(Record of HuangBo; J. Blofeld translation)
[Q]
Up to now, you have refuted everything which has been said. You have done nothing to point out the true Dharma to us.
[A]
In the true Dharma there is no confusion, but you produce confusion by such questions.
What sort of "true Dharma" can you go seeking for?
[Q]
Since the confusion arises from my questions, what will Your Reverence's answer be?
[A]
Observe things as they are and don't pay attention to other people.
There are some people just like mad dogs barking at everything that moves, even barking when the wind stirs among the grass and leaves.
Regarding this Zen Doctrine of ours, since it was first transmitted, it has never taught that people should seek for learning or form concepts.
"Studying the Way" is just a figure of speech.
It is a method of arousing people's interest in the early stages of their development.
In fact, the Way is not something which can be studied.
Study leads to the retention of concepts and so the Way is entirely misunderstood. Moreover, the Way is not something specially existing; it is called the [Great Vehicle] Mind—Mind which is not to be found inside, outside or in the middle.
Truly it is not located anywhere.
The first step is to refrain from knowledge-based concepts.
This implies that if you were to follow the empirical method to the utmost limit, on reaching that limit you would still be unable to locate Mind.
The Way is spiritual truth and was originally without name or title.
It was only because people ignorantly sought for it empirically that the Buddhas appeared and taught them to eradicate this method of approach. Fearing that nobody would understand, they selected the name "Way" (Dao / 道).
You must not allow this name to lead you into forming a mental concept of a road.
So it is said "When the fish is caught we pay no more attention to the trap."
When body and mind achieve spontaneity, the Way is reached and Mind is understood.
...
[Q]
From all you have just said, Mind is the Buddha; but it is not clear as to what sort of mind is meant by this "Mind which is the Buddha."
[A]
How many minds have you got?
[Q]
But is the Buddha the ordinary mind or the Enlightened mind?
[A]
Where on earth do you keep your "ordinary mind" and your "Enlightened mind"?
[Q]
In the teaching of the Three Vehicles it is stated that there are both. Why does Your Reverence deny it?
[A]
In the teaching of the Three Vehicles it is clearly explained that the ordinary and Enlightened minds are illusions.
You don't understand.
All this clinging to the idea of things existing is to mistake vacuity for the truth. How can such conceptions not be illusory?
Being illusory, they hide Mind from you.
If you would only rid yourselves of the concepts of "ordinary" and "Enlightened", you would find that there is no other Buddha than the Buddha in your own Mind.
When Bodhidharma came from the West, he just pointed out that the substance of which all men are composed is the Buddha.
You people go on misunderstanding; you hold to concepts such as "ordinary" and "Enlightened", directing your thoughts outwards where they gallop about like horses! All this amounts to beclouding your own minds!
So I tell you "Mind is the Buddha."
As soon as thought or sensation arises, you fall into dualism.
Beginningless time and the present moment are the same.
There is no "this" and no "that".
To understand this truth is called compete and unexcelled Enlightenment.
[Q]
Upon what doctrine does Your Reverence base these words?
[A]
Why seek a doctrine? As soon as you have a doctrine, you fall into dualistic thought.
[Q]
Just now you said that the beginningless past and the present are the same. What do you mean by that?
[A]
It is just because of your seeking that you make a difference between them.
If you were to stop seeking, how could there be any difference between them?
[Q]
If they are not different, why did you employ separate terms for them?
[A]
If you hadn't mentioned ordinary and Enlightened, who would have bothered to say such things?
Just as those categories have no real existence, so Mind is not really "mind". And, as both Mind and those categories are really illusions, wherever can you hope to find anything?
[Q]
Illusion can hide from us our own mind, but up to now you have not taught us how to get rid of illusion.
[A]
The arising and the elimination of illusion are both illusory.
Illusion is not something rooted in Reality; it exists because of your dualistic thinking.
If you will only cease to indulge in opposed concepts such as "ordinary" and "Enlightened", illusion will cease of itself.
And then if you still want to destroy it wherever it may be, you will find that there is not a hairsbreadth left of anything on which to lay hold.
This is the meaning of: "I will let go with both hands, for then I shall certainly discover the Buddha in my Mind."
[Q]
If there is nothing on which to lay hold, how is the Dharma to be transmitted?
[A]
It is a transmission of Mind with Mind.
[Q]
If Mind is used for transmission, why do you say that Mind too does not exist?
[A]
Obtaining no Dharma whatever is called Mind transmission.
The understanding of this Mind implies no Mind and no Dharma.
Submitted May 19, 2020 at 10:54PM by xXx_GreenSage_xXx https://ift.tt/2ADI6Py
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