http://viewoftheblue.com/frankspage/zenquo.htmlJDJAJSIN - Plaques inside main gate, Eihei-ji temple Fukui prefecture, Japan
Only those concerned with the problem of life and death should enter here. Those not completely concerned with this problem have no reason to pass this gate.
PRINPRSU - Avatamsaka Sutra
Mind, Buddha, and sentient beings are not three different things.
MOUSJSQU - Shunryu Suzuki-roshi (1905-71)
Strictly speaking, for a human being there is no other practice than this practice. There is no other way of life than this way of life. Zen practice is the direct expression of our true nature.
CHCHCHQU - Tozan Ryokai [Tung-shan Liang-chieh] (807-869) (quoting [WuHsieh])
The body of reality is perfectly quiescent while giving the appearance of going and coming. The thousand sages are from the same source, myriad awarenesses are ultimately one. I am now a bubble bursting - what's the use of sadness? Don't trouble your minds; just maintain complete awareness. If you follow this order, you are really requiting my kindness - if you stubbornly go against what I say, you are not my disciples.
BUINBUSU - Shakyamuni Buddha (c. 563-483 B.C.)
There is an unborn, an unmade, an unoriginated, an uncompounded. Were there not, O mendicants, there would be no escape from the world of the born, the originated, the made, and the compounded.
JDJAJSQU - Dogen-zenji (1200-53)
To move the self and realize the ten-thousand dharmas is delusion. That the ten thousand dharmas advance and to realize the self is enlightenment.
CHCHCHQU - Sekito Kisen [Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien] (700-790)
From birth to death it's only this; don't seek any more for anything else by turning your head and revolving your brain.
MOUSJSQU - Shunryu Suzuki-roshi (1905-71)
...even if the sun were to rise from the west, the Bodhisattva has only one way. His way is in each moment to express his nature and his sincerity.
CHCHCHQU - [Ta Hui] (1088-1163)
The concerns that have come down from numberless ages are only in the present; if you can understand them right now, then the concerns of numberless ages will instantly disperse, like tiles being scattered or ice melting. If you don't understand right now, you'll pass through countless eons more, and it'll still be just as it is.
CHCHCHQU - Joshu Jushin (778-897) & Nansen (748-834) [Chao-chou Ts'ung shen & Nan-ch'uan P'u-yuan]
Joshu: What is Tao? Nansen: Everyday-mindedness is Tao. Joshu: Is it possible to approach it? Nansen: If you intentionally approach it, you will miss it. Joshu: If you do not approach it intentionally, how can you know it? Nansen: The Way is not in the realm of knowing or not knowing; knowing is false consciousness, and not knowing is insensibility. If it is true arrival on the Way where there is no doubt, it is like the great void, like a vacant hall, empty and open; how could one insist on affirming or denying it?
CHCHCHQU - Tokusan [Te-shan] (781-867)
There is nothing in the self, so do not seek falsely; what is attained by false seeking is not real attainment. You just have nothing in your mind, and no mind in things; then you will be empty and spiritual, tranquil and sublime. Any talk of beginning or end would all be self-deception. The slightest entanglement of thought is the foundation of the three mires; a momentarily aroused feeling is a hindrance for ten thousand eons.
CHCHCHQU - Hogen [Fa-yen Wen-i] (855-958)
In myriad forms, there is a single body revealed.
JDJAJSQU - Dogen-zenji (1200-53)
To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas. To be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas is to free one's body and mind and those of others. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.
BUINBUSU - Shakyamuni Buddha (c. 563-483 B.C.) (quoted by [Ta Hui])
When the mind does not vainly grasp past things, does not long for things in the future, and does not dwell on anything in the present, then you realize that the three times are all empty and still.
CHCHCHQU - Obaku [Huang-po Hsi-yun] (?-849)
The Buddhas and all sentient beings are only one mind; there is nothing else. This mind, since beginningless past, has never been born, never perished; it is not green, not yellow; it has no shape or form. It is not subject to existence or non-existence, and is not to be considered new or old... This very substance is it; stir your thoughts and you miss it. It is like empty space; it has no bounds and cannot be measured. Just this one mind itself is Buddha. Buddha and sentient beings are no different; it's just that sentient beings grasp appearances- seeking outwardly, they become more and more lost. If you employ Buddha to seek Buddha, use mind to grasp mind, you may go on all your life until the end of time, but will never succeed. Don't you realize that if you cease thinking and forget thought, Buddha will spontaneously appear?
BUINBUSU - Shakyamuni Buