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We come to this world a traveler, and nothing more. We temporarily take up residence in this body, and borrow all of our possessions from others.
Seen from this perspective, the "luggage" of one's life is actually very light and easy to handle.
But if we immerse ourselves in the pursuit of wealth, fame and pleasure, never seeking a deeper meaning to existence, then we add lead weights to our luggage.
In a situation of impermanence, desire does not create permanence - only needless difficulty.
Who checks into a hotel for the night, and then proceeds to renovate the room because it doesn't suit their taste?
Householder Fo'en - Approaching Buddhism
3
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
The moment of your conception is a moment of continuation, of manifesting in another form. If you keep looking you’ll see that instead of birth and death, there’s only continuing, manifestation.
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
"You have to save yourself. No matter how solid I am, I cannot swim for you. You have to hold onto your breathing. Keep your mind calm in the present moment and learn to look deeply to see the value, the miracles of the moment in each of your daily tasks, like washing dishes, cleaning, and gardening. Do not leave the present moment. Do not let yourself become a victim of a situation. Do you hear me?"
"It is better to master the mind than be mastered by mind" ~Chan~
4
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“The Great Way is not difficult
for those who do not pick and choose.
When preferences are cast aside
the Way stands clear and undisguised.
But even slight distinctions made
set earth and heaven far apart.
If you would clearly see the truth,
discard opinions pro and con.
To founder in dislike and like
is nothing but the mind’s disease”
— Sosan
2
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
edited October 2021
"If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion.”
'Despising' the scarred sacred and venerating the ordinary is also just bobbing. What then to do to go beyond duality?
Linji advises:
If you try to grasp Zen in movement, it goes into stillness. If you try to grasp Zen in stillness, it goes into movement. It is like a fish hidden in a spring, drumming up waves and dancing independently.
The moment a student blinks his eye, he's already way off. The moment he tries to think, he's already differed. The moment he arouses a thought, he's already deviated. But for the man who understands, it's always right there before his eyes.
If you want to perceive and understand objectively, just don’t allow yourself to be confused by people. Detach from whatever you find inside or outside yourself – detach from religion, tradition, and society, and only then will you attain liberation. When you are not entangled in things, you pass through freely to autonomy.
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
Despising' the scarred sacred and venerating the ordinary is also just bobbing. What then to do to go beyond duality?
There is no difference between the sacred and the ordinary except through personal bias. I don't think we have to live beyond duality to see it for what it is. The mountains and rivers once again are said to be mountains and rivers. Otherwise the Buddha would never have taught. He wouldn't have been able to.
I find it helpful to try seeing with the insight of Interbeing and looking for the Middle Way between the extremes. Even the extemes of duality and non-duality.
Reading Master Linjis teachings, I am glad Thay puts his own insights in there when he teaches. He seems a little more... inclusive and insightful in many ways. For instance Master Linji always uses "He" and "man" when talking about any students or teachers while Thay recognises and welcomes our feminine perspective as easy as the masculine.
Oh well. Just a personal observation but it is nice to see us grow.
"Around us, life bursts forth with miracles—a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere.
Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life’s daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there."
~Thich Nhat Hanh
4
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
"When you wake up and you see that the Earth is not just the environment, the Earth is us, you touch the nature of interbeing. And at that moment you can have real communication with the Earth."
-Thích Nhất Hạnh
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
edited December 2021
""We come into his world alone, we depart alone" - this is also illusion. I will teach you the way. Not to come, not to go."
"The Awareness of Emptiness is not a blank loss of consciousness, an inanimate space, rather it is the cognition of daily life without the attachment to it...It is an awareness of distinct entities of the self, of good and bad and other practical determinations; but it is aware of these as empty structures *."
~Christmas Humphreys ~ ( I think but not quite sure)...
There are some good documentaries on YouTube about Cold Mountain
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“You can see non-self in impermanence, and impermanence in non-self. You can say that impermanence is non-self seen from the angle of time, and non-self is impermanence seen from the angle of space. They are the same thing. That is why impermanence and non-self inter-are.”
"Sometimes teaching is hard work. A teacher is like a garbage can that people throw their frustrations and problems into. The more people you teach, the bigger the garbage disposal problems. But teaching is a wonderful way to practice Dhamma. Those who teach grow in patience and in understanding. " ~Ajahn Chan~
"Outward scriptural study is not important. Of course, the Dhamma books are correct, but they are not right. They can not give you right understanding. To see the word 'anger' in print is not the same as experiencing anger. Only experiencing for yourself can give you true faith." ~Ajahn Chan~
“If you see things with real insight, then there is no stickiness in your relationship to them. They come, pleasant and unpleasant, you see them and there is no attachment, They come and they pass. Even if the worst kinds of defilement come up, such as greed or anger, there enough wisdom to see their impermanent nature and allow them to fade away. If you react to them, by liking or disliking, that is not wisdom. You're only creating more suffering for yourself.”
