1.1.The Master said to me: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists.
Who is becoming the Buddha? Where do they go? Mind searching for Mind.
This Mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measures, names, traces and comparisons. It is that which you see before you—begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error.
All the categories and definitions can be found in one place; where to look?
It is like the boundless void which cannot be fathomed or measured. The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient things, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood.
The Mind is not material nor conceptual, but is all of the above because everything comes into being through direct experience. So, can I materialize the Buddha with cultivation?
By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind. Even though they do their utmost for a full aeon, they will not be able to attain to it. They do not know that, if they put a stop to conceptual thought and forget their anxiety, the Buddha will appear before them, for this Mind is the Buddha and the Buddha is all living beings.
Buddha appears in a flash under the right conditions. Is it preferable to have this happen; that is to say, is there a realized Buddha or only delusion?
It is not the less for being manifested in ordinary beings, nor is it greater for being manifested in the Buddhas.
1.2.As to performing the six pāramitās and vast numbers of similar practices, or gaining merits as countless as the sands of the Ganges, since you are fundamentally complete in every respect, you should not try to supplement that perfection by such meaningless practices.
What does a complete person do? It seems that I can't settle this at all.
When there is occasion for them, perform them; and, when the occasion is passed, remain quiescent.
I was sitting last night trying to see sitting as relaxing, and no other activity. Seems correct enough. I am continuously getting lost in thoughts of refinement, purifying, and attainment; rejecting them; rejecting the rejection, then being unsure what to do. Then I decide to do something simple, like wash the dishes or eat when hungry, then I wonder why I am trying to favour what is simple, honest, and ordinary. Who else is having this problem, and what do they do about it?
If you are not absolutely convinced that the Mind is the Buddha, and if you are attached to forms, practices and meritorious performances, your way of thinking is false and quite incompatible with the Way. The Mind is the Buddha, nor are there any other Buddhas or any other mind. It is bright and spotless as the void, having no form or appearance whatever. To make use of your minds to think conceptually is to leave the substance and attach yourselves to form.
Isn't there an attachment to not being attached to concepts. My mind still habitually makes a game of attainment out of this; a desiring for a fulfilment.
The Ever-Existent Buddha is not a Buddha of form or attachment. To practise the six pāramitās and a myriad similar practices with the intention of becoming a Buddha thereby is to advance by stages, but the Ever-Existent Buddha is not a Buddha of stages. Only awake to the One Mind, and there is nothing whatsoever to be attained. This is the REAL Buddha. The Buddha and all sentient beings are the One Mind and nothing else.
Direct experience immediately. Then what?
1.3.Mind is like the void in which there is no confusion or evil, as when the sun wheels through it shining upon the four corners of the world.
Sometimes I just decide to be without confusion. Is that using mind to search for Mind?
For, when the sun rises and illuminates the whole earth, the void gains not in brilliance; and, when the sun sets, the void does not darken. The phenomena of light and dark alternate with each other, but the nature of the void remains unchanged. So it is with the Mind of the Buddha and of sentient beings.
Everything appears out of the background of reality untainted by thoughts. Then I wonder what to do about it.
If you look upon the Buddha as presenting a pure, bright or Enlightened appearance, or upon sentient beings as presenting a foul, dark or mortal-seeming appearance, these conceptions resulting from attachment to form will keep you from supreme knowledge, even after the passing of as many aeons as there are sands in the Ganges. There is only the One Mind and not a particle of anything else on which to lay hold, for this Mind is the Buddha.
I'm stuck in seeing Buddhism, or at least the religious desire to attain more than what appears out of the background of reality untainted, as impure. How do I break this, and then what do I do? I have this amusing dialogue that happens in my head when I think of asking this question to one of the people that I respect on this subreddit, and they always answer "I can't answer that." Look!
If you students of the Way do not awake to this Mind substance, you will overlay Mind with conceptual thought, you will seek the Buddha outside yourselves, and you will remain attached to forms, pious practices and so on, all of which are harmful and not at all the way to supreme knowledge.
Here's a quote for all the meditation salespersons here.
1.4.Making offerings to all the Buddhas of the universe is not equal to making offerings to one follower of the Way who has eliminated conceptual thought. Why? Because such a one forms no concepts whatever.
One guest, one host. This is a temporary measure.
The substance of the Absolute is inwardly like wood or stone, in that it is motionless, and outwardly like the void, in that it is without bounds or obstructions. It is neither subjective nor objective, has no specific location, is formless, and cannot vanish. Those who hasten towards it dare not enter, fearing to hurtle down through the void with nothing to cling to or to stay their fall.
Huangbo hits deep; the tree that I'm currently hanging from off the side of the cliff is the question "how do I derive meaning from all this?"
So they look to the brink and retreat. This refers to all those who seek such a goal through cognition.
Me.
Thus, those who seek the goal through cognition are like the fur ( many ), while those who obtain intuitive knowledge of the Way are like the horns ( few ).
Submitted September 12, 2020 at 11:41PM by surupamaerl https://ift.tt/3mhKkHS
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