Meditation: Taking the One Seat

Posted by: harlan

Meditation: Taking the One Seat - 05/05/05 04:42 PM

In reference to another thread ('why meditate'), thought I would offer this up from Jack Kornfields "A Path With Heart". I personally think that the words apply to anyone who persists in learning an art over time, regardless whether they actually sit.

"Spiritual tranformation is a profound process that doesn't happen by accident. We need a repeated discipline, a genuine training, in order to let go of our old habits of mind and to find and sustain a new way of seeing. To mature on the spiritual path we need to commit ourselves in a systematic way. My teacher Achaan Chah described this commitment as 'taking the one seat." He said, "Just go into the room and put one chair in the center. Take the one seat in the center of the room, open the doors and windows, and see who comes to visit. You will witness all kinds of scenes and actors, all kinds of temptations and stories, everything imaginable. Your only job is to stay in your seat. You will see it all arise and pass, and out of this, wisdom and understanding will come."
Posted by: harlan

Something on Nonduality - 05/18/05 03:31 PM

Disciples and hermit Buddhas claim realization
Of a partial selflessness but do not know this exactly.
Bound up in claims from their treatises and theories,
They do not behold the clear light transparency.
Disciples and hermits are shut out by clinging to subject and object,
Centrists are shut out by extremism about the two realities,
Ritual and performance Tantrists, by extremism in service and practice,
And great Maha and pervasive Anu Tantrists,
By clinging to the duality of realm and intelligence.
They err by remaining dualistic in nonduality,
By not communing nondually, they do not awaken.
All life and liberation inseparable from their own minds,
They still roam the life-cycle on vehicles of quitting and choosing.

Attributed to Padmasambhava,
later discovered by the treasure-finder Karma Lingpa

From: Essential Tibetan Buddhism
Robert A.F/Thurman
Posted by: UnagiSushi

Re: Meditation: Taking the One Seat - 05/24/05 10:28 AM

Quote:

In reference to another thread ('why meditate'), thought I would offer this up from Jack Kornfields "A Path With Heart". I personally think that the words apply to anyone who persists in learning an art over time, regardless whether they actually sit.

"Spiritual tranformation is a profound process that doesn't happen by accident. We need a repeated discipline, a genuine training, in order to let go of our old habits of mind and to find and sustain a new way of seeing. To mature on the spiritual path we need to commit ourselves in a systematic way. My teacher Achaan Chah described this commitment as 'taking the one seat." He said, "Just go into the room and put one chair in the center. Take the one seat in the center of the room, open the doors and windows, and see who comes to visit. You will witness all kinds of scenes and actors, all kinds of temptations and stories, everything imaginable. Your only job is to stay in your seat. You will see it all arise and pass, and out of this, wisdom and understanding will come."




Beautiful! I love Jack Kornfield's writings. I bow in reverence.
Posted by: harlan

Meditation: Hitting the Essence in Three Words - 05/24/05 03:44 PM

An excerpt from "Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Perfection", The Dalai Lama

(Patrul Rinpoche)

To know how to meditate,
but not how to liberate-
How does that differ from the meditation of the gods?

What this means is that those who put their trust in a meditation which lacks this vital point of the method of liberation, and is merely some state of mental quiescence, will only stray into the meditation states of the higher realms. People who claim that it is sufficient simply to recognize stillness and movements are no different from ordinary people with their deluded thinking. And as for those who give it all kinds of labels like 'emptiness' and 'dharmakaya', the basic flaw in their remedy is exposed when it fails to hold up under the first misfortune or difficulty they meet. So: "Without this, meditation is but the path of delusion."
Posted by: harlan

Something from a poem - 06/02/05 02:53 PM

A little something from Tang Poetry:

By Qiu Wei

AFTER MISSING THE RECLUSE
ON THE WESTERN MOUNTAIN

To your hermitage here on the top of the mountain
I have climbed, without stopping, these ten miles.
I have knocked at your door, and no one answered;
I have peeped into your room, at your seat beside the table.
Perhaps you are out riding in your canopied chair,
Or fishing, more likely, in some autumn pool.
Sorry though I am to be missing you,
You have become my meditation --
The beauty of your grasses, fresh with rain,
And close beside your window the music of your pines.
I take into my being all that I see and hear,
Soothing my senses, quieting my heart;
And though there be neither host nor guest,
Have I not reasoned a visit complete?
...After enough, I have gone down the mountain.
Why should I wait for you any longer?
Posted by: Kintama

Re: Something from a poem - 06/02/05 03:59 PM

I was out looking for you!
Posted by: harlan

Net of Life - 07/09/05 01:09 PM

A meditation inspired by the 'meat' thread:

"For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."

-Henry Beston
Posted by: harlan

Nonaction - 07/13/05 04:13 PM

"Not only the Buddhists, but also the tantrikas and the Taoists, talk a lot about nonaction. This is a concept that is misunderstood if we think that it means no action at all. Nonaction does not mean striving for a sort of passivity, and trying not to act. On the contrary, it is about throwing oneself into action and forgetting completely why one is taking that action and what one wants to obtain by it. That is, it means freeing oneself from the fruits of the action. It is a little like the object of desire from which we free ourselves by experiencing energy without a goal. At that moment, say the masters - and we can verify this on our own - we experience the grace of movement. Indeed, a movement that is determined by a goal is disharmonious, whereas a completely gratuitous action reaches a different space, a grace that is impossible to find when we are constrained by the presence of the object to be obtained. What is meant here is to enter into action, liberate the objective, and find the grace, the beauty, of the everyday gesture. Then, suddenly, there is contemplation because there is grace.

Reaching an occasional state of peace in meditation is a good start, but what is wonderful is to live it within daily activities. It is important that (it)...not be a quasi-miraculous state, which we attain in a moment of grace, but that it become almost ordinary, perceived at the occurrence of any contact with things and beings. then we can say that we are in meditation, because all of reality is transformed."

-Daniel Odier
Posted by: harlan

Honsho-myoshu - 07/19/05 09:31 AM

"Zen Buddhism...has a beautiful saying: honsho-myoshu, which means "original enlightenment is wondrous practice." Unity consciousness is not a future state which results from some practice, because that would imply that unity consciousness has a beginning in time, that it doesn't exist now but will exist tomorrow. That would make unity consciousness a strictly temporal state, which is not acceptable at all, for unity consciousness is present eternally.

That unity consciousness is always present is our honsho, our "original enlightenment," original not because it occurred in ancient times past, but because it is the origin and ground of this instant. Enlightenment is the origin of the present form. Myoshu, spiritual practice, is the movement or activity of this origin; it is the appropriate function of origin-al enlightenment...

...In the words of Suzuki Roshi:

If our practice is only a means to attain enlightenment, there is actually no way to attain it. Enlightenment is not some good feeling or some particular state of mind. The state of mind that exists when you sit [in zazen practice] is, itself, enlightenment. In this posture there is no need to talk about the right state of mind. You already have it."

-Ken Wilber, No Boundaries
Posted by: KiDoHae

Re: Meditation: Taking the One Seat - 07/19/05 10:10 AM

Great thread Harlan!!
Posted by: harlan

A One Minute Meditation - 08/01/05 03:38 PM

ON THOUGHT

"Why are you so wary of thought?" said the philosopher.
"Thought is the one tool we have for organizing the world."

"True. But thought can organize the world so well
that you are no longer able to see it."

To his disciples he later said,
"A thought is a screen, not a mirror;
that is why you live in a thought envelope,
untouched by Reality."


-Anthony deMello, Fr., from One Minute Wisdom
Posted by: harlan

Gompa: practice - 08/15/05 01:22 PM

The great Dzogchen master Yungton Dorje Pal was asked:
'What meditation do you do?' And he replied: 'What would I meditate on?'
So his questioner concluded: 'In Dzogchen you don't meditate, then?'
But Yunton Dorje Pal replied: 'When am I ever distracted [from contemplation].'