― Ajahn Chah
The categories of teachings are endless. The entrance doors to the vehicles are innumerable. The words to be explained are extensive. Even if you succeed in memorizing millions of volumes of dharma scriptures, unless you are able to practice the essential meaning, you can never be sure that they will help you at the moment of death. And even if your education in studies and reflections is boundless, unless you succeed in being in harmony with the dharma, you will not tame your enemy, negative emotions. Even if you succeed in being the owner of a trillion worlds, unless you can curtail your plans from within with the feeling that nothing more is needed, you will never know contentment. Unless you prepare yourself with the attitude that your death could happen at any time, you cannot achieve the great aim that is surely needed at the time of death.
Longchenpa
Ah ha!
Nothing more is needed! Nothing less than nothing more!
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can’t solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important.”
― Ajahn Chah
You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point the way. Those meditative ones who tread the path are released from the bonds of Mara.
Dhp 276
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought.”
— Basho
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Real poetry, is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it.”
― Basho
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“The moon and sun are travelers through eternity. Even the years wander on. Whether drifting through life on a boat or climbing toward old age leading a horse, each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”
― Basho
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.”
― Matsuo Basho
“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.”
― Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind
Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng-T'san - The Third Patriarch of Zen
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood,
the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things and such
erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity by passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things
is to miss their reality;
To assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth;
only cease to cherish opinions.
do not remain in the dualistic state.
Avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace of this and that,
of right and wrong,
the mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One,
do not be attached even to this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
nothing in the world can offend.
And when a thing can no longer offend,
it ceases to exist in the old way.
When no discriminating thoughts arise,
the old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish,
the thinking-subject vanishes:
As when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.
Things are objects because of the subject (mind):
the mind (subject) is such because of things (object).
Understand the relativity of these two
and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.
In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
and each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.
To live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult.
But those with limited views are fearful and irresolute:
the faster they hurry, the slower they go.
And clinging (attachment) cannot be limited:
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way
and there will be neither coming not going.
Obey the nature of things (your own nature)
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When the thought is in bondage the truth is hidden
for everything is murky and unclear.
And the burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefit can be derived
from distinctions and separations?
If you wish to move in the One Way
do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
is identical with enlightenment.
The wise man strives to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many.
Distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.
Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment
there is no liking and disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams or flowers in air -
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong,
such thoughts must
finally be abolished at once.
If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things are as they are,
of single essence.
To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached,
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion,
both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.
For the unified mind in accord with the way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage:
Nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with no exertion of the mind's power.
Here thought, feeling,
knowledge and imagination are of no value.
In this world of suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just say when doubt rises "not two".
In this "not two" nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension
or diminution in time and space:
In it a single thought is ten thousand years.
Emptiness here, emptiness there,
but the infinite universe
stands always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Don't waste time in doubts and arguments
That have nothing to do with this.
One thing, all things,
move among and intermingle without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,
because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.
Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.
Faith in Amitabha’s deliverance contains real merit and virtues.
Doubt in Amitabha’s deliverance is upside down and ignorant.
Faith in Amitabha’s deliverance is an absolute virtue.
Doubt in Amitabha’s deliverance is the greatest offense.
Namo Amituofo!
Short Dharma Teachings Expressing the Perception of the Pure Land
"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
The famous saying of Ch'ing-yüan Wei-hsin (Seigen Ishin):
Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains,
and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came
to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are
not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's
just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as
waters.
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
War exists only because people are willing to kill others for a soldier’s wages, on the orders of some politician. If people were to say no to that, on principle, the world would look quite different.
A man of the Way comes
Rapping at my brushwood gate,
Wants to discuss the
Essentials of Zen experience.
Don’t take it wrong if this
Mountain monk’s too lazy
To open his mouth:
Late spring warblers
Singing their hearts out,
A village of drifting petals.
"Monks, this holy life doesn't have as its reward gain, offerings, & fame, doesn't have as its reward consummation of virtue, doesn't have as its reward consummation of concentration, doesn't have as its reward knowledge & vision, but the unprovoked awareness-release: That is the purpose of this holy life, that is its heartwood, that its final end."
Everybody is looking for something that isn’t available.
It’s worse than looking for a needle in a haystack;
At least the needle is there, even though it’s hard to find.
But satisfaction and self are both delusions, so how can they ever be found?
Comments
We come to this world a traveler, and nothing more. We temporarily take up residence in this body, and borrow all of our possessions from others.
Seen from this perspective, the "luggage" of one's life is actually very light and easy to handle.
