Slander as Ambrosial Truth

In his "Song of Enlightenment, Yongjia Xuanjue wrote:

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The best student goes directly to the ultimate,

The others are very learned but their faith is uncertain.

Remove the dirty garments from your own mind;

Why should you show off your outward striving?

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Some may slander, some may abuse;

They try to set fire to the heavens with a torch

And end by merely tiring themselves out.

I hear their scandal as though it were ambrosial truth;

Immediately everything melts

And I enter the place beyond thought and words.

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When I consider the virtue of abusive words,

I find the scandal-monger is my good teacher.

If we do not become angry at gossip,

We have no need for powerful endurance and compassion.

To be mature in Zen is to be mature in expression,

And full-moon brilliance of dhyana and prajna

Does not stagnate in emptiness.

Not only can I take hold of complete enlightenment by myself,

But all Buddha-bodies, like sands of the Ganges,

Can become awakened in exactly the some way.

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How do you meet slander or abuse?

Yongjia's words are a nice reminder that people's words and actions are a reflection of their conditioning. The slander they hurl says more about their own mind state than it does about me.

While it's not always easy, realizing this saves a lot of energy. We don't need powerful endurance. Everything melts. No pity or blame.

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The moon shines on the river,

The wind blows through the pines,

Whose providence is this long beautiful evening?

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When was the last time you were on the receiving end? How did that go? How do you work with it?

Submitted August 30, 2022 at 09:15PM by FingersTyping https://ift.tt/QJuPpCj