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introduction heart sutra has 260 words condensing the major meaningof prajna wisdom it also includes the thoughts ofthe mahayana and hinayana heart sutra is amongthousands of classic volumes that have the fewest wordsbut the richest meaning in simple and clear wordsheart sutra describes "the world of senses is the voidand vice versa." as its philosophyand denies all other desires
it states how clear and simplethe human mind is and how clever andmortal our heart is everything beyond this worldstarts from the true heart that is why this book is called"heart sutra" from yao qin to songa period of six hundred years heart of wisdom was translated intoeleven different languages but all of them have been long gone and left no copiesto the present day of all the versions, the most widelyspread was one translated
by master tang hsyan tsangpeople called him tang san zan he was from honan province, loyan he tang hsyan tsang became a monkwhen he was thirteen and whenhe was twenty-six years old he traveled to india to acquire valued buddhist scriptures for china the heart sutra when bodhisattva quan yin practised the most profound wisdom,
the wisdom illuminated quan yin to see thateverything in the universe is kong,including the five aggregates of physical and mental activities; all the material worldand all decisions, sensations, perceptions,and awareness. whoever understandsthat everything is kong rises above all personal suffering and misfortune.
buddha shakyamunielaborated this wisdom further to his disciple sariputra : the material world is not different from kong, kong is not different from the material world. the material world is therefore kong, and kong istherefore the material world. kong is alsoall sensations, perceptions, decisions, and all awareness.
sariputra, all phenomena andobservations are kong. phenomena such as life and death, filth and cleanliness,gain and loss are all kong.since kong is everything, there can be no material world and no sensations perceptionsdecisions, or awareness from the viewpoint ofa separate self, no separate eyes,ears, nose, tongue,
body, or mind,no form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or any other phenomena, no individual view point, no individual field ofconsciousness, no delusion of separation, and no ending ofthe delusion of separation, no aging and death, and no ending of aging and death. the four phases of cultivationno longer exist.
this principle makes no one wiser, since there is no separate self; no individual gains anything, since there is nothingseparate to be gained. people receive enlightenment because they followthis perfect wisdom. they have wide-open hearts without worries and, therefore, none of the worries ofa separate self.
the also have no fear. all delusions and self-centeredfantasies are far removed. enlightenedones reach ultimate nirvana. three generations of buddhas havefollowed this ultimate wisdom and attainedthe highest perfect enlightenment. therefore,come to know this ultimate wisdom in a grand spiritual mantra, a great enlightenment mantra,a supreme mantra, a mantra with no peers that is able to end all suffering.
this wisdom is realand not an illusion. therefore,the perfect wisdom mantra has been proclaimed. chant the mantra this way: gate, gate paragate,parasamgate, bodhi svaha essence of the heart sutra among more than 5 billion peoplein this world only a handful are"enlightened ones" who have understoodthe ultimate truth in life
we refer to each of them as "buddha" let's presume that the worldthey live in is "the other shore" most of the rest ofall living beings mistake the real essence of life and live in distorted illusionsof this world let's call their world "this shore" people who live on this shore are preoccupied withthe subjective ego-self
at any time and placethey happen to be they hold ontotheir sense of ego-self like a needle fallinginto a bucket of water not willing to dissolveinto the water of time and space as long as the ego-self existsthere are judgments which contrast "i" with time and spacesuch as good vs. bad high status vs. low class as long as the ego-self existsthere is "they" through a person's own toolsof recognition
eyes, ears, nose,tongue, body, mind information is receivedfrom the external world form, voice, smell, tastetouch and all other phenomena this information enters a person's inner world after the informationis communicated to the cortex of the brain it is storedin the information center and then compared and contrasted
new information is comparedto existing information and the ego-self's ever-changing emotional valuesare added to analyze deduce and reason finally, comes the decision to act acts of the mouth, acts of the bodyacts of the mind therefore, these inner responsesand decision-making processes produce their results this inner world is ever-changing
in response to external stimulant and is referred to as sensationsperceptions, decisions and awareness all of the external world including the self's physical body which is outside of the inner mindis referred to as the material world the external material world and the sensations, perceptionsdecisions and awareness of the inner world are referred to as"the five aspects of existence"
all living beings existin the relative world of ego-self and objects therefore, there is the contrast ofbig vs. small beauty vs. ugliness the mind distinguishes thingsthat are my will and not my will when people live with this attitude of separating ego-selffrom time and place we refer to it as living in the"realm of material world" the enlightened ones
who live spiritually onthe other shore have a different attitudetoward their lives in this world whatever placethey happened to live in they dissolve themselvesinto that space without any ego involvement whatever timethey happened to live in they dissolve into that timewithout any ego involvement either a nice hot day.perfect for sun bathing when an enlightenedone watches flowers
i am the flower. i am the fragrance when an enlightened onelistens to the rain i am the raini am the sound of the rain when an enlightened one is borngrows older, gets sick, dies i am birth! i am aging ! i am illness! i am death! an enlightened one lets go of ego selflessly andsincerely embraces all changes in the external world
an enlightened one also mindfully appreciatesany piece of time and place an enlightened one's attitudetoward living in this world is like a grain of saltdissolving into a bucket of water slat dissolves into water and turns into zillions of molecules although the ego-self disappears every part of the water is salty in the water bucket ofspace and time
there isno more ego-self to be found instead, it has dissolved into onewith the entirety of space and time an enlightenedone is like endless light that fills up all space like an endless life-spanthat lasts throughout all time we refer to this attitude of high consciousness in living as: kong ! if the world is a big meadow
and everyone is a blade of grass if you consider yourselfto be a tiny blade of grass you are living in the " realm of material world"on this shore i am a tiny blade of grass if you consider yourselfto be one with the meadow then you are living in the"realm of kong" on the other shore i am the meadow! if the world is a vast ocean
and everyone is a drop of water if you consider yourselfto be a drop of water you are livingin the realm of material world i am one drop of waterin a vast ocean if you consider yourself to be one with the vast ocean then you are living inthe realm of kong i am the vast ocean! the so-called this shoreand the other shore are
as a matter of fact in the same physical space and time how boring. . . how serene. . . the only difference is in the mindset(this shore or the other shore ) used by those livingin any particular place and time the quality of life for those twomindsets ends up significantly different how noisy. . . what a delightful sound !
therefore,the buddha shakyamuni says: material worldis not different form kong kong is not differentform material world mateial world is kongand kong is material world a human being in any time and place should be like a grain of saltdissolving into a bucket of water right at the time a gain of saltfalls into a bucket of water there is ego-self andthere is water i am a grain of salt
after it dissolves into the water there is no more pure saltor pure water the identify of ego disappears as self dissolves into every partof that particular time and place every part of the water has mei am one with the water dissolve the ego-selfinto a bucket of water you thereforeown the whole bucket of water dissolve the geo-self intothe time and place you happened to be and you won thatwhole time and place
most people are always carrying the burden of the past anticipating the futurewhile missing life in the present be a person who dissolvesinto the present do not be a slavewho carries the burden of the past and anticipates the future be like a boatthat flows in time and space wherever the water goes,the boat is wherever the boat goes, the body is
wherever the body goesthe mind and heart are up and down and all around are included inthis chinese character which represents " space" from the closest possibleto the furthest away imaginable inclusive of all spacethere is no end and no boundary from the ancient pastto the present moment this chinese characterrepresents "time" and covers from the first beginningto the last ending
inclusive of all time there is no starting pointand no finish bodhisattva quan yin usedthe selfless point of view to obtain the most perfect wisdom quan yin then brought us the wisdomto understand that everything in this universeis one essence and nothing can be truly independent and one's inner sensations, perceptions decisions and awareness
all flow and change constantlyin time and space one should dissolve the ego of self into the unity of time and spaceeverywhere and every place the concept and practiceof being part of the universal whole is defined as "kong" when one understands, appreciatesand practices that everything is kong and completely allows oneselfinto the kong thereafter, there is no morehardship and misfortune becauseboth are sufferings generated
by the distorted viewpointof the ego-self buddha shakyamuni saidto his disciple sariputra : sariputra we often look at external objects as completely separate from us in reality, all objects are onewith the ultimate essence and this essenceis inseparable from any object nothing can be independentof this ultimate essence your entire body, mind, and spirit
are all a part of this essence this ultimate essence ofthe universe is kong all objectsyou see may be referred to as material world as a result,kong and the material world are not separate material world is kongand kong is material world they are not different fromeach other this is also the case forour sensations
perceptions,decisions and awareness. they are all includedin the kong essence sariputra, all of your observations and opinions originate at the point of the ego-self! phenomena such as life and death beauty and uglinessabundance and scarcity are all generated from one's individual point of view!
