Right before your eyes

Linji Yixuan ( 臨濟義玄) once told his students:

Do you want to know the Buddha or the Patriarch? He's none other than you yourself, just as you are now, standing and listening to my speech. It's only because you lack faith in yourselves that you seek for the Buddha or the Patriarch outside of yourselves. Even if you find something through your searching, whatever you find will be nothing more than words and you'll fail to attain the mind of the living Buddha and Patriarch.

Linji also had this to say about the people who came to visit Bodhisattva Manjusri's shrine, which was located near Linji's temple:

The pilgrim who comes to Mount Wutai seeking the Bodhisattva is already lost, because the Bodhisattva isn't to be found on the mountain. If you wish to find him, he's right before your eyes at this very moment. There is nothing else. Don't doubt! This is the living Bodhisattva!

When asked how one should go about seeking awakening, Linji said:

All one has to do is to attend to the circumstances of his life. Rise in the morning and put your clothes, then go to work. When hungry, eat; when tired, rest. Don't have a desire to attain Buddhahood. Don't have even the least thought of it. A wise man of old warned, if you strive for Buddhahood by any conscious deed, this will only lead to constant rebirth.

Lastly, I would like to pose a question: Who is the one reading this teachings?

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(quotes taken from Zen Masters of China by Richard Bryan McDaniel).

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Submitted November 07, 2018 at 11:06PM by Hammerheard https://ift.tt/2qz8wtt