Foyan on Meditation! (Not about sitting meditation, not about zazen, just meditation.)

Hi. Thank you guys for helping me constantly over the past couple days in trying to understand Foyan's sayings.

Today I want to ask about his sayings on meditation.

Regarding meditation, he said:

"At first, the mind is noisy and unruly; there is still no choice but to shift it back. That is why there are many methods to teach it quiet observation. When you sit up and gather your spirit, at first it scatters helter-skelter; over a period of time, eventually it calms down, opening and freeing the six senses.

What are the "many methods to teach it quiet the obervation?" How does it open and free the six senses?

​

When the six senses rest a bit, discrimination occurs therein. As soon as discrimination occurs, it seems to produce arising and vanishing. The transformations of arising and vanishing come from manifestations of one's own mind. Put your own mind to use to look back once: once you've returned, no need to do it again;

Why does discrimination occur when the six senses rest a bit? By "put your own mind to use to look back once," does he tell us to quietly observe our discriminatory mind? What does he mean by "once you've returned, no need to do it again?" Why only once?

​

3.

you wear a halo of light on your head. The spiritual flames leap and shine, unobstructed in any state of mind, all-inclusive, all-pervasive; birth and death forever cease. A single grain of restorative elixir turns gold into liquid; acquired pollution of body and mind have no way to get through. Confusion and enlightenment are temporarily explained; stop discussing opposition and accord.

Foyan seems to say that meditation brings a lot of spiritual benfit and clarity. However, he said "confusion and enlightenemt are temporarily explained." Why is the understanding temporary and not permanent? And why did he previously say we only need to do it "once" if the understanding is going to be temporary? It seems like we would have to repeat the processes again in the future when we lose our understanding.

Thank you all so much.

Submitted July 24, 2022 at 09:50AM by GreenSagua https://ift.tt/xzWS6gK