Huángbò Xīyùn: Those who hasten towards it dare not enter, fearing to hurtle down through the void with nothing to cling to or to stay their fall. So they look to the brink and retreat. This refers to all those who seek such a goal through cognition.

Making offerings to all the Buddhas of the universe is not equal to making offerings to one follower of the Way who has eliminated conceptual thought. Why? Because such a one forms no concepts whatever. The substance of the Absolute is inwardly like wood or stone, in that it is motionless, and outwardly like the void, in that it is without bounds or obstructions. It is neither subjective nor objective, has no specific location, is formless, and cannot vanish.

Those who hasten towards it dare not enter, fearing to hurtle down through the void with nothing to cling to or to stay their fall. So they look to the brink and retreat. This refers to all those who seek such a goal through cognition. Thus, those who seek the goal through cognition are like the fur [many], while those who obtain intuitive knowledge of the Way are like the horns [few]

Huángbò Xīyùn [died 850?]: On Transmission of Mind, translated by John Blofeld, 1954

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Wandering Ronin commentary and questions: This thread was made in response to /u/hookdump and his thread about me regarding the way that I feel is the most natural for me to follow the path of Zen. I know that it is in error to have a commentary longer than the quote, but bear with me because it speaks to how people practice and follow Zen, and it is quite informative on the subject at hand. Hookdump and I have a complicated history; we both came into the forum close to the same time about a year ago, with him being about several weeks after me. We've been allies, enemies and everything else in between. He would tell you that we've never been anything, of course, because that is his way. I have italicized a few points above from an excerpt of Huángbò's magnus opus to elucidate a few things about this contentious relationship of ours, and what it exposes that Hookdump may not quite be able to see as of yet.

What is the true way to follow Zen? Is there a right way, or a wrong way? Some would even say that you can't follow Zen, or even that you can't follow Zen without zazen meditation. Time and time again, I see people criticize others for not following their chosen way of following or practicing Zen, which is most certainly not Zen from what I've seen.

Which brings me to the point. Hookdump apparently has a scholarly and studious approach to Zen, while mine is more of a free form and "live and let live" open way. Who's way is right, and who's is wrong? I don't think I have the right to criticize anyone for how they feel that they should follow Zen. We get from Zen what we bring with us. Should I try to deny you what you feel you need? If Hookdump wants to parse through every Zen text ever written, believing that he'll find the way to liberation by study and thought, then that is more than fine by me. Yet according to the passage by Huángbò above, he is apparently approaching Zen as the many [fur], while I am approaching Zen as the few [horns].

Huángbò says over and over again, eliminate conceptual thought. That is not some ethereal and esoteric thing that is impossible to comprehend. I read it just as it is: let all of these mental structures fall, and don't look at the concepts and opinions you form on things, look at the things themselves. This I feel is the true way of Zen, because it is not binding and it frees the mind from the continuous snares of the myriad things.

Huángbò also expounds here that to seek the goal through cognition is to look to the brink and retreat. Again, those who obtain intuitive knowledge of the Way are like the horns [few], so what does that mean? For me, Huángbò is showing that books are not the way, and neither is building concepts. We already have more than enough concepts, and the non-practitioner of Zen is overburdened with them. Why do we need more? What will that accomplish?

I've told people here in the forum again and again, the Zen masters are merely pointing the way to you through the texts, and the texts cannot get you across the river. If you are willing to burn the texts after you are done reading them because you have seen what they point towards, then you are free from the very concepts they teach, including Zen itself. You have to get to a certain point and stop clinging to things, including this binding concept of 'self', and only then will you come to an understanding of what they are pointing towards, which is merely 'mind'. It is quite ordinary in the end. What more is there to learn, then? One has to be willing to fall into the void, not being supported by comfortable mental structures that are supported by binding theories and pleasant words. There really are no structures, and to cling to them is not to enter the void completely. [mic drop]

Submitted December 24, 2018 at 11:23AM by WanderingRoninXIII http://bit.ly/2GyDGfo