The Pine and Bamboo Draw a Fresh Breeze



You must be attuned twenty-four hours a day before you attain realization. Have you not read how Lingyun suddenly tuned in to this reality on seeing peach blossoms, how Xiangyan set his mind at rest on hearing the sound of bamboo being hit?

An ancient said, "If you are not in tune with this reality, then the whole earth deceives you, the environment fools you."

The reason for all the mundane conditions abundantly present is just that this reality has not been clarified. I urge you for now to first detach from gross mental objects.

Twenty-four hours a day you think about clothing, think about food, think all sorts of vari­ous thoughts, like the flame of a candle burning unceasingly. But just detach from gross mental objects, and whatever subtle ones there are will naturally clear out, and eventually you will come to understand spontaneously; you don’t need to seek. This is called putting conceptualization to rest and forgetting mental objects, not being a partner to the dusts.

So the ineffable message of Zen is to be understood on one’s own. I have no Zen for you to study, no Doctrine for you to discuss. I just want you to tune in on your own. The only essential thing in learning Zen is to forget mental objects and stop rumination. This is the message of Zen since time immemorial.

-Zen Master Foyan

to donate via PayPal just a few dollars 

No comments:

Post a Comment