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Zen Stories
Please see here for some Zen stories. Master is kind enought to show the way......Buddha bless you!
Sitting a long time and not lying down is not logically beneficial. —Hui-neng (tr., Yi Wu)
The Sixth Ancestor Hui-neng was against formal sitting for the sake of just sitting. Unfortunately, this seems to be the practice in modern Zen centers which has led to the questionable practice of marathon sitting otherwise called in Japanese, sesshin, literally meaning, “collecting the mind”.
Hui-neng believed that attachment to the form of sitting missed the whole essence of Zen. He was also against the practice of trying to still the mind in order to make it empty and dark. For Hui-neng, in the midst of ordinary thought, one must try to discover the pristine animative self-nature which continually gives birth to such thoughts. What Hui-neng mainly objected to was equivocating sitting meditation with seeing one’s true nature.
We can carry this one step further by saying that true meditation is to apperceive the pure Mind which is the fountainhead of our mundane thoughts. This Mind is naturally transcendent for the one who discovers it. One is truly awakened when there is not a thought or a phenomenon which is not realized to be dependent upon this creative Mind. Thus, this Mind does not depend on thoughts or phenomena. Nor does it depend on sitting, standing, walking or laying down. Such physical practices will not awaken a common person nor will such practices add to a Buddha’s awakening.
Anyway, take care
Paladin
Sitting a long time and not lying down is not logically beneficial. —Hui-neng (tr., Yi Wu)
The Sixth Ancestor Hui-neng was against formal sitting for the sake of just sitting. Unfortunately, this seems to be the practice in modern Zen centers which has led to the questionable practice of marathon sitting otherwise called in Japanese, sesshin, literally meaning, “collecting the mind”.
Hui-neng believed that attachment to the form of sitting missed the whole essence of Zen. He was also against the practice of trying to still the mind in order to make it empty and dark. For Hui-neng, in the midst of ordinary thought, one must try to discover the pristine animative self-nature which continually gives birth to such thoughts. What Hui-neng mainly objected to was equivocating sitting meditation with seeing one’s true nature.
We can carry this one step further by saying that true meditation is to apperceive the pure Mind which is the fountainhead of our mundane thoughts. This Mind is naturally transcendent for the one who discovers it. One is truly awakened when there is not a thought or a phenomenon which is not realized to be dependent upon this creative Mind. Thus, this Mind does not depend on thoughts or phenomena. Nor does it depend on sitting, standing, walking or laying down. Such physical practices will not awaken a common person nor will such practices add to a Buddha’s awakening.
Anyway, take care
Paladin
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