A monk asked,
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“What is the cultivation of the Way?”
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The Patriarch replied, “The Way does not belong to cultivation.
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If one speaks of any attainment through cultivation, whatever is accomplished in that way is still subject to regress."
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Let us look at Chinese characters involved in the translation of "The Way does not belong to cultivation."
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I want to encourage you to look at and relate to the Chinese directly yourselves based on the range of possible translations these characters have in English.
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道不用修
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Let's explore!
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1. 道
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This is the character for "Way, Path or Road." The Tao. It could also be translated as "method" or "principle".
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2. 不
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This is a simple 'negation', although an ancient one.
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3. 用
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Now we are getting to the meat...
- to use; to employ; to operate
- use; utility; usefulness
- (honorific) to eat; to drink
- expenses; outlay
- with; by; using
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4. 修
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And here we are to the translated "cultivation". Let us see how else the word is related to get a broader idea of what it means:
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- to decorate; to embellish
- to repair; to mend
- (education) to study; to cultivate; to take a course
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So, what does Mazu mean when he says there is no 'use' or 'operation' of a 'cultivation' or 'mending'?
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What if there was nothing fundamentally wrong with you?
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Nothing to fix? Nothing to cultivate? Nothing to study?
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You could rest easy, couldn't you?
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I mean...you can cultivate, study and mend things....
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but not because you have to or need to.
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But because you want to.
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Zen is not about what you want, though.
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To confuse 'Freedom' itself with what some people choose to do with 'Freedom' is the great tragedy of the cultists.
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https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%81%93
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8D
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%94%A8
Submitted November 12, 2018 at 03:06AM by Pikkko https://ift.tt/2RRztEB
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