The Most Famous Soto Zen Master's "Secret of the Mind Elixir"

Five Houses of Zen is a non-traditional collection of Zen teachings from multiple generations of Zen Masters arranged teacher-to-student.

https://www.amazon.com/Five-Houses-Shambhala-Dragon-Editions-ebook/dp/B00WT66SIG

Dongshan's Verses: Secret of the Mind Elixir

I have a medicine called elixir of mind;

For years it's been refined in the oven of afflictions,

Till I recognized its unchanging color in the matrix

Shining with radiance illuminating the universe.

It opens the eye of reality to see with minute precision; It can change the ordinary mortal into a sage instantly.

To discern the real and the false to complete the work, See to refinement at all times.

It has no shape or form; it is not square or round. There are no things in words; there are no words in things.

Deliberate exploitation is contrary to true function;

When meditating with no intention, everything is Zen.

It neither goes dead nor gets aroused; Everything is at its command. Even the land, wherever the place,

When put in this oven is It.

My idea is to have no particular idea; My knowledge is to have no particular knowledge. There is no uniformity, no indifference;

When the appearance does not change, it's harder to discern. When nothing more appears within,

Don't use anything to stabilize it; Experiential merging with real emptiness Is not cultivation.

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Welcome! ewk comment: Many people will get excited about the word "meditating" in this instructional poem, but this excitement will only last if you aren't a very good student and have trouble paying attention:

1. Opens the eye of reality

   • Aka the the correct Dharma eye http://home.pon.net/wildrose/gateless-6.htm

2. Change ordinary mortal into sage instantly

   • This is a reference to the Sudden Enlightenment teaching of Zen which rejects all practices and refinements

3. Deliberate exploitation is contrary to true function

   • This is a killer line for anybody who "practices" seated meditation

4. When meditating with no intention, everything is Zen [Dhyana].

   • Despite not having seen the Chinese, I'm going to bet that this is a mistranslation.
   • The name "Zen" and the word "dhyana" are the same, but the meaning changes based on context.

5. Don't use anything to stabilize it

   • Another direct rejection of the so-called "practices" like Dogen's Zazen prayer-meditation

6. Experience merging with real emptiness is not cultivation

   • See also: Bodhidharma's Emptiness
   • "Cultivation" is a no-no in Soto Zen as in all the other branches of Zen. www.reddit.com//r/zensangha/wiki/notmeditation

We get people in here all the time who are told that sitting meditation is central to Zen... these people often struggle to read and write at a high school level, and they have gotten all their information not from Zen Masters, but from Buddhist churches. Their practice is, as a result, as shallow as their study.

Submitted May 24, 2022 at 03:13PM by ewk https://ift.tt/3DKnUM8