But if we immerse ourselves in the pursuit of wealth, fame and pleasure, never seeking a deeper meaning to existence, then we add lead weights to our luggage.
In a situation of impermanence, desire does not create permanence - only needless difficulty.
Who checks into a hotel for the night, and then proceeds to renovate the room because it doesn't suit their taste?
The moment of your conception is a moment of continuation, of manifesting in another form. If you keep looking you’ll see that instead of birth and death, there’s only continuing, manifestation.
Thich Nhat Hanh-No Death, No Fear.
"You have to save yourself. No matter how solid I am, I cannot swim for you. You have to hold onto your breathing. Keep your mind calm in the present moment and learn to look deeply to see the value, the miracles of the moment in each of your daily tasks, like washing dishes, cleaning, and gardening. Do not leave the present moment. Do not let yourself become a victim of a situation. Do you hear me?"
Thay to this students in 1975
"It is better to master the mind than be mastered by mind"
~Chan~
“The Great Way is not difficult
for those who do not pick and choose.
When preferences are cast aside
the Way stands clear and undisguised.
But even slight distinctions made
set earth and heaven far apart.
If you would clearly see the truth,
discard opinions pro and con.
To founder in dislike and like
is nothing but the mind’s disease”
— Sosan
"If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion.”
Master Linji
Tee Hee!
Thanks @David 💗
'Despising' the scarred sacred and venerating the ordinary is also just bobbing. What then to do to go beyond duality?
Linji advises:
♾ I may have to just sit or just not or just jest …
http://wonderwheels.blogspot.com/2011/01/quotes-for-linjis-memorial-day.html
@Lobster;
There is no difference between the sacred and the ordinary except through personal bias. I don't think we have to live beyond duality to see it for what it is. The mountains and rivers once again are said to be mountains and rivers. Otherwise the Buddha would never have taught. He wouldn't have been able to.
I find it helpful to try seeing with the insight of Interbeing and looking for the Middle Way between the extremes. Even the extemes of duality and non-duality.
Reading Master Linjis teachings, I am glad Thay puts his own insights in there when he teaches. He seems a little more... inclusive and insightful in many ways. For instance Master Linji always uses "He" and "man" when talking about any students or teachers while Thay recognises and welcomes our feminine perspective as easy as the masculine.
Oh well. Just a personal observation but it is nice to see us grow.
"Around us, life bursts forth with miracles—a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere.
Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life’s daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there."
~Thich Nhat Hanh
"When you wake up and you see that the Earth is not just the environment, the Earth is us, you touch the nature of interbeing. And at that moment you can have real communication with the Earth."
-Thích Nhất Hạnh
"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know."
~Pema Chödrön~
"When the intellect ventures into where it does not belong, it becomes lost in its own confusion"
~Quote from Christmas Humphreys's book Zen Buddhism~
""We come into his world alone, we depart alone" - this is also illusion. I will teach you the way. Not to come, not to go."
--Ikkyu
"The Awareness of Emptiness is not a blank loss of consciousness, an inanimate space, rather it is the cognition of daily life without the attachment to it...It is an awareness of distinct entities of the self, of good and bad and other practical determinations; but it is aware of these as empty structures *."
~Christmas Humphreys ~ ( I think but not quite sure)...
https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Chinese/HanShan.php
There are some good documentaries on YouTube about Cold Mountain
“You can see non-self in impermanence, and impermanence in non-self. You can say that impermanence is non-self seen from the angle of time, and non-self is impermanence seen from the angle of space. They are the same thing. That is why impermanence and non-self inter-are.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
"Sometimes teaching is hard work. A teacher is like a garbage can that people throw their frustrations and problems into. The more people you teach, the bigger the garbage disposal problems. But teaching is a wonderful way to practice Dhamma. Those who teach grow in patience and in understanding. "
~Ajahn Chan~
"Outward scriptural study is not important. Of course, the Dhamma books are correct, but they are not right. They can not give you right understanding. To see the word 'anger' in print is not the same as experiencing anger. Only experiencing for yourself can give you true faith."
~Ajahn Chan~
“If you see things with real insight, then there is no stickiness in your relationship to them. They come, pleasant and unpleasant, you see them and there is no attachment, They come and they pass. Even if the worst kinds of defilement come up, such as greed or anger, there enough wisdom to see their impermanent nature and allow them to fade away. If you react to them, by liking or disliking, that is not wisdom. You're only creating more suffering for yourself.”
― Ajahn Chah
The categories of teachings are endless. The entrance doors to the vehicles are innumerable. The words to be explained are extensive. Even if you succeed in memorizing millions of volumes of dharma scriptures, unless you are able to practice the essential meaning, you can never be sure that they will help you at the moment of death. And even if your education in studies and reflections is boundless, unless you succeed in being in harmony with the dharma, you will not tame your enemy, negative emotions. Even if you succeed in being the owner of a trillion worlds, unless you can curtail your plans from within with the feeling that nothing more is needed, you will never know contentment. Unless you prepare yourself with the attitude that your death could happen at any time, you cannot achieve the great aim that is surely needed at the time of death.
