Foyan and Yunmen: The path is not revealed only after explanation and direction; it is inherently always out in the open. Explanation and direction are expedient methods, used to get you to realize enlightenment; they are also temporary byroads.

The path is not revealed only after explanation and direction; it is inherently always out in the open. Explanation and direction are expedient methods, used to get you to realize enlightenment; they are also temporary byroads. Some attain realization through explanation, some attain realization through direction, some attain by spontaneous awakening; ultimately there is nothing different, no separate attainment. It is simply a matter of reaching the source of mind.

Foyan Qingyuan [1067-1120]

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Master Yunmen once brought up this story: Master Xuefeng said, "There are many who sit by a rice bucket starving to death, and many who sit by a river dying of thirst." Master Xuansha commented, "There are many sitting inside a rice bucket starving to death, and many submerged in water still dying of thirst." Then Master Yunmen said, "The whole body is rice, the whole body is water!"

Yunmen Wenyan [864–949]

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Commentary and questions: What is the great matter at hand, and is there anything left to be resolved? To understand and settle the matter, one must realize the error in continuing to give away their freedom to thoughts of this and that, or self and other. Furthermore, unresolved distinctions can run much, much deeper than one may at first realize; is there anything that you may have missed among the myriad things?

Here, Foyan teaches: The path is not revealed only after explanation and direction; it is inherently always out in the open, which compassionately points in all directions at once. The path is not some specific thing, practice or set of ancient instructions from a thousand years ago; the path is right here, right now, and everywhere at once. How could that be? What is the common single denominator in everything that your perceptions, thoughts and sensations grasp? It quite literally can be nothing other than your mind.

To further corroborate these points, we can look to this case from Yunmen: this discussion regards the metaphorical matter of starving while sitting next to a rice bucket, or dying of thirst while sitting by a river. What could be missed that is right here with us, right out in the open? Yunmen said, "The whole body is rice, the whole body is water!", revealing that there is nowhere else to seek, and to look elsewhere other than mind is to miss the great matter entirely.

Submitted November 17, 2019 at 08:34PM by WanderingRoninXIII https://ift.tt/2XmlZ7y