therefore, if you are able to look atthe world without any point of view and withoutany pre-existing attitudes when i look at a flower,i am the flower when i look at a butterflyi am the butterfly at any time you can dissolve the ego-selfinto that time at any space you can dissolve the ego-selfinto that space when i am in the water,i am the water
when i am with a school of fishi am the fish transform the ego-selfinto millions and zillions of molecules and dissolve into any time and spaceyou happen to be all this timethere is no more separate ego-self and no more separate universephenomena, time, space this is like a grain of saltdissolved into a bucket of water every part of the wateris now a bit salty no more pure saltand no more pure water they became one complete whole
there are no more activitiesof the ego-self no more use of the six sensesto monitor the external world from the point of view of ego-self one will not have all ofthe distorted information generated from human senses no attempt to understand " death"from the point of view of "life" no illusion of " presence"from the viewpoint of " absence" without distorted viewpoints there will be no moresense of separateness
there is no such thing as " cause" and thereforeno such thing as " planting a seed" there is no such thing as " effect" and therefore, no such concernas "harvesting the fruit" the meaning of life is found in completely dissolvinginto the process of living and not in specific goals with such an understanding one will no longer be troubledby the problems of aging and death
there are four phases in cultivation experiencing the suffering in life discovering the causes of suffering using cultivationto be rid of suffering and reaching the ultimate stateof no self and no suffering. when we understandthe true nature of existence which is an ever-changingand endless cycle of life and death and when we dissolve intothis process of existence there are no more problems ofbirth, aging, illness and death
being able tounderstand this principle appears to be wise but what's so wise about it? this principle clearly liesin front of everyone's eyes unfortunately most people aretoo confused to see it someone who practices this principlewould appear to have a lot to gain but what is to be gained? this principle is most natural and yet, most peopledon't know how to use it
the enlightened ones have thoughtthrough these principles and clearly see everythingas it truly is the enlightened heartis therefore wide open and no longer led everywhereby distorted points of view after letting go of one's ego-selfand the sense of separation one no longer has feardesire and fantasy and no longer livesby a distorted point of view because one knowsthat all distortions of existence are generatedfrom ego's selfish viewpoint
therefore, an enlightened one's mindis like the water in a lake which gradually settles downfrom muddiness to complete clarity and quietness this is what is meantby the other shore all enlightened ones from the past, present, and future follow this kind of wisdom to reach from this shore of worldly life to the other shoreof highest consciousness
cleansing oneself of alldistorted attitudes and illusions means fully reachingthe other shore therefore, we should know that such utmost and perfect wisdom is a method of grand powerand ultimate illumination a method of supreme excellence and an outstanding methodwithout peers! this approach can rid youof all illusion and suffering generated from distorted viewpoints
this method isrealistic and practical everybody can adopt itto reach the other shore let us sing a song to encourage those soul mates who are half-way to enlightenment hey! comrades who are half way! hey! friendsin the middle of the road ! hey! soul mates moving towardthe other shore of enlightenment move onto the other shore
climb onto the other shore how joyful it is to be on the other shore! work while you workonce upon a time once upon a time there was a mulewho had always worked in a rice-pounding mill day after day, he walked in circles one day he was too oldto pull the millstone
you have worked all your life now you are oldand should retire from work from now on,you will eat tender grasses sleep long, and breathe fresh air the mule, howevercould not handle living like this he would walk in circlesaround the tree day after day. . . don't you readers laugh atthe stupidity of the mule maybe one day. .you will be one of the stupid mules
focusing on the current state i am a string ofbuddhist rosary beads made of precious ivory i am suffering because of my past. . . everywherei am ridiculed mercilessly like a drunk trying towalk a straight line naz! devil ! criminal guilty of animal cruelty! because people say elephantsshould be protected by law
and ivory should not be huntedfor rosary beads i would rather be an ordinary stringof bodhi tree seeds but heaven knows, after a few yearspeople may start saying : trees should be protected by laws we should not harvest seedsfrom the bodhi tree it doesn't matter whetherthe rosary beads are made of ivory bodhi seeds, plastic or glass all that matters iswhether the rosary beads played their role wellas rosary beads
the silkworm and the spider the silkworm eats mulberry leavesall day long until old age then he produces a silk thread toform a cocoon around himself. . . the workers who farm silkworms then place the cocooninto boiling water and pull outthe long thread of silk. . . the spider first works hardat making a web out of his thread then he sits in the middles ofhis web to await flying insects who become his dinner. . .
my thread can be made intothe finest silk embroidery that is passed downfor generations to come your thread becomes a trap forpreying on innocent insects to eat aren't you ashamed of your cruelty? i make a living by my abilityto make thread what's the shame inbeing self-sufficient? you silkworms alwaysget boiled to death because of your abilityto produce pretty thread that is truly pitiful !
it is nice to have talents but superfluous talents may often endanger one's own life asking for too much once upon a timea woman had two daughters the older daughterwas married to a gardener the younger onewas married to a potter one daythe woman went to the temple to pray for blessings from the gods. . .
dear deity please letthe weather keep on raining so that my older daughter's flowerswill bloom better. . . dear deityplease let the weather stay sunny so the sunshine will dry upmy younger daughter's pottery there is no perfect solutionfor all things in this world when city folksgo to the countryside they wish for a bright sunshiny day while the local farmers wish forrain for their crops. . .
two frogs once two frogslived together in a pond one summer,the scorching sun dried up all water in the pond. . . we can't stay here any longerwithout water birds look for forests to live in while us frogs look for waterto live around look! right in front of usthere's a well let's hop right in
this is a fine place tolive and eat yeh, right! its fine to move in now but the problem is how will weever be able to get out again? we need to considerthe consequences of our decisions sometimes an attractive opportunitymay be just water in a well easy to hop inbut impossible to climb out! the cicada and the fox once there was a foxwho had not eaten for three days he ran around like crazylooking for food
without any other options, havinga cicada for dinner is not a bad idea oh, great singer,please come down here and accept my admiration personally ha! you've been tricked ! what? just a leaf?i've been fooled. . . from the wings of cicadain the faeces of foxes i have seen the consequencesof my friends' mistakes the same mistakeshould not be repeated twice sometimes one mistakein a lifetime is too many
smart guy. . . the smart ones can learn lessonsfrom their own mistakes the smartest ones learn lessonsfrom the mistakes of others silver and rock once there was a miser who sold all ofhis property for silver and hid his silverin a secret place everyday he would visit his fortune and he alwaysenjoyed himself very much
one day a thief found out about his secret and stole his silver oh, no! my silver is gone. . . all my fortune of 500 chinesehectograms of silver has been stolen isn't it the same for youto see this rock as silver? you never putyour silver to any use what's the difference between your silver and the rock
a miser is obsessed aboutkeeping his fortune because he does not recognizethe real value of money a person who does not knowhis true self-worth will not be satisfied withplaying his role in life a person's worst enemy when the world discovered iron the trees started worrying abouttheir future fate despicable! why are there axes in this worldto create a holocaust for trees?
