Huángbò Xīyùn: If they are really men of high capacity, where could they find people to follow? If they seek from within themselves, they will find nothing tangible; how much less can they find a Dharma worthy of their attention elsewhere!

Question: What is the Way and how must it be followed?

Huángbò: What sort of thing do you suppose the Way to be, that you should wish to follow it? ¹

Question: What instructions have the Masters everywhere given for Dhyāna-practice and the study of the Dharma?

Huángbò: Words used to attract the dull of wit are not to be relied on. ²

Question: If those teachings were meant for the dull-witted, I have yet to hear what Dharma has been taught to those of really high capacity.

Huángbò: If they are really men of high capacity, where could they find people to follow? If they seek from within themselves, they will find nothing tangible; how much less can they find a Dharma worthy of their attention elsewhere! Do not look to what is called the Dharma by preachers, for what sort of Dharma could that be? ³

Question: If that is so, should we not seek for anything at all?

Huángbò: By conceding this, you would save yourself a lot of mental effort. ⁴

Question: But in this way everything would be eliminated. There cannot just be nothing.

Huángbò: Who called it nothing? Who was this fellow? But you wanted to seek for something.

Question: Since there is no need to seek, why do you also say that not everything is eliminated?

Huángbò: Not to seek is to rest tranquil. Who told you to eliminate anything? Look at the void in front of your eyes. How can you produce it or eliminate it? ⁵

Question: If I could reach this Dharma, would it be like the void?

Huángbò: Morning and night I have explained to you that the Void is both One and Manifold. I said this as a temporary expedient, but you are building up concepts from it. ⁶

Question: Do you mean that we should not form concepts as human beings normally do?

Huángbò: I have not prevented you; but concepts are related to the senses; and, when feeling takes place, wisdom is shut out. ⁷

Question: Then should we avoid any feeling in relation to the Dharma?

Huángbò: Where no feeling arises, who can say that you are right?

Question: Why do you speak as though I was mistaken in all the questions I have asked Your Reverence?

Huángbò: You are a man who doesn't understand what is said to him. What is all this about being mistaken?

 

Huángbò Xīyùn [died 850?], On Transmission of Mind, translated by John Blofeld, 1958 [source: Terebess]

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Wandering Ronin commentary and questions:

1. Huángbò teaches that there is nowhere to seek outside of ourselves in the effort to realize Mind.

2. Magicians tend to attract large crowds, while the work of the pickpocket is far more subtle.

3. Don't rely on a master for everything; can anyone else do your work for you?

4. One could travel to the ends of the earth and still not find what is right in front of their face.

5. It's already there; does anything need to be done about it?

6. The Way does not lie in building foundations. No castle is impervious, and no book is beyond burning.

7. It is in the moment before a single concept can arise; see the thing itself, not your reactions to it.

Submitted November 03, 2018 at 07:54PM by WanderingRonin77 https://ift.tt/2JBKYwO