The distinction between what is meant by the terms 'meditation' and 'contemplation' is an essential one in Dzogchen. The practice of Dzogchen is, properly speaking, the practice of contemplation, which consists in abiding in the non-dual state which, of its own nature, uninterruptedly self-liberates. This state, which is not conditioned by the conceptual level of mental activity, also encompasses thought and the functioning of what we generally consider to be our ordinary minds. Thought can, and indeed does, arise in contemplation - but, in contemplation, one is not conditioned by it; since the primordial state is inherently self-liberating, by simply leaving thought alone, it liberates itself.

In contemplation, therefore, as the term is used in Dzogchen, the mind makes no effort whatsoever: there is nothing to do, or to abstain from doing. Since 'what is' is perfect just as it is, it is left in its own condition.

What is meant by meditation in the Dzogchen teachings, on the other hand, is one or other of the very many practices that involve working with the dualistic, relative mind, in order to enable one to enter the state of contemplation.

-Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
Posted by: harlan

Zazen without Sitting - 08/25/05 02:15 PM

In Kendo, there is a kind of disease called 'itsuku' (to be attached). It means attachment to the specific postures of attacking and defending which prevent us from moving about spontaneously. In Zen, too, there is a disease called attachment to meditation. Another name of this disease is infatuation with Zen. When we are afflicted with this disease, we lose our vitality by sitting comfortably and half-unconsciously in meditation.
...In regard to this matter Master Shido Bunan composed the following poem on the significance of Zazen.

If we know how to practice Zazen without actually sitting,
What obstacles should there be,
Blocking the Way to Buddhahood?

I understand that 'Zazen without Sitting" means Zen discipline performed in terms of our everyday activities.

-Omori Sogen, An Introduction to Zen Training
Posted by: harlan

On Doing Nothing - 09/06/05 03:42 PM

As an adjunct to another thread (Doing Nothing):

When remaining without doing anything whatsoever, there is total letting go. In the same moment there is also a sense of being wide awake; there is an awake quality that is unproduced.

Simultaneous with the disappearance of thought, there is an awake quality that is like a radiant flame of a candle, which exists all by itself. That awake quality doesn't need to be supported through meditation, because it is not something that is cultivated. Since it's recognition only lasts for a short while, it is necessary to remind yourself again. But honestly, how far away is it to get to that moment? When you put your finger out in the air to touch space, how far do you need to move your hand forward before you connect with space? In the same way, the moment you recognize mind essence, it is seen the very moment you look. It is not that at some later point you will see it; or that you have to coninuously look, look, look for it. There are not two different things going on here.

The recogition of emptiness is accomplished the moment you look. "Seeing no 'thing' is the supreme sight." When seeing emptiness, you don't need to do anything whatsoever to it. The key word here is uncontrived, which means you don't have to alter it in any way; just leave it as it naturally is. At that moment, you are totally out of a job; there is nothing you need to do to it. In other words, no act of meditating is necessary at this point. That is what I meant by "don't meditate". Because at that moment whatever you do to try to keep, or prolong the natural state only envelops it in more activity and complexity.

-Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, As It Is
Posted by: harlan

Integration - 10/12/05 10:49 PM

From: The Tibetian Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche

Integration: Meditation in Action

I have found that modern spiritual practitioners lack the knowledge of how to integrate their meditation practice with everyday life. I cannot say it strongly enough: to integrate meditation in action is the whole ground and point and purpose of meditation. The violence and stress, the challenges and distractions of modern life make this integration even more urgently necessary.

People complain to me, "I have meditated for twelve years, but somehow I haven't changed. I am still the same. Why?" Because there is an abyss between their spiritual practice and their everyday life. They seem to exist in two seperate worlds, which do not inspire each other at all. I am reminded of a teacher I knew when I was at school in Tibet. He was brilliant at expounding the rules of Tibetan grammar, but he could hardly write on correct sentence!

How, then, do we achieve this integration, this permeation of everyday life with the calm humor and spacious detachment of meditation? There is no substitute for regular practice, for only through real practice will we begin to taste unbrokenly the calm of our nature of mind and so be able to sustain the experience of it in our everyday life...