who invented this murderous toolof the devil? if the tree did not providethe handle for the axe how could this mere piece of ironhurt you much? the origin of bad luck can oftenbe traced back to the self in fact, a person's worst enemymay often be himself turning an iron rod into a needle once there was a motherwho taught her son : persistence is the basis of success
anything canbe accomplished so long as you seriously persist in doing it so long as you are persistent even a big iron rod can be turnedinto a small needle for embroidery twenty years later. . . look! the iron rod is now a needle this proves thatso long as there is endurance there is no ambitious goalthat cannot be reached you invested your valuable yearsof youth
but your only accomplishmentis a small needle there is nothing wrong withturning an iron rod into a needle but a small return ona major investment does not pay off only what we hold in our handsis meaningful a bear once waited patientlyfor a whole day by a stream finally, he caught a tiny fish i am too small to even fill upthe space between your teeth please, put me back in the stream
after several yearsi will grow into a huge fish then you can eat me when i will be most satisfyingto your appetite do you know why i am able to grow this tall and strong? why? because i will never give up whatever small fortunei already have in my handin exchange for a long shot
oops! most people hold onto the pastlook forward to the future and do not embrace the present only those who can appreciate what they have now live fully know yourselfand stay within your capabilities once there was a manwho loved worshipping heroes i should model my lifeafter the courage of wu song who was famous for fighting tigers
let me have three toastsand set out to look for tigers! i found the footprints of a tiger! so you came fromthousands of miles away in order to fight me? no! no! no! i was only interested infinding your footprints i dare not even think of approachinganyone as highly respected as you. . . fantasized ideals often do not workin real life when people cannot reachtheir preset goals most of themcan only blame themselves
for not knowing the limitsof their own capabilities the fox and the grape vineyard once there was a fox who saw a vineyardfull of scrumptious grapes i'll get in thereand enjoy a big meal but he was too fat to squeezethrough the fence so he starved himselffor three days and three nightsin order to slim down finally!i can squeeze myself through
yum! delicious!what a wonderful treat now its time to go home wow! i can't get out anymore. . . so he had to repeathis old trick again he went without foodfor three days and three nights i finally got out but my stomach is as hungry as ever isn't life like this too? we were born naked
and take nothing with uswhen we leave only good deedsthat benefit humanity are worthwhile praisingafter a person dies you can't take with youthe fame or fortune that were the resultof your lifetime pursuit the wild donkeyand the domesticated donkey once there was a wild donkeywho lived in the woods on a mountain he worked extremely hard every day just searching out enough foodfor three meals
one day,he saw a domesticated donkey who ate really well and lived in quitea comfortable place you have an endless supply of foodto eat to make you chubby. how lucky! hurry to work! what are you standing around for? if freedom is exchanged for fortune all the gain is not worth the price
profits gained bygiving up your values are often not worth envying the loss mayoften outweigh the gain this is not a shrewd business deal the butcher whocrossed his level of competence one day a hungry wolfran into a donkey ha! today is the day for a feastthe special cuisine of donkey meat! my foot was suck by a thorn before you eat meyou had better pull it out
so you won't hurt your throatby accident is it here? yeh, yeh, yeh. that is right! you got tricked ! it's my own fault my father taught methe techniques of butchering and yet i chose to operatelike a surgeon it is a good thingto be specialized in what you do don't show off beyond your levelof competence
by doing thingsthat are not familiar to you the cry of the donkeyand the singing of the cicada the best thing aboutthe donkey is that it has a strong back to carryheavy loads and endure hardships the shortcoming of the donkey isthat he makes awful sounds as unpleasant asthe scrams of ghosts what do you eat everyday? why does your voice sound so sweet? i drink only morning dewand i don't eat any grass
my voice is not beautiful because i eat foodsthat are too earthy from then on, the donkey consumed only morning dewand not a blade of grass. . and eventually, he staved to death everyone has his ownstrengths and weaknesses to give upone's strength to search for what is beyond one's capabilities often requires paying a high price
even to the extent ofone's own life what is a true "elephant" ? once there were seven blindmen none of themhad ever seen an elephant and none had any ideawhat an elephant looked like one day, they had a chanceto meet a live elephant so everyone hurried to find out whatan elephant was like with their hands now we all know whata true elephant is! an elephant is like a column!
an elephant is like a rope! an elephant looks like a wall ! an elephant is like a huge fan! an elephant is like a water hose! an elephant is like a stick! an elephant is like a big rock! a column. a rope. a rock. a wall ! you're all wrong ! it is like a fan! a water hose. a stick
an elephant isnot like a column, rope wall, fan, hose, stick, or rock an elephant is an elephant each of you has touchedonly one part of the elephant how could you possibly understandthe whole truth of an elephant there is no absoluteright or wrong in life once there was a flock ofdomesticated ducks everyday they would swim in the pondand enjoy themselves their days were quite carefreeand joyous
among them was a grey duckwho stood out from the crowd because ofhis high regard for himself i am not going to live an indulgentmeaningless life like they do they are wasting their livesand letting precious time slip away in order to be betterthan the rest of the flock everyday he would diligentlyjog in the morning, do aerobic exercise take computer courses and study foreign languagesall day long
one day he finally achievedthe goal of all his hard work spring passed and autumn arrived, the season of the harvesthad finally come it is now time for youto say good-bye to the world i am taking you to reportto the butcher's block! i've worked diligently all my life how can i die like this? it's hard to escape your destiny! this's alwaysthe end for domestic ducks
don't blame fate or accuse othersfor four natural path of life! help! see, you ended upin the same place we did ! what a waste of life to not enjoy the pleasures ofit while you could ! i didn't like to play around i liked to spend my timestudying and learning was that so wrong? to choose a lifestyleis everyone's right
there is nothing wrongwith having an easy life and there is nothing wrongwith a diligent life! now! understand ! buddha and a pile of shit the infamous poet su dong po was a good friend ofdharma master fo yin one day, he asked master fo yin : master, what do you thinki look like sitting here? you look like a sitting buddha
but you surely look likea pile of shit to me oh. . . is that right? you respect me as a buddha and i refer to youas a pile of shit aren't you mad? i should be thrilled.how could i be mad because if the self is buddhathe self sees others as buddha-like if the self is full of shitthe self sees others as shit-like the world presentsitself according to
the viewpoint of each person whatever kind of person one is one will see that kind of world whatever kind of mindset one has one will derivethat kind of conclusion nothing but a gas blowscan move him across the river one day,su dong po wrote a zen poem to express how thoroughly he understoodthe wisdom of buddhism
he proudly sent someoneto deliver this poem to the north bank of the riverwhere master fo yin lived master,pleases take a look at this poem let me see. . . he dares to claim that he is immovable in front ofthe eight types of emotional winds! this nonsense is like passing gas! this outrageous old monk! he dared to write "fart" on my poem
i'll teach him a lesson! su dong po! didn't you claim that all eight types of emotional windscould not move you? how come a simple word lie "fart" has blown you across the river? zen is a state of mind a level of consciousness,a way of living zen that focuses on semanticsand playing with words is a zen of lipservice and cult zenit has nothing to do with real zen
the transformation of the self the young snake askedthe senior snake: you have lived a long life would you tell mewhat is the meaning of life? during your childhoodbe happy and lively during your youthdiscover what is your heart during your middle agestrive for your goals during your later yearsbe peaceful and enjoy life does that mean
living your childhoodin childhood style living your youth in youth style and living your later yearsin the style of later years? that's right. if one is stuckwith the same person all life long that is very pathetic the snake that does not know how toshed old skin will face death soon no change means death for life is ever-changing one should continue to evolvewith the growing process
the soul can always be rebornas a new butterfly ownership and being a part of once an artist went to paintat the harbour of river he found everythingto be extremely beautiful too beautiful for himto start his painting ! therefore, he bought a house there put away his painting suppliesand never painting again from then onhe settled down at the river harbour and dissolved himselfinto the beautiful scenery
human beings should not seekafter one point in time and place we should dissolve intoany space and time that is how we can truly ownany time and any space be all you can be if a tree is full ofall kinds of fruit and if each fruit is a child i am orangeand proud to be the sweetest! look at mei am persimmon with the best flavor! i am cherrythe pretties and most precious
i am apple,and i'm the most nutritious i am lychee andhave the richest taste mother tree says: do not envy othersand do not underestimate yourself just be all you can be yes! everyone has his own strengths and unique qualities why care aboutother people's respect or disdain?
