labour, was also skipped.}

^{2:Sasaki makes an interesting connection: "Simply don’t strive translates 但莫造作, in which the verb 造作, here rendered as “to strive,” means to make intentional efforts to accomplish something. Such effort is of necessity artificial, and thus contrary to activities performed naturally and with no conscious intent or purpose. The Chan masters constantly warned their students against “striving,”...}

^{3: I strongly recommend understanding what Mumon meant here.}

^{4: Citations for Sengcan are taken at random amongst various translations.}

^{5: In the case, Hsueh Feng sells the assembly some tall tale, which Chang Ching takes issue with. Yunmen throws down their staff in mock fright. Chang is self-contrived, Yunmen is self-experienced.}

Submitted September 26, 2020 at 07:11AM by surupamaerl https://ift.tt/3i5Te83