Question: You say that our original nature and the act of seeing into it are one and the same'. This can only be so if that nature is totally undifferentiated. Pray explain how it is that, even allowing that there are no real objects for us to perceive, nevertheless we do in fact see what is near to us and are unable to see what is far away.
Huangbo: This is due to a misunderstanding arising from your own delusions. You cannot argue that the Universal Nature does in fact contain real objects on the grounds that 'no real objects to be perceived' would only be true if there were nothing of the kind we CALL perceptible. The nature of the Absolute is neither perceptible nor imperceptible; and with phenomena it is just the same. But to one who has discovered his real nature, how can there be anywhere or anything separate from it? Thus, the six forms of life arising from the four kinds of birth, together with the great world-systems of the universe with their rivers and mountains, are ALL of one pure substance with our own nature. Therefore is it said: 'The perception of a phenomenon is the perception of the Universal Nature, since phenomena and Mind are one and the same.' It is only because you cling to outward forms that you come to 'see', 'hear', 'feel' and 'know' things as individual entities. True perception is beyond your powers so long as you indulge in these.
By such means you will fall among the followers of the usual Mahāyāna and Theravādin doctrines who rely upon deep PERCEPTION to arrive at a true understanding. Therefore they see what is near and fail to see what is far away, but no one on the right path thinks thus. I assure you there is no 'inner' or 'outer', or 'near' or 'far'. The fundamental nature of all phenomena is close beside you, but you do not SEE even that; yet you still go on talking of your inability to see what is far away. What meaning can this sort of talk possibly have?
Huangbo Xiyun: On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Blofeld, 1958 [source: Terebess]
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Wandering Ronin commentary and questions: Huangbo teaches that followers of the way of Zen are to eliminate conceptual thought. As he also teaches, it is that which you see before you—begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error. Combining these instructions with other teachings from the Zen masters and attuning the mind accordingly to them, something quite profound can appear. This path is the elimination of all mental entanglements; if we perceive phenomena and then immediately leap to form concepts about them, then we become bound to those phenomena, causing all manner of ills spring forth.
As the Buddha himself taught, suffering is caused by the attachment to impermanent things. Our sect has carried forth this original teaching; the path of Zen lies in the direction of moving freely among the myriad things without attachment or aversion. Eventually, we are to enter the marketplace with helping hands. Yet what are the myriad things that we can become so readily attached to? All forms are among them, including the physical world, our bodies, senses and even our very thoughts. If every single thought that can arise is still within the realm of the myriad things, how are we to leap clear? This all is entirely in your hands as a follower of the Way.
Submitted February 22, 2019 at 09:00PM by WanderingRoninXIII https://ift.tt/2Vfp5b5
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