Today I Practiced Zen

Chopped no wood, hauled no water but I did... Sweep and mop the kitchen floor. Vacuumed carpets, did dishes and read Huang Po.

There are three levels of relinquishment. Relinquish everything inside and outside, both physical and mental. Like empty space, cling to nothing; afterward, respond to sentient beings according to their situation while forgetting both subject and object. This is “great relinquishment.” If, from one standpoint, you practice the Way and disseminate merit, but from another standpoint, you have let go of hopes and aspirations, this is “medium relinquishment.”
If you pursue vast practices of wholesome acts, hold on to hopes and aspirations, and when listening to dharma understand emptiness and in turn become free from clinging, this is “small relinquishment.”
Great relinquishment is like a blazing torch right in front of you: there is no further delusion or awakening. Medium relinquishment is like a blazing torch at your side: sometimes it is light and sometimes dark. Small relinquishment is like a blazing torch behind you: you can’t see a hole or a pit [in the path ahead].
Therefore bodhisattvas’ minds are like empty space that relinquishes everything. Their minds in the past were unascertainable, so this is relinquishment of the past; their minds in the present are unascertainable, so this is relinquishment of the present; their minds in the future are unascertainable, so this is relinquishment of the future.
This is what is called relinquishment of everything in the three time periods.

What Zen did you do today?

Submitted February 28, 2022 at 04:37AM by TymotheoTymothei https://ift.tt/NbDYvBp