Mind Empty, You Make the Grade

Mingben:

Zen study just requires intense concern for the great matter of death and life, solely bringing up the saying studied to comprehend it in the midst of action and repose, leisure and hurry.  You should definitely not cling to sitting as the work.  If you cling to the state of sitting, cling to the state of stillness, and mistakenly approve a state of physical ease and silent stillness, eventually that will produce a hundred thousand kinds of Zen sickness, which even a Buddha could not cure.  Have you not seen how the people of ancient times never took to the cushion, but only faced the circumstances of activity?  It is just a matter of right mindfulness intending to clarify life and death.  It is when you work unremittingly, relentlessly single-minded, without knowing or being conscious of it you are independently released where you can do nothing, that is the time when “mind empty, you make the grade.”

It’s really interesting how Mingben here seems to be illustrating that sitting meditation wasn’t a common practice in the early days of Chan, but became used more and more often in the Song dynasty and in his day in the Yuan. He also seems to be showing how koans were used in conjunction with seated practice.

Here he warns against clinging to the form of sitting, and clinging to stillness by mistaking it for the way. It’s a warning reminiscent of Nanyue polishing the tile to show Mazu that meditation is not in sitting and clinging to it as a path to Buddhahood is error.

What does he mean by “it’s a matter of right mindfulness?”

What does he mean by “mind empty?”

Submitted May 21, 2023 at 06:57PM by RobePatch https://ift.tt/HkGqgJD