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 [enlightenment], 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 tranquility.
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.
Linji
Enlightenment isn't an announcement or proclamation; compared with Buddhist soteriology it isn't the some 'mental state' that is above and beyond others or dwelling in some state of purity.
Above we have dynamic response to environments being what Linji raises as the contrast--a dynamic response that dos not rest on anything, like that moon-in-water people keep on yammering on about.
How do you recognize it?
Submitted July 20, 2020 at 02:46AM by ThatKir https://ift.tt/30lVu48
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