Foyan #48
Keys to Zen Mind
You should not set up limitations in the boundless void, but if you set up limitlessness as the boundless void, you encompass your own downfall. Therefore, those who understand voidness have no concept of voidness.
If people use words to describe mind, they never apprehend mind; if people do not describe mind in words, they still do not apprehend mind. Speech is fundamentally mind; you do not apprehend it because of describing it. Speechlessness is fundamentally mind; you do not apprehend it because of not describing it. Whatever sorts of understanding you use to approximate it, none tally with your own mind itself.
A high master said, "It is only tacit harmony." Because it is like this, if you haven't attained the path yet, just do not entertain any false thoughts. If people recognize false thoughts and deliberately try to stop them, it's because you see there are false thoughts. If you know you're having false thoughts and deliberately practice contemplation to effect perception of truth, this is also seeing that there are false thoughts. If you know that falsehood is fundamentally the path, then there is no falsehood in it. Therefore those who master the path have no attainment. If the path were sought by deliberate intention, the path would be something attained. Just do not seek elsewhere, and realize there is no confusion or falsehood; this is called seeing the path.
In recent times, everyone says, "Nothing is not the path." They are like people sitting by a food basket talking about eating; they can never be filled, because they do not themselves partake. Realization obliterates the subject-object split; it's not that there's some mysterious principle besides. In your daily activities, when you see forms, this is an instance of realization; when you hear sounds, this is an instance of realization; when you eat and drink, this is an instance of realization. Each particular is without subject or object.
This is not a matter of longtime practice; it does not depend on cultivation. That is because it is something that is already there. Worldly people, who do not recognize it, call it roaming aimlessly. That is why it is said, "Only by experiential realization do you know it is unfathomable."
People who study the path clearly know there is such a thing; why do they fail to get the message, and go on doubting? It is because their faith is not complete enough and their doubt is not deep enough. Only with depth and completeness, be it faith or doubt, is it really Zen; if you are incapable of introspection like this, you will eventually get lost in confusion and lose the thread, wearing out and stumbling halfway along the road. But if you can look into yourself, there is no one else.
Once we say "this matter," how can we know it any more than that? "Knowledge" may be arbitrary thought, but this matter itself isn't lost. 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 enter 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.
People say that to practice cultivation only after realizing enlightenment is in the province of curative methodology, but Zen also admits of using true knowledge and vision as a curative. In terms of a particular individual, however, this may not be necessary.
"The path of Buddhahood is eternal; only after long endurance of hard work can it then be realized." It is continuous throughout past, present, and future; the ordinary and the holy are one suchness—this is why it is said that "the path of Buddhahood is eternal." If you do not produce differing views, you never leave it—this is the point of "long endurance of hard work." Ultimately there is no separate reality—thus it is said that it "can then be realized."
This is a matter for strong people. People who do not discern what is being asked give replies depending on what comes up. They do not know it is something you ask yourself—to whom would you answer? When people do not understand an answer, they produce views based on words. They do not know it is something you answer for yourself—what truth have you found, and where does it lead? Therefore it is said, "It's all you." Look! Look!
Some people say, "The verbal teachings given out by the enlightened ones since ancient times circulate throughout the world, each distinctly clear. Why is all this oneself? That is profound ingratitude toward the kindness of the ancient sages." I now reply that I am actually following the source message of the enlightened ones; you yourselves turn your backs on it, not I. If you say they have some doctrine, you are thereby slandering the enlightened.
Do not be someone who finally cuts off the seed of enlightenment; if you do not discern the ultimate within yourself, whatever you do will be artificial. No matter how much you memorize, or how many words you understand, it will be of no benefit to you. Thus it is said, "You want to listen attentively to Buddha; why doesn't Buddha listen to himself? If you seek a formal Buddha outside the listening, it will not resemble you."
An adept said, "For me to make a statement in reply to you is not particularly hard; now if you could gain understanding at a single saying, that would amount to something." If you do not understand, then I have gone wrong.
Students nowadays all consider question and answer to be essential to Zen, not realizing that this is a grasping and rejecting conceptual attitude. Terms such as study "in reference to principle" and "in reference to phenomena" are recently coined expressions. Even if you have a little perception, you still shouldn't stop; haven't you heard it said that the path of nirvana aims at absolute liberation?
NOTES FROM AN 🦉
What is the business of the Zen school? Bodhidharma transmitted the mind seal, and a succession of Patriarchs spread Zen across the land for hundreds of years.
There was no mysterious principles to be grasped or transmitted, only the self realization of the ceaseless instantiation of the mind-ground in every particular.
Zen schools spread the Dharma, awakening Zen Masters, who embody the Dharma. They are living Buddhas, at all times they reiterate a singular message, speaking from a singular source, awakening all people to the true nature of reality.
Is that your goal? Don’t act like hungry ghosts, stuffing yourselves on these old sayings, looking at each other for answers, prodding each other with questions, falling into conceptual traps.
The realization of enlightenment is only the first step for a Zen Master. There is still the long and hard work of realizing Buddhahood.
It’s rather simple. It just requires a lifetime of not producing differing views. Haven’t you heard it said that the path of Nirvana aims at ultimate liberation?
Submitted May 31, 2022 at 07:53PM by Owlsdoom https://ift.tt/v71FeYU
No comments:
Post a Comment