if one livesaccording to others' values one is guaranteed to diein one's own dissatisfaction the fish and the bird if you were not born as a human would you rather be a birdthat soars freely in the grand sky? or would your prefer to be a fish that swims without a carein the flowing water? i wish that when i am youngi would be a free flying bird when i get oldi wish to be a peaceful fish
just enjoying myself.that would be nice fine master, how about you? it doesn't matterwhether i am a fish or a bird when i am a bird, i'll be a bird when i am a fish, i'll be a fish many of us don't feel like doingmediocre things like others but we aren't able to dowhat we dream about doing cherish what you have and
don't hunger forwhat you don't have when you are the fish, enjoy yourselfswimming to your heart's content, and don't fantasize about flying when you are a bird, enjoy soaringto your heart's content, and don't even think ofwanting to dive big and small one batch of clay said to the potter: please make me into a small clay urnthat would be great everyone asks to be bigwhy do you alone ask to be small?
because small is better than big how do you explain that? becausea small vessel fills up easily while a big one is never fulfilled a little bitwill bring me satisfaction i am always lacking and unsatisfied everyone in this world saysthat bigger is better i, alone,would rather be the small one i feel rich
because my desires are smallerthan my capabilities i would feel poor if my desires are largerthan what i have past and present as wished,the batch of clay finally was fired into a small clay urn the little clay urn said : my past was a batch of clay i was full of all sorts of potential
to be made into a bottlea vase, an urn, or a brick now that i am a little urn i am still full of possibilities i could be filled with liquor, water medicine or monetary treasures do not carry the burden of the past do not live in the future the only important thing is that one lives in the presentauthentically and fully
whatever your current lifepresents you be the most you can beby living in the moment when i am the iron hammeri strike with all my might when i am the anvil i stay grounded and stablelike a rocky mountain to have and not to have the big liquor bottlesaid to the little clay run : i am a big container i am a small container
i am filled witha large quantity of fine liquor i am empty inside without a thing fullness makes one feelsolid and satisfied. emptiness gives the feeling of beingtotally insubstantial, like a void. self-contentment means that there is no more room toinclude anything else being empty means having capacity this capacity makesa small container like me much superior and granderthan a large container like you
emptiness allows forunfulfilled capacity while fullness ofthe ego-self does not allow for anything more to be added fullness appears to be concrete but because of its full nature it no longer allowsfor the possibility of anything more to be added the mountain has no feeti do a prophet once announced tothe public that
he was going todemonstrate a miracle by noon tomorrow i am going to have that mountaincome to me the second daythe crowd showed up from everywhere in a rush to witness the miracle hello! you, mountain.come over here! did the mountain move?nothing has happened yet. . . hello! mountain!come, be at my side hello! mountain! come to my side
still no movement. .the mountain has not moved a bit! everyone! you have seen it too i yelled three timesto that mountain but that mountainstill did not move however, even though the mountaindoes not move, i can move! this can also make the mountainbe at my side thing in this worldare not always as we wish when we cannot change circumstancesoutside of us we can still change ourselves;
and that often,can help us reach the same goal the mountain doesn't move;people can move! the water doesn't turn;the boat can turn! two points of view a long time ago there was a merchantwho lived in song he brought men's hats and shirts tothe country of yue, in southern china thinking thathe would make a great fortune come! buy new clothing here!
i have shirts and hatsthat are handsome and fashionable! however,the fashion in the yue area was for men to keep their hair short and tattoo the naked upper body they didn't wear shirtsor hats at all thereforethe merchant wrote to his wife: this was a total disasterno man here wears any shirts or hats they keep their upper bodies naked i am coming right home
there was another merchantfrom zheng who also broughtmen's shirts and hats to do businessin the country of yue hey, come andbuy new shirts and hats! gorgeous fashionable outfits he also discovered thatthe custom of yue men was to keep the upper body naked we guys here never wearshirts or hats that's exactly why i came here
great! virgin territoryfor selling shirts and hats therefore,he also wrote a letter back to his wife in zheng no man here wear shirts or hats it's the best market! please send a large quantity ofshirts and hats to yue by mail the meaning of life one day,the zen master and his disciple
came to a scenic spot what beautiful scenery! yes, indeed master. may i seek your wisdomin answering some questions? how should we treatthe one or two china issue? what's the meaning of life? where do people go after they die? the essence of lifeis to dissolve into any space and time you are in
to experience and practisein every space and time you came all the wayto seek natural beauty why are you blind to all the giftsof life right in front of your eyes all you think about are questionsirrelevant to the present moment life is like owning a travel coupon valid for eighty years during this time,everyone can arrange his schedule voluntarily and go wherever he wants to go
but don't just stand in placeholding your travel coupon only obsessed about the problemsthat will occur when the coupon is no longer valideighty years form now yes, i see don't worry about the whole universe don't worry compulsivelyabout the ultimate reason for crating this world life and love is life and love a bunch of violets isa bunch of violets
it is not necessary to beobsessed about further answers the spirit of everything this is an authentic copy of theinfamous calligrapher zheng ban qiao! what wonderful and amazing work! standing herei could almost feel him in the middle of doingthe calligraphy don't be fooled by your emotions! this copy is actually an imitation by someone of a later time!
well, then,if it is just an imitation then it's not even worth pennies do not be fooled by your subjective judgmentthis time take another careful lookat this work! whether this copy isauthentic or imitative whether it's done by zheng ban qiao or somebody else this is a very fine piece of work!
indeed so! reincarnation the dried up tree is about to diebut he is dying quite peacefully this is the death of tree;this is also the birth of charcoal they are justdifferent manifestations of being i provided shade for people when i was a tree i will provide warmth for people when i am charcoal
what happens thenwhen you are burned down to ashes? i will be reduced to soil againto nourish trees whether it is a tree,charcoal, or soil life has its own terms don't ask whether i will bedead or alive ask only if i am living my lifeto the fullest in the present loss is gain a teacher instructs his pupil : there are three apples on the tablego ahead and grab one to eat
thank you, teacher! yummy one of three appleswas eaten by you now, how many apples are there? three! how can therestill be three apples? one in my tummy ; two on the table people often take gain and losstoo seriously and even more often judge thementirely wrong
isn't the apple that is already in the stomach a true " gain" ? how could that be a "loss" ? transmission of the lamp it is said that on the eighth dayof the fourth lunar month of the reign of king shaoof the zhou dynasty, the rivers suddenly flooded,the earth shook, and the sky lit upwith dazzling colors please divine whetherthis is a good omen or a bad omen.
