Lin-Chi Clarifying the Environment

Here at my place we don't talk about who is a monk and who is a lay believer. When someone comes to me, I can tell exactly what he is like. Whatever circumstances he may have come from. I rake all his words and utterances to he so many dreams and phantoms. But when I see a man who has learned to master the environment, I know that here is the secret meaning of the buddhas.

A man in a Buddha environment, or state of enlightenment, can't announce himself, saying, "I'm in a Buddha environment." But a man of the Way who has learned to lean on nothing is master of the environment when he appears. If this kind of man appears and says to me, 'I'm looking for the Buddha,' I respond at once by meeting him with a clean and pure environment. If a man asks me about bodhisattvas, I respond at once by meeting him with an environment of pity and compassion. If a man asks me about bodhi, I respond at once by meeting him with an environment of wonderful purity. If a man asks me about nirvana, I respond at once by meeting him with an environment of stillness and tranquillity. The environment takes ten thousand different shapes, but the person never varies. Therefore in response to the object he manifests different forms, like the moon in the water.

^{[From the Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi, translated by Burton Watson]} __________________________________________________________

How about you? Did you master the environment yet?

Submitted April 15, 2020 at 09:09PM by Karokuma https://ift.tt/2Vdu1Aq