Zen Buddhism

The raspy-voiced crow
perched on a pine pole
preached the Winged Dharma;
wayward birds trembled, fearing
rebirth as human beings.

- Michael P. Garofalo, Above the Fog

Concerning this great matter, the Tao, everyone has possessed it from the beginning. It is always with each of you. The difficulty is that from the very no-beginning-time the Wonderful Illumination has been covered over by seeds of passion, streams of thought, the flow of conceptualization, and deeply rooted habitual thinking. Therefore, we have never been able to grasp the actual realization itself, but instead have wandered among the shadows of delusory thoughts about mind, body, and the world.

Previously, the Buddha and Patriarchs who incarnated in this world, through the use of thousands of words and various methods, preached the Dharma. All their teachings were nothing but instruments to crush the habitual "clingings" infecting human thought. There is no Dharma in the sense of something real or concrete in that which they have handed down to us. The so-called practice or work is merely a method for purifying the shadows of our habitual thinking and flowing thoughts.

To concentrate all one’s efforts to this end is called "work." If suddenly the surging thoughts stop, one clearly sees that his self-mind is originally pure, genuine, vast, illuminating, perfect, and devoid of objects. This is called "Wu." There is nothing outside of the mind, nothing which can be worked upon, and nothing to be enlightened…. However, the egotistic passions, long-accumulated and rooted within us, are difficult to wipe out.

The first step you should take in Zen work is to forget about all understanding and knowledge and concentrate on one thought. Firmly believe that your self-mind is originally pure and clear, without the slightest trace of any existence – bright, perfect, and ubiquitous throughout the entire universe. From the beginning there was no body, mind, or world, nor any erroneous thoughts or infective passions.

Search out the point where your thoughts arise and disappear. See where a thought arises and vanishes. Keep this point in mind and try to break right through it. Take up this awareness as if holding a sharp sword in your hand.

Abruptly, the violence of mind stops;
Inner body, outer world -both are transparently clear. After the great overturn The great Voidness is broken through.

Oh! How freely the myriad
Manifestations come and go!

Han Shan 1545-1623

Hello here

Hello everyone

Nagarjuna wrote:

Hello everyone

Goodbye everyone

When alive, one keeps sitting without lying down.
When dead, one lies without sitting up.
In both cases, a set of stinking bones!
What has it to do with the great lesson of life?

@Hui neng

*Sends you a diplomatic Cable*

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