Bringing the highest truth into practice

The use of the word "practice" might have triggered some people. The way I want to approach "practice" in this post is as a means to implement the insight into ultimate reality into one's life.

Guishan said, "If one has truly realized the fundamental, that is when one knows for oneself. Cultivation and no cultivation are a dualism. Now though a beginner attain total sudden realization of inherent truth from conditions, there is still the habit energy of beginningless ages which one cannot clear away all at once. It is necessary to teach that person to clean away the currently active streaming consciousness. This is cultivation, but it doesn't mean there is a special doctrine to teach one to practice or aim for.

Similarly, in a conversation Donshan had:

An official asked, "Is there a practice for people to follow?"

The Master said, "When you become a man, there is such a practice

But doesnt practice imply that the original self is incomplete? Well, apparently those two are not mutually exclusive, as Guishan continues that first bit with

Gaining access to truth from hearing, when the truth heard is profound, the immaculate mind is inherently complete and illumined, and does not abide in the realm of delusion.

Although this sentence seems to say that the mind becomes complete after hearing the profound truth, I feel like the specific phrasing might be a slight translational error. I think what is meant is that upon hearing (thus realizing) this truth, one realizes the mind has always been complete.

So on the one side we have practice that is akin cultivation of profoundly realized truth and is legit, while on the other side we have practice that is aimed on discovering the truth and is non-existent.

As such, I do think there is a place for "practice", but only after realization. Practice as cultivation is still in line with the principle of sudden enlightenment.

Bonus:

Master Shunji was asked by a monk, "What is someone engaged in great practice like?" He said, "Wearing stocks and chains." The monk asked, "What about someone creating a lot of karma?" He said, "Practicing meditation, entering concentration."

Again, great practice is dealing with an unquestionably present thing (and realizing it), while a false practice (in this case refered to as creating karma) is practicing meditation and entering concentration. Obviously before one has reached profound truth and in order to reach said truth.

I do wonder whether practice as cultivation can still be called practice at all tho. Huangbo said:

Enlightenment springs from Mind, regardless of your practice of the six paramitas and the rest. All such practices are merely expedients for handling 'concrete' matters when dealing with the problems of daily life. Even Enlightenment, the Absolute, Reality, Sudden Attainment, the Dharmakaya and all the others down to the Ten Stages of Progress, the Four Rewards of virtuous and wise living and the State of Holiness and Wisdom are - every one of them - mere concepts for helping us through samsara; they have nothing to do with the real Buddha-Mind. Since Mind IS the Buddha, the ideal way of attainment is to cultivate that Buddha-Mind.

So when realizing the profound truth, and one cannot help but cultivate, is it still practice or is it just living?

Submitted May 10, 2023 at 03:42AM by longstrokesharpturn https://ift.tt/zhjFSOx