okay! it's a good omen about a great sagebeing born in a country far to the west. will he affect my empire? no, he won't ... however,in approximately a thousand years, the teachings of this great sagewill be transmitted to our country. in the year 527, the first year ofthe datong reign of the liang dynast. a monk from india named bodhidharmaarrived at the shores of southern china. on the twenty-first dayof the ninth lunar month,
he came ashore in guangzhou.at the same time, emperor wu of the liang dynastywas himself infatuated with buddhism. he often wore buddhist clothes,ate vegetarian meals, and hanted buddhist scriptures.on the first day of the next month, bodhidharma accepted emperor wu'sinvitation to the capital at nanjing. ever since my ascending the throne,i have supported monks, built temples and monasteries,and copied the scriptures. how many merits shall i receive for this none to speak of.
these are but minor earthly achievements. they are worth no merits. true merit isthe most perfect and pure wisdom, the original substance of which is emptiness and quiescence. you cannot obtain it by earthly means. on the nineteenth day of the month, bodhidharma, realizing his differenceswith emperor wu, departed liang and crossed the yangtze riverinto northern wei.
where is that high monkfrom india living now? he went across the riverinto northern wei. your majesty really isone who looks but does not see; meets but does not recognize. who is he? none other than the bodhisattva,transmitter of the buddha-mind. i am indeed onewho looks but does not see, meets but does not recognize... send zhao guangwen to the other side of the yangtze
to find him! it's no use. even if all the people of the countrywhere to pursue him, he would not return. after crossing the yangtze, bodhidharma arrived at shaolin monasteryon song mountain in henan province. he spent his days facing a wall, concentrating his energy,putting an end to all karmic conditions. on the ninth day of the twelfth monthof the tenth year of the taihe reign,
shenguang, a monk seeking the dharma, stood out side all night long. what are you after, standing there in the snow so long? i wish for the masterthe nectar gates and provide deliverance for all creatures please teach me the buddhadharma. when the buddhas were seekingthe highest enlightenment, they never hesitated expendingunlimited time in self-cultivation. you come seeking the great dharmawith but the slightest determination.
i think your wishes will be difficultof fulfill. in seeking the dharma, the buddhasdid not take their bodies as bodies or their lives as lives. cutting off your arm like thatis a good start. please settle my mind. hand over your mind, and i'll settle it. i've searched long,but i cannot reach my mind. if you do reach it, how can you consider it your mind?
i just settled your mind. do you understand now? yes, because all dharmas areempty and quiescent, the bodhisattva doesn't stirhis thoughts, by not stirring his thoughts, he isable to ascend to the shores of nirvana. so the first zen patriarch bodhidharmaaccepted shenguang as his disciple and gave him the new name huike. in the year 536, bodhidharma, feeling thatit was time for him to leave,
called together is disciples. i want each of you to tell me aboutyour progress toward enlightenment. we shouldn't cling to language, yet we shouldn't dispense with it either. we should take language as a useful tool in the quest for enlightenment. you have attained my skin. from what i understand, it is like taking joy inseeing the land of the buddha aksobhya
once you get a glimpse,you needn't look again. you have attained my flesh. earth, water, fire, and windhave always been empty, and the eyes, ears, nose, tongue,and body do not really exist there is no single dharmain the entire world. you have attained my bones. it was finally huike's turn. he bowed once to bodhidharma,then stood there unmoving. you have attained my marrow.
thereafter, huike becamethe second patriarch of zen buddhism and continued bodhidharma's work ofthe deliverance of all sentient beings. in the year 559, a certain lay buddhist came toseek the advice of huike... i must have done horrible thingsin my previous life to suffer the afflictions i have now.please absolve me of my sins, master! you have me your sins,and i'll provided the absolution. i've looked so longand yet i just can't find the sins. the absolution is complete.
now please convert to three treasuresthe buddha, the dharma, and the monastery. i know about the monastery, but what are the buddha and the dharma? the mind is the buddha,and is also the dharma. there is really no differencebetween the buddha and the dharama. i get it. this thing called sinisn't inside or outside, or even in between. i accept you as my disciple
and shall transmit to youthe orthodox dharma, i hereby name you sengcan. sengcan succeeded huike to becomethe third patriarch of zen buddhism. one day when sengcan had gathered hisdisciples together to teach the dharma, a young monk stepped forward. what kind of mind can be consideredbuddha-mind? what kind of mind is your present mind? right now i am of no-mind. if you don't have a mind,
why would the buddha have a mind? i would appreciate it ifyou could point out a method of release. who tied you up? no one tied me up. then why do you need a method of release with this,the monk achieved enlightenment and went on to become the fourthpatriarch of zen buddhism, daoxin. the fourth patriarch, daoxin, was succeeded by hongren,the fifth patriarch,
who then passed on the robe and almsbowlto huineng, the sixth patriarch. the sixth patriarch, huineng, can be called the true patriarchof zen in china, as it was he who was responsible forthe vibrancy and flourishin of chinese zen buddhism. wisdom has never been a tree, and the bright mirror has no stand ; there has never been anything, so where can dust land?
true geniuses are not of this world. the sixth patriarch, huineng,was this kind of genius. he, laozi, zhuangzi,confucius, and mencius were great men of the same strain. his thinking, his words, and his actionswere complied by disciples into a short book called the platformsutra of the sixth patriarch, the only chinese buddhistwork to attain the status of a sacred scripture in china. the platform sutra is a heartfelt book
generated by a truly genuine person. every word, every sentence, is as fresh and penetrating as water from a clear spring. the sixth aptriarch, huieng huineng's lay surname was lu, and he was born in the year 638in guangdong province. his father died while huineng was stillyoung, leaving the family in poverty, huineng supported himselfby peddling firewood.
it was also because of this that he never had the opportunityto attend school. the way of great learningis in illuminating luminous virtue. here's your firewood. just put it right there,and here's the money. abiding in nothing,let the mind come through... excuse me,what sutra is that you're quoting? the diamond sutra. where did you studythe buddhist scriptures?
i studied with the fifth patriarch,hongren, at huangmei mountain in hebei. huineng then put his mother under the care of neighbor. and departed for hebeito study the buddha-dharma... after thirty days of walking,he arrived at huangmei, whereupon he immediately went tomeet hongren. where are you from, and why are you here i am from guangdonand have come to study under you in the hopes of somedaybecoming a buddha.
being from guangdon,you are but a southern barbarian. how can you become a buddha? people distinguish south from north. are you sayingthat buddha-nature does as well? people differ in form, but our buddha-natures are identical. for a southern barbarian,you're quite sharp. i'll send you out backand put in charge of grinding rice. thank you.
huineng's first eight months athuangmei mountain passed in an instant. then one day hongren felt that the timehad arrived to transmit the dharma i want you all to write down your viewof enlightenment in a short poem. if there is a personwho has truly attained enlightenment, i'll pass onthe robe and almsbowl to him. among hongre's disciples, one shenxiu was recognized by all to be the one most likelyto receive the robe and almsbowl. the body is the wisdom tree,
the mind like a bright mirror stand ; always strive to wipe it clean, making sure that no dus lands. who wrote that? shenxiu. he wrote it on the wall. can you take me to see it? sure. here it is. whoever wrote thishas yet to attain enlightenment.
you can read a poem? that'll be the day! sometimes it is the lowliest personwho possesses the highest wisdom; and it is the highest person who hasthe least knowledge and understanding. i have a poem myself. can you write it on the wall for me? yeah, okay... so where can dust lands? let's go. a living bodhisattva!
