Having entered the Dharma Hall for a formal instruction, Master Yunmen said:
”It is well known that shallowness [of virtue] is the trend of these times, and that this generation is living at the end of the initiation period of Buddhism; so nowadays, when monks go north, they call this ‘worshiping Manjushri,’ and when they go south they say they ‘journey to Nanyue.’[1] [People who] go on such pilgrimages, though styled ‘mendicant monks,’ just squander the alms of the faithful. What a shame! When asked they turn out to be [as ignorant as] lacquer is black; they just pass their days following their whim. If there are some of them who, by learning like crazy and informing themselves widely, manage to absorb some sayings and are looking everywhere for similar words, they get approved as venerables and lightly dismiss superior men, thus creating karma of misfortune.”
Linji also said:
“Followers of the Way, don’t have your face stamped at random with the seal of sanction by an old master anywhere, then go around saying ‘I understand Ch’an, I understand the Way.’ Though your eloquence is like a rushing torrent, it is nothing but hell-creating karma.”
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[1] Basically describing two main pilgrimages of the time as a stand-in for “following the crowd” to all the prominent teachers.
Submitted September 03, 2019 at 04:53PM by GreenSage45 https://ift.tt/2PELi4J
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