Longchenpa
Ah ha!
Nothing more is needed! Nothing less than nothing more!
“You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can’t solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important.”
― Ajahn Chah
You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point the way. Those meditative ones who tread the path are released from the bonds of Mara.
Dhp 276
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought.”
— Basho
“Real poetry, is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it.”
― Basho
“The moon and sun are travelers through eternity. Even the years wander on. Whether drifting through life on a boat or climbing toward old age leading a horse, each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”
― Basho
“There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.”
― Matsuo Basho
He who has no attachment, who through perfect knowledge is free from doubts and has plunged into the Deathless - him do I call a holy man.
Dhp 411
These dove coloured bones are like gourds that lie scattered about in Autumn. Having seen them, how can one seek delight?
Dhp 149
“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.”
― Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind
Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng-T'san - The Third Patriarch of Zen
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood,
the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things and such
erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity by passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things
is to miss their reality;
To assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth;
only cease to cherish opinions.
do not remain in the dualistic state.
Avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace of this and that,
of right and wrong,
the mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One,
do not be attached even to this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
nothing in the world can offend.
And when a thing can no longer offend,
it ceases to exist in the old way.
When no discriminating thoughts arise,
the old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish,
the thinking-subject vanishes:
As when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.
Things are objects because of the subject (mind):
the mind (subject) is such because of things (object).
Understand the relativity of these two
and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.
In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
and each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.
To live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult.
But those with limited views are fearful and irresolute:
the faster they hurry, the slower they go.
And clinging (attachment) cannot be limited:
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way
and there will be neither coming not going.
Obey the nature of things (your own nature)
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When the thought is in bondage the truth is hidden
for everything is murky and unclear.
And the burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefit can be derived
from distinctions and separations?
If you wish to move in the One Way
do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
is identical with enlightenment.
The wise man strives to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many.
Distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.
Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment
there is no liking and disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams or flowers in air -
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong,
such thoughts must
finally be abolished at once.
If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things are as they are,
of single essence.
To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached,
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion,
both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.
For the unified mind in accord with the way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage:
Nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with no exertion of the mind's power.
Here thought, feeling,
knowledge and imagination are of no value.
In this world of suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just say when doubt rises "not two".
In this "not two" nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension
or diminution in time and space:
In it a single thought is ten thousand years.
Emptiness here, emptiness there,
but the infinite universe
stands always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Don't waste time in doubts and arguments
That have nothing to do with this.
One thing, all things,
move among and intermingle without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,
because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.
Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.
Faith in Amitabha’s deliverance contains real merit and virtues.
Doubt in Amitabha’s deliverance is upside down and ignorant.
Faith in Amitabha’s deliverance is an absolute virtue.
Doubt in Amitabha’s deliverance is the greatest offense.
Namo Amituofo!
"It's not enough to be right, you have to be right at the right time..."
~Thupten Jinpa~
"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
The famous saying of Ch'ing-yüan Wei-hsin (Seigen Ishin):
Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains,
and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came
to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are
not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's
just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as
waters.
Pick your own!
http://www.planetofsuccess.com/blog/2017/enlightening-buddha-quotes/
Own your pick …
“When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.”
Buddha
War exists only because people are willing to kill others for a soldier’s wages, on the orders of some politician. If people were to say no to that, on principle, the world would look quite different.
The past should not be followed after,
And the future not desired;
What is past is dead and gone,
And the future is yet to come.
MN 3.272
“If a man going down into a river, swollen and swiftly flowing, is carried away by the current — how can he help others across?”
More fake and real quotes here. Which do you prefer? Useful or authentic? Both eh …
https://parade.com/970462/parade/buddha-quotes/
Shinran
"Monks, this holy life doesn't have as its reward gain, offerings, & fame, doesn't have as its reward consummation of virtue, doesn't have as its reward consummation of concentration, doesn't have as its reward knowledge & vision, but the unprovoked awareness-release: That is the purpose of this holy life, that is its heartwood, that its final end."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.029.than.html
Tee Hee @FleaMarket
Straight to the heartwood. I likes it!
“Meditate … do not delay, lest you later regret it.”
https://www.realbuddhaquotes.com/tag/meditation/
We haz plan!
Everybody is looking for something that isn’t available.
It’s worse than looking for a needle in a haystack;
At least the needle is there, even though it’s hard to find.
But satisfaction and self are both delusions, so how can they ever be found?
Ayya Khema