...All too often people come to meditation in the hope of extraordinary results, like visions, lights, or some supernatural miracle. When no such thing occurs, they feel extremely disappointed. But the real miracle of meditation is more ordinary and much more useful. It is a subtle transformation, and this transformation happens not only in your mind and your emotions, but also actually in your body. It is very healing. ...The whole state of your health has a lot to do with your state of mind and your way of being.
Posted by: harlan

Zen Gardens along The Way - 10/25/05 12:02 PM

"Ponder the fact Hsiang-yen realized the Way by the sound of bamboo; that another clarified the mind at the sight of peach blossoms. How could it be possible to differentiate smart bamboo trees from dull ones, or deluded ones from enlightened ones? How could there be shallow or deep, wise or stupid, among flowers? The flowers bloom every year, nevertheless, not everyone attains Enlightenment by viewing them. Stones often strike bamboo, still not everyone who hears the sound clarifies the Way. Only through the virtue of long study and continuous practice with the assistance of diligent effort in the Way does one realize the Way or clarify the mind. This did not occur because the sound of bamboo was especially wonderful, nor because the color of peach blossoms was particularly profound. Although the sound of bamboo is marvelous, it does not sound of itself; it cries out with the help of a piece of tile. Although the color of peach blossoms is beautiful of themselves; they open with the help of the spring breeze. The condition of practicing the Way is also like this."

-Dogen, as written by Koun Ejo
Posted by: harlan

Dream or Illusion? - 10/28/05 03:23 PM

Was it Dogen, whose last written word was 'Dream'? Something I'll be thinking about this weekend, spurred by JoelM's dream and Kintama's questioning of perception and reality.

Late Lament
-The Moody Blues

Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day's useless energy is spent.
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one;
Lonely man cries for love and has none;
New mother picks up and suckles her son;
Senior citizens wish they were young.

Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight,
Red is grey and yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion.

and by Dogen:

"…Thus, while encountering this discourse on dreams in dreams, those who try to eschew the Buddha-way think that some nonexistent phantasms are unreasonably believed to exist and that illusions are piled up on top of illusions. This is not true. Even though delusions are multiplied in the midst of delusions, you should certainly ponder the path of absolute freedom in which absolute freedom is apprehended as the very consummation of delusions."
Posted by: MattJ

Re: Dream or Illusion? - 10/28/05 09:57 PM

Wow. Excellent thread. I have to read more.
Posted by: harlan

Re: Dream or Illusion? - 10/30/05 10:40 PM

Thanks for the feedback. Nice to know someone is reading this thread...but don't believe everything you read. I'm surprised that even the 'pickle man' didn't catch me on this...but it was Takuan Soho, not Dogen, whose last word was 'dream'.

(Back to "The Unfettered Mind".)
Posted by: oldman

Re: Dream or Illusion? - 10/30/05 11:17 PM

Quote:

but it was Takuan Soho, not Dogen,





Six of one, half dogen of another.
Posted by: harlan

The Sandokai - 11/03/05 04:10 PM

With all the postings this week on 'friends', and 'duality', thought this might be relevant. From "Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai" - Shunryu Suzuki


In the light there is darkness,
but don't take it as darkness.
In the dark there is light,
but don't see it as light.


Anso wo motte o koto nakare - "but don't take it as darkness." Nakare means "do not." Motte means "with." Anso means "dark side" or "dark outlook." The character o means "to meet," implying that you treat the person you meet as a friend. You meet or encounter the way clouds meet a mountain. Here is a Tassajara mountain, there are clouds, and the clouds from the ocean will meet the mountain. This kind of relationship is o . You should not meet people just with the understanding of darkness. If you meet your friend with your eyes shut, ignoring how old he is or how handsome he is, ignoring all his characteristics, you will not meet your friend. That is just one-sided understanding, because in the darkness there is light. Even though the relationship between you and your friend is very intimate, still your friend is who he is and you are you. Don't meet your friend without the understanding of light or duality. A close relationship is dark because, if your relationship is very close, you are one with the other person. But still you are you and your friend is who he is.
Posted by: Kintama

Re: The Sandokai - 11/03/05 04:21 PM

Quote:

But still you are you and your friend is who he is.