my goodness! fabulous! wow, that's deep. this poem is unenlightened.please wipe it off. the following day, hongren quietly went over tohuineng's work area. tonight at midnight, come to my quarters yes, master! huineng kept the midnight appointmentas planned, and hongren explained to himthe diamond sutra.
hongren them handed overthe robe and almsbowl to him and transmitted the teachingsof sudden enlightenment. when bodhidharma came from the west, nobody believed what he said.this led to the tradition of the passing on of the robe and almsbowlas a token of belief. now you are the sixth patriarchof zen buddhism, and i hope that you will serve well. you must transmit the dharmaand pass on the teachings. with the passing of the robe and almsbowl,it is easy for quarrels to arise,
so you should quickly leave these parts. i'll deliver you a cross the river. when i was confused, you delivered me. since my enlightenment,i am able to deliver myself. fine. from this day forward, the buddha-dharmawill flourish because of you. in going to the south,it will be difficult at first. wait for the right time,then speak the dharma. thank you for your instruction, master.
a sentient being plants a seed, because of soil it returns to life; without sentience,there are no seeds, without self-nature,there is no life. upon receiving the robe and almsbowlfrom hongren, huineng headed south and just kept going. my robe and almsbowlhave been transmitted southward. an able person has received them. " an able person."that must mean huineng got them.
can a southern barbarianget the robe and almsbowl? he gave them to that ignoramuswho ground the rice and couldn't read. let's go get them back! let's get him! but huineng had already gone incognitoin the southern countryside. no one could find him, until fifteen years later. . in the year 6 7 6 at faxing monasteryin guangzhou today i, yinzong the dharma teacher,
shall speak about the nirvana sutra. just the, a banner in the courtyardbegan to flap in the wind. look at the wind stirring ! no, no, no.it's clearly the banner that is moving. it's the wind. the banner! the wind ! it is neither the wind nor the banner, but your minds that are stirring.
would this laymanplease come forward to speak. layman, your understandingseems quite penetrating. would you care to speak ofthe buddha-dharma? all right. as for the roots of goodness,there are two hinds, one that is changing,and one that is unchanging. buddha-nature, however, transcends both changing and unchanging,good and not good. my lecture was as worthless as rubble,
and your explanation as preciousas pure gold. i heard that hongren's robe and almsbowlwere transmitted south. would you be the one who received them? that's right. your disciples seek guidancefrom the sixth patriarch! following this,yinzong shaved huineng's head and formally ordained him. and then he himself took huinengas his teacher. the following year, huineng went toan area near the cao river and,
through the support of his many followerconstructed baolin monastery. it was here thathe began spreading the dharma. not reliant on the written word, aspecial transmission separatefrom the scriptures; direct pointing at one's mind ;seeing one's nature, becoming a buddha. this short poem has been attributed tobodhidharma, but would even more accurately describehuineng's thinking. the way of perfect wisdomis mind to mind transmission, whereas books and scriptures are just
a convenient method of openingone's mind toward self-enlightenment. cannot stuff his own enlightenmentinto another person's mind. he can only act like a midwife and wait for the right time to lend a helping hand. sudden in the south,gradual in the north with the tang capital of changanas its center of activity, the teachings of shenxiu flourishedand became known as the " northern sect." promoted gradual enlightenment
emphasized sudden enlightenment in contrast to this, huineng's teachings became known as the " southern sect," shenxiu of the northern sectpromoted gradual enlightenment, while huineng of the southern sectemphasized sudden enlightenment. thus arose the northern versus southernschism in zen. among huineng's disciples, there werefive who stood out among the rest. they were: nanyu huairang,qingyuan xingsi, youngjia xuanjue, nanyang huizhong, and heze shenhui
huairang of nanyu, in the year 6 7 7-7 44 from jin prefecture in shaanxi province,his lay surname was du. he left his family for the orderat fifteen and first studied in the vinaya sect. unsatisfied, however, he went tosong mountain to study under huaian, who suggested he go to caoxito study under huineng. where did you come from? from song mountain.
what is it that has come? to say it's a thing is not correct. is there need forcultivation and verification? i dare not say that one mustn't but i can say thatit would not lead to defilement. your views are the same as mine. that which wouldn't be defiled is that which the buddhas and bodhisattvaswish us to be mindful of protecting. so huairang took his placeas huineng's disciple
and studied with him for fifteen years. he then went to nanyu, where he succeeded ingreatly disseminating zen. his mot famous disciple was mazu daoyi. xingsi of qingyuan, in the year 660-7 40, from ji prefecture in jiangxi province,his lay surname was liu. he left home to join the orderat a very young age, and he was of a quiet disposition. at his first meeting with huineng,he asked :
what can we do to keep fromslipping into the levels of relativism? what works have you accomplished lately? i haven't even worked onthe sacred truth. and what level has this workbrought you to? if i haven't even worked onthe sacred truth, what level is there to speak of? good, good. very good. huineng was impressed by his depth and regarded him as having accomplishedthe most of all of his students.
later, xingsi was sent toquingyuan mountain in ji prefecture to spread the dharma. there, he disseminatedthe teachings of huineng. he had only one outstanding disciple,shitou xiquan. although he was but one,he was sufficient. though horns are numerous a unicorn suffices. xuanjue of yongjia, in the year 66 5-7 13, from yongjia in zhejiang province,his lay surname was dai,
he initially studied the tiantaisectand was accomplished in meditation. later he went to see huinengto verify what he had learned. at their first meeting, xuanjue walked three circlesaround huineng. you possess the three thousanddignified deportments and eighty thousand refined behaviors. where do you come from with such great virtue, generation and extinction are important,
and hasted describesthe impermanence of things. perhaps you should experience "no generation" and try to understand "no haste." in all the world,experience is without generation, and understandinghas nothing to do with haste. well said, well said. thank you for your instruction.i must take leave now. why such haste to return?
i haven't moved. what haste is there to speak of? who knows there is no motion? you brought up the distinction. yes, now you understand the meaning of "no generation." how can "no generation" have meaning? if there is no meaning, how can we make a distinction?
"distinction" also has no meaning. please stay just one night. tomorrow we should go xuanjue stayed at baolin monasteryfor just one night, and thereafter people called himyisujue ("one-night realization"). huizhong of nanyang, in the year 6 7 7-7 7 5, he was one of huineng'sfive greatest disciples. after studing under huineng,he went to baiyai mountain in nanyang,
where he lived for more than forty years, not once stepping foot off the mountain. in the year 7 61, emperor suzonginvited him to the capital to accept the post of national teacher. once during a meeting,although the emperor asked many questions huizhong refused to even look at him. i am the emperor of the great tang, how dare you not look at me!
has his majesty seen empty space before? yes. has empty space ever blinked an eyeat you? shenhui of heze, in the year 6 70-7 58, from xiangyang in hubei province,shenhui's lay surname was gao. he made great strides in preservinghuineng's teachings and in popularizing zen. he also succeeded in promoting thesouthern sect of sudden enlightenment
at the expense of the northern sectof gradual enlightenment. shenhui first studied under huinengwhen he was only thirteen. having come from so far away, did you bringyour most fundamental thing? if yes, you should know what its most important aspect is. see if you can tell me. this thing of whichyou speak is non-abiding. its most important aspect isopening one's eyes and seeing.
for such a young monk,you're pretty sharp. master, when you mediated,do you see or not? when i hit you, does it hurt or not? it hurts, and yet it doesn't . i see, and yet i don't . how do you see and not seeat the same time? what i see are my own failings, and what i don't see are other people's right and wrong,good and bad.
as for you, if it doesn't hurt, you have no feeling, like wood or rock. if it does hurt, you have a mind of resentment, just like common people. seeing and not seeing are thesimultaneous holding of two positions. feeling and not feeling pain belong tothe realm of generation and extinction. upon hearing thisshenhui felt embarrassed and immediately bowed to huineng. he was to becomehuineng's most pious disciple.
in the year 7 13, huineng announced that it wouldn't be longbefore he passed away. at this his disciples all began to weep. all except shenhui, who just sat therequietly, not shedding a tear. what principle is ityou are all seeking? who is it you are crying for? only shenhui has transcendedthe concepts of good and bad. one he has attained the realm wherehe is unmoved by praise and criticism
and where he doe not give riseto feelings of sadness and happiness. i know well where i am going. how else would i be able to tell youahead of time? you are all crying because you don't know where i'm going. if you know, you wouldn't cry. you know the dharama-nature can beneither created nor destroyed. in the middle of the nighton the third day of the eighth month,
huineng passed awayat the age of seventy-six. from then on, caoxi became a holy ground for zen buddhism, and huineng's southern sect ofsudden enlightenment gradually evolved intofive distinct schools. dayi, patriarch ma from chengdu in sichuan province, his lay surname was ma.
of all the buddhist monks throughout history, he may be the only one to have gone by his lay surname. mazu left home to join the order t the young age of twelve. he went to nanyu and took huairang as his teacher. excuse me,why are you learning to mediate?
to become a buddha. at this huairang took up a tile and began to polish it. master, why are you polishing that tile? i'm making into a mirror! how can polishing a tile make itinto a mirror? if polishing a tilecannot make it into a mirror, how can sitting in mediationmake you into a buddha? then, what should i doto become a buddha?
it's like an ox pulling a cart. if the cart doesn't move, do you strike the cart?or do you strike the ox? do you want to learn to sit in mediationor to sit in buddha-hood? if you want tolearning to sit in mediation you won't find itthrough reclining there. and if you want to sit in buddhahood, you should know that buddhahooddoesn't have any certain posture. if you are learning to sit in buddhahood,
you might as well be killing the buddha, if you insist on sitting in something,you will never be enlightened. i see. it was after thisthat mazu finally attained and he followed huairangfor full ten years. after leaving huairang,mazu went on to jiangxi province, where he became abbot of a monastery. of huairang'ssix most accomplished disciples, only mazu was giventhe transmission of the mind.
becoming a buddhais a matter of enlightenment. one need not become miredin any formalities to understand the reality of life. the hunter's marksmanship huicang of shigongwas originally a hunter, and what he liked to see leastat that time was a monk. one day when he was chasing down a kill, he ran into mazu. what are you?
i'm a hunter. do you know how to shoot? of course i can shoot. how many can you get with one arrow? one animal per arrow. you don't know the first thingabout shooting. then you understand shooting? of course i do. how many can you get with one shot?
i can get a whole herd with on shot. we're all living things. how can you bear to shoot a whole herd? my target isthe confusion of all beings why don't you take aimat your own confusion? i wouldn't know where to begin. you have immeasurableconfusion and distress, but from now on,they will be completely eliminated. shigong then give up his bow
and joined the order,with mazu as his master. taking aim at an animal can resolvebut a moment's hunger. taking aim at the mind's confusion can resolve a lifetime of distress and suffering. self-nature in their time, mazu and shitou were the two most prominent zen mastersin all of china. rather than seeing each other as rivals,
however, they often recommended studentsback and forth. yaoshan was originallya student of shito xiquan i have never been able tofully understand the lines "diret pointing at one's mind,seeing one's nature, becoming a buddha." could you explain this for me? it's wrong to affirm it,it's wrong to deny it, and it's wrongto both affirm and deny it. now what? i...i don't know. i don't think you are meant to be here.
why don't you go to mazu's . okay. so yaoshan went to take mazuas his teacher. how can i directly point at my mind,see my nature, and become a buddha? sometimes i tell itto raise the eyebrows and blink. sometimes i don't tell itto raise the eyebrows and blinking. sometimes the oneraising the eyebrows and blinking is it. and sometimes the one raisingthe eyebrows and blinking is not it. so how do you want togo about understanding it?
upon hearing thisyaoshan was suddenly enlightened and immediately bowed to mazu. what did you seethat made you bow to me? when i was at shitou's ,i was like a mosquito stinging an ox i just couldn't find the proper opening. one's self-nature is often defiled byoutside forces, thus causing confusion. if you rid yourself ofall value judgments if you can transcend absolutes,then you will discover your self-nature. baizhang's regulations
after mazu died, baizhang inherited the orthodox dharma. he then established"baizhang's regulations," which became the foundationfor the monastic order as well as zen buddhism in general. baizhang's regulations set down in detail the rules for the daily life of the abbot and all thosein the monastery under him. they required the prospective monk
to vow to observe the five precepts:do not kill, do not steal do not be licentiousdo not lie, do not drink and the following :do not sleep on a high or broad bed do not observeor participated in stage shows do not adorn oneself do not acquire money or precious objects do not eat the wrong foodsor at the wrong times. only after achieving these would the formally have his head shavenand become a monk.
baizhang also establisheda system of work, in which not only the average monkworked in the fields, but the abbot as well. in india,monks were prohibited from farming and depended onofferings from the faithful. with his regulations, baizhang aimed to eliminate this kind of beggarly,parasitic lifestyle. why should a perfectly healthy monk live like some kind of parasite,
sucking the lifebloodout of the secular people? so he demanded that all monks spend time opening up land to cultivation and farming their own food. every day, the heavens,the earth, the sun, and the moon perform their duties unceasingly. every day all creaturesbetween heaven and earth should do the same, in an effortat continuous self-enrichment.
zen of the wild fox whenever baizhang lectured on the dharma, there was always an old manwho sat in with the monks. who are you? actually, i'm not a person, originally, i was abbot on this mountain. a long time ago,when i was abbot of baizhang mountain, an itinerant monk asked me: will an experienced cultivator ofthe self fall into causation?
no! because i answered incorrectly, i was punished bybeing turned into a fox and made to live in the form ofan animal for five hundred life times. will an experienced cultivator ofthe self all into causation? he won't ignore causation! i'm free from the body of the fox. i live on the other side of the mountain. please give me a monk's funeral.
baizhange did indeed find the bodyof a fox in a cave on the back side of the mountain, and he had it crematedaccording to buddhist custom. in living with the cycle ofcause and effect, you live with the suffering ofgain and loss. the meaning of life is not in results, but, rather,in every process that life has to offer. the great suppression in the year 84 5,
buddhism in chinawas dealt a tragic blow when the tan emperor wuzongbegan a movement to wipe out buddhism in chinafor reasons of economics. so more than 44,600 monasteriesand temples were destroyed, more than 260,500 monks and nunswere returned to lay life, and over 1 5,000 servants weretaken into service by the government. of all the various buddhist sectssuffering this disaster, only zen survived intact. because zen didn't rely onscriptures or statuses,
even though everything was destroyed, the zen mind still thrived. in addition, the zen monks knewhow to work and fend for themselves, not needing to depend onthe rest of society for their survival. this success can all beattributed to the system of reformation instituted by baizhang, which not only allowed zento get through the heard times, but to flourish in the end. baizhang's insistence on working
is highly relevant to all of humanity because at the same timethat you depend on your own efforts, you are also taking control of your own destiny. xiangyan hits bamboo xiangyan was originally a studentof baizhang, and although he was well versedin all the scriptures, he still couldn't get a handleon the meaning of zen. after baizhang passed away,
he followed baizhang's best disciple,guishan. i've heard thatwhen you were with baizhang, you could give ten answersfor every question and a hundred answersfor every ten questions. that's because you're smartand you're a good talker. but birth and deathare the big questions. tell me, before your parents were born,what were you? this question sent xiangyaninto a dither, and after paging through all his books,
he still couldn't figure it out... i guess it's true thatyou can't eat a painting of a biscuit... please tell me the answer! if i tell you now,you will be angry with me later. even if i were to tell,it would be my answer, and it could never become yours. why bother withall this buddha-dharma stuff? i'd be better off roaming aroundas a beggar monk. xo xiangyan left
and ended up spending some time in the temple ruins ofthe former national teacher huizhong... one day when he was out farming, his hoe came across tile, which he picked up and tossed backinto a clump of bamboo. on hearing the crisp hollow sound of tile against bamboo, xiangyan suddenly attained enlightenment master, your kidness toward mesurpasses even that of my parents.
if you had told me the answer, how would i haveattained enlightenment today! when xiangyan heard the crisp,hollow sound, he suddently realizedthe end of the distinction between the sound and himself. he became one with the sound,and then one with the whole world ! the devil of language yangshan was a pupil of guishan... kid, you've got to hurryand attain enlightenment,
don't cling to language and ideas. i don't even want faith! do you not want itbecause you have faith, or do you not want itbecause you don't have faith? what can i have faith in besides myself? if that's the case,then you can be considered a disciple only of that lower hinayana buddhism. i wouldn't even want tomeet the buddha himself. of all the scriptures,how much is the word of buddha,
and how much is the word of the devil? it's all the devil ! very good, very good ! from now on, noting will bother you. in the end yangshan ingerited the robeand almsbowl of guishan and carried on his style of zen. the most fundamental ideas have always been the simplest an clearest, but when they are put into words,
they can become like a deceitful devil. so when reading the scriptures, don't get tangled up in the language. congshen of zhaozhou in the year 7 7 8-863 lay surname hao,zhaozhou was from linzi in qingzhou. when he was very young,he left home for the order at longxing monasteryand he took his vows at song mountain. later he went to chi prefecturein anhui province to study under nanquan
the first time he met nanquan, manquan was resting in bed... where do you come from? from ruixiang monastery. have you ever seen an auspicious statue? no. but i just now saw reclining buddha. do you have a teacher? in deep winter, the weather is cold.i hope the master takes care of himself.
come with me. master, what is the dao? the ordinary mind is the dao. is there any goal to be pursued? as soon as you have a goal,you'll have bias as well. how can i close off all ideas,and how can i realize the dao? the dao doesn't reside in realization. realization is an illusion,and not realizing is numbness. one who has attained the daois empty and open,
he isn't confused by right and wrong. there is no certain way to the dao;every way is open. there are a thousand pathsthat one may freely come and go by. you want to be able toextrapolate a thousand other things when only once clue is given. kicked by a donkey after his enlightenment, zhaozhoutraveled to various parts of the land, visiting many of the time's zen masters. once when he paid a visitto the monk zhuyu...
why don't you find a placeto settle down? where should i live? you don't even know where you live? i've been learning to ride horsebackfor thirty years, and today i'm kicked by a donkey. when pointing outother people's mistakes, the idea that you're harboringjust may be the error itself. not until he was about eighty years old did zhaozhou finally settle downat guanyin mmonastery
on the eastern outskirtsof zhao prefecture ( zhaozhou )... during his time as abbot, he employed a profound wisdomand relaxed sense of humor in guiding his disciples down the path toward the genuine self. if a seven-year-old child surpasses me,i learn from him. if a hundred-year-old manis less than me, i teach him. daowu of tianhuang in the year 7 48-807
lay surname zhang,daowu was from dongyang in zhejiang. he took his vows in hang prefecturewhen he was twenty-five and then followed daoqin of jingshan, which was his first contact with zen. after following jingshan for five years, he went to mazu to verify his learning. after two more yearshe went to see shito xiquan... after one frees oneself of the conceptsof mediation and knowledge, what other dharma is thereto teach others?
there are no slaves here.what is this talk of freeing oneself? i don't quite understand... do you understand emptiness? this i've understood for a long time. i didn't knowyou had already attained enlightenment! no , i haven't . i can see the truth with just a glance. but you've judging mewithout any evidence! your body is the evidence.
okay, let's say you're right. but what will i use toteach our successors? tell me, who are our successors? zen is everywhere,but there is no entryway. likewise,as there is no entryway to emptiness, you enter by way of emptiness, because emptiness is everywhere. chongxin of longtan in the year 7 82-86 5longtan was originally from human,
he was a student of tianhuang daowu. longtan grew up impoverishedand sold biscuits for a living. biscuits for sale.get your delicious biscuits here! daowu let longtan stay in a small hutnext to the monastery, and in order to express his greatitude, every day longtan would bringten biscuits for daowu. and each time, daowu would give one back to longtan. this is from me to you.may you have many grand children.
how come every time i give you biscuits,you give me one back? you give to me, and i give back to you. what's wrong with that? upon hearing this, longtan attained a small realization and so decided to join the orderand follow daowu. later... i have been following youfor quite a while now. but you have yet tooffer me any insights.
i am constantly offering you insights. you bring me tea, and i take it. you bring me food, and i eat it. you bow to, and i nod my head. what more do you want? longtan lowered his headand thought for a bit... if you want to behold the truth,you can do it anytime and anywhere, but thinking about itwill only bring bias! on hearing this, longtan immediatelyattained enlightenment.
experience zen is being able to appreciate the goodness and beauty of every detail in life. the mind and body are forever one. eat when it's time to eat;sleep when it's time to sleep. fayan wenyi in the year 885-958 lay surname lu,fayan was from yuhang in zhejiang. as a boy, he left home to join the order
and studied the dharmaunder the vinaya master xijue. he came to found the fayan school,one of the five zen schools. fayan traveled around the land looking for guidancefrom various teachers. once when he was passing bydicing monastery, a snowstorm hit,and he stopped in to rest. the monastery's abbot,luohan guichen asked him : where are you going? i'm on a quest for understanding.
why a quest? i don't know. that's the best answer! the snow has stopped. i should be going. you said that of the three realmsthere is only mind, and of the ten thousand dharmasthere is only consciousness. is that rock over therein the mind or outside the mind? in the mind. well, mr. questing monk,
why would you put a huge rockinside your mind? after this exchange, fayang decided to stay at the monasteryto study under luohan, but every time he tried to explainsomething, luohan would reject it. that's not how the buddha-dharma is. i'm out of explanations. as far as the buddha-dharma goes,everything comes ready-made. on hearing this,fayan was suddenly enlightened. the myriad things and concrete substanceare already-made,
with no distinction between good or bad, but as soon aspeople begin to talk about them. a peacock is suddenly beautifuland a crow is ugly. are crows really ugly? wehyan of yunmen in the year 864-909 lay surname zhang,yunmen was from jiaxing in zhejiang. he left home to join the orderwhen very young, and his studies in the doctrinesand discipline were excellent.
in his later yearshe moved to guangtai zen monastery on yunmen mountain in guangdong,where he promoted his own style of zen. he was the founding master ofthe yumen school. yunmen once paid a visit to muzhou,looking or guidance. who is it? my name is wenyan. what are you here for? i have yet to attain enlightenment,so i come for your guidance. muzhous opened the door, took one look,
and then slammed the door shut. for two days yunmen knocked on the door and was rejected. then on the third day... please open the door... speak! speak! you're a useless fool ! muzhou quickly shut the door, crushing yunmen's foot.
just at that moment,yunmen attained enlightenment. to see through all things,you must depend on yourself; no one else can do it for you. however, a good teacher canchoose the most appropriate time to call out a student's potential.