...or She.
Posted by: harlan

Waking Up - 11/23/05 10:54 AM

"I am Awake." Famous words. The goal with no goal, the one path that has many roads. Something on the different ways to 'wake up':

We can look at all the approaches to the process of awakening on the Buddhist path as being similar to the regular methods we use to wake ourselves up in the morning. We might be trying to wake up, but the question is, How do we want to wake up? The general method of Hinayana-Mahayana is like setting an alarm clock. When we hear the beeping of the alarm, we usually press the snooze button and go back to sleep. When the alarm goes off again, we have a choice: We can get up or we can press the snooze button again. Sometimes, we might even kick the alarm clock so that it will never wake us up again. That is similar to the basic Hinayana-Mahayana process of waking up. In contrast, in the Mahamudra and Dzogchen approaches to waking up, the teacher comes into our room while we are still sleeping and throws a bucket of ice water onto our bed. That is our wake-up call, and we usually "get it" right away. We have no choice but to get up. We are so irritated - but so awake.

The purpose of our whole journey, regardless of which path we take, is to wake up....the primordial buddha is ever present, whether we want to experience that or not. So, on this spiritual journey, the real question is, Am I willing to wake up?

- Dzogchen Ponlop
Posted by: LastGURU

Re: Waking Up - 11/23/05 05:12 PM

Quote:

In contrast, in the Mahamudra and Dzogchen approaches to waking up, the teacher comes into our room while we are still sleeping and throws a bucket of ice water onto our bed. That is our wake-up call, and we usually "get it" right away. We have no choice but to get up. We are so irritated - but so awake.



you probably do not know me... Even after this I may still continue to sleep
Posted by: phoenixsflame

Re: Waking Up - 11/23/05 08:02 PM

Quote:

Quote:

In contrast, in the Mahamudra and Dzogchen approaches to waking up, the teacher comes into our room while we are still sleeping and throws a bucket of ice water onto our bed. That is our wake-up call, and we usually "get it" right away. We have no choice but to get up. We are so irritated - but so awake.



you probably do not know me... Even after this I may still continue to sleep





Thats when the Shinai comes out. If the student doesn't get it after the speaking, the ice water and the grunting...

Its all about the Shinai.
Posted by: LastGURU

Re: Waking Up - 11/24/05 04:44 PM

Quote:

Thats when the Shinai comes out. If the student doesn't get it after the speaking, the ice water and the grunting...

Its all about the Shinai.



Now you speak like Matt (who "respectfully pokes me with a stick")
Posted by: phoenixsflame

Re: Waking Up - 11/24/05 10:30 PM

Sometimes it takes a thorough beating to make someone look up. But, even if you are being beaten, its best to simply sit. That way you can be sure you're actually there, and not asleep.
Posted by: phoenixsflame

Re: The Sandokai - 11/24/05 10:32 PM

The Sandokai is one of my favorite Zen Poems, and the work that Shunryu Suzuki did on it was beautiful. Another one that I quite enjoy is Zen Master Raven, by Robert Aitken. A wonderful book, I'll find my copy and transpose some of his metaphor and anthropomorphic jovial sense of Zen here tonight. As A giving of Thanks to Harlan for starting this thread.
Posted by: phoenixsflame

Zen Master Raven - 11/24/05 10:37 PM

The first Master Raven has is Brown Bear, he teaches solely in Metaphor.

"Metaphor :


As they got better acquainted, Raven would ride on Brown Bear's back as he foraged for food. When they were setting out one day, Raven asked, "Do you teach exclusively with Metaphor?"
Brown Bear Said, "The robin sings in the oak tree; the finch sings in the madrone."
Raven asked, "What do they stand for?"
Brown Bear turned his head to look at Raven and asked, "The lark sings in the deep blue sky, what more can you ask?"
Raven aksed, "What is singing?"
Brown Bear turned back to the path and gruned. "We'll have auditions again tonight."



"


This by far is one of my favorite passages. There is a foot note on the "The lark sings in the deep blue sky -- What more can you ask" that the other puts in, it says :

"I like to thinkt hat Brown Bear is echoing Stevenson :

The Children sing in Far Japan
The Children Sing in Spain
The organ with the organ man
Is singing in the rain."

Robert Louis Stevenson, A childs Garden of Verses.
Posted by: harlan

Metaphor - 11/25/05 10:05 AM

Everything is metaphor.
Posted by: phoenixsflame

Re: Metaphor - 11/25/05 01:19 PM

Quote:

Everything is metaphor.




So there for, your statement is a metaphor. Thus meaning that things are truly not Metaphors, but plain and simple objects we cloud with metaphoric statements?


Unless my statement is the metaphor and you were answering with a metaphor about my metaphoric statement... Proving the point that what I say is a metaphor...

;D
Posted by: harlan

Re: Metaphor - 11/25/05 01:20 PM

Exactly.

Now, stop stirring the water...just watch and reflect.
Posted by: phoenixsflame

Re: Metaphor - 11/25/05 01:37 PM

Someone has to stir the water occasionally, or people will forget its simply a reflection in the water and not the sky itself.
Posted by: harlan

The Means and The Way - 11/25/05 01:53 PM

Chökyi Nyima Rimpoche

"...One can encompass a whole range of means and methods which are elaborate and complex. But one should know that even while that may be so that part of the Dharma path may involve complex practices, all are meant to provide a single insight: the insight into the basic nature of things, which is not complex, without any elaboration, simplicity. Because of being the intrinsic nature of things, it transcends elaboration and complexities we are used to. The key point is, all means and methods that we see described in teachings, and that you may make personal use of in practice, are all meant to bring an end to complexity. While they may be complex, they are meant to provide a realization which is beyond all complexity!

Not that those methods won't work, but don't confuse methods with the discovery one gets through the methods. Methods are very helpful conditions. Necessary factors need to be brought together for us to gain insight of the nature of things just as it is, the abiding way of things, beyond all complexities. It is discovered because of the means and methods. We need to understand this relationship and use the means and methods in a correct and skillful way."
Posted by: phoenixsflame

Re: The Means and The Way - 11/25/05 02:26 PM

The oldest addage I know for Zen.


"The words of Zen are the Finger pointing to the moon,
The finger itself can never express the moons beauty.
And once you see the moon, there is no questioning it.
Yet sometimes, one may get the finger and the moon confused."
Posted by: harlan

On Teachers - 12/05/05 01:14 PM

Khandro Dechen (paraphrased):

There is actually nothing worse than having your own way. Thre would be nothing more claustrophobic than having a partner who agreed with you all the time, nothing more depressing than being able to design existence according to your own quality judgements. There is therefore nothing more useless than having a teacher whose advice is conditional on your own agreement with it. The teacher is there to wreck our personal patterns of samsara in order that we can become vast in our appreciation rather than contracting and becoming rigid. The teacher is always pointing at the beautiful scenery which lies outside the safety of our comfortable cages.
Posted by: harlan

Buddha this, and Buddha that... - 12/07/05 01:34 PM

Evil Buddha, New Buddha, E*Buddha...we are heavy with Buddhas lately!

"At the time of the Buddha there was a monk who was so infatuated with the Buddha that he followed him around like a puppy dog. Wherever the Buddha went, this monk went too. One day the monk became very ill and had to stay in bed. As he was lying in bed he started crying. When the other monks came to see him he said, I am crying because, being ill, I can't see the Buddha. Upon learning this, the Buddha immediately came to visit the sick monk, who brightened up and looked happy again. Then the Buddha said to him, Whoever sees me, sees the dhamma; whoever sees the dhamma, sees me. Whoever sees a Buddha, sees nothing but enlightenment, which is the essence of the dhamma. Whoever can see the dhamma within, sees the Buddha, equaling enlightenment. The greatest jewel is recognizing the dhamma in oneself and not being attached to any one person, even the Buddha, who only wants to be our guide. When true confidence arises in the dhamma, it gives great impetus to the practice.

---Ayya Khema, When the Iron Eagle Flies
Posted by: harlan

Meditation Song - 12/19/05 12:34 PM

"When Meditation
Is Clear Light River Flow,
There is no Need
to confine it to sessions and breaks.
Meditator and object
Refined until they're gone;
This heartbone of meditation-
It beats quite well!"

-Milarepa, Song of the Profound Definitive Meaning, Sung on the Snowy Range
Posted by: harlan

Practice - 12/26/05 10:42 PM

The practice is what you throw yourself into. Unconditionally. The practice is the teacher. Your practice is your teacher.

-Maurine Stuart ('liberated' from the Daily Zen Calendar )
Posted by: Ed_Morris

Re: Practice - 12/26/05 11:10 PM

gives me an idea for a thread harlan...
Posted by: harlan

Song of the Mind - 12/27/05 12:48 PM

(I like your new thread, Ed. But since it is Taoist, I'll not muddy it up with anything Zen. )


The nature of the mind is non-arising,
What need is there of knowledge and views?
Originally there is not a single dharma;
Why discuss inspiration and training?

Coming and going without beginning;
Sought for, it is not seen.
No need to do anything;
It is bright, still, self-apparent.

The past is like empty space;
Know anything and the
Basic principle is lost,
Casting a clear light on the world,
Illuminating, yet obscured.

If one-mindedness is impeded,
All dharmas are misunderstood.
Coming and going thus,
Is there need for thorough investigation?

Arising without the mark of arising,
Arising and illumination are the same.
Desiring to purify the mind,
There is no mind for effort.

Spontaneous wisdom
Throughout time and space
Nothing is illuminated;
This is most profound.
Knowing dharmas is non-knowing;
Non-knowing is knowing the essential.

Using the mind to maintain quietude,
Birth and death forgotten;
This is original nature.

The highest principle cannot be explained;
It is neither free nor bound.
Lively and attuned to everything,
It is always right before you.

There is nothing in front of you;
Nothing, yet everything is as usual.
Do not belabor wisdom to examine it;
Substance itself is empty and obscure.

Thoughts arise and pass away,
The preceding no different from the succeeding.
If the succeeding thought does not arise,
The preceding thought cuts itself off.

In past, present, and future,
There is nothing;
No mind, no buddha.
Sentient beings are without mind;
Out of no-mind they manifest.

Distinguishing between profane and sacred,
Their vexations flourish.
Splitting hairs deviates from the eternal.
Seeking the real, you give up the true.

Discarding both is the cure,
Transparent, bright, pure.
No need for hard work or skill;
Keep to the actions of an infant.

Clearly knowing,
The net of views increases
Stillness without seeing,
Not moving in a dark room.

Wakeful without wandering,
The mind is tranquil yet bright.
All phenomena are real and eternal,
Profuse, yet of a single form.

Going, coming, sitting, standing,
Don't attach to anything.
Affirming no direction,
Can there be leaving or entering?

There is neither unifying nor dispersing,
Neither slow nor quick.
Brightness and tranquility are
Just as they are.
They cannot be explained in words.

Mind is without alienation;
No need to terminate lust.
Nature being empty, lust will
Depart by itself.
Allow the mind to float and sink.

Neither clear nor clouded,
Neither shallow nor deep.
Originally it was not ancient;
At present it is not modern.

Now it is non-abiding;
Now it is original mind.
Originally it did not exist;
"Origin" is the present moment.

Bodhi has always existed;
No need to preserve it.
Vexation has never existed,
No need to eliminate it.

Natural wisdom is self-illuminating;
All dharmas return to thusness.
There is no returning, no receiving;
Stop contemplating, forget keeping.

Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming"
Translated by Master Sheng Yen
Posted by: harlan

No barriers... - 03/01/06 09:57 AM

If you start concentrating the mind on stillness,
You will merely produce an unreal stillness.
What does the word “meditation” mean?
In this school it means no barriers, no obstacles;
It is beyond all objective situations whether good or bad.
The word “sitting” means not to stir up thoughts in the mind.

- Hui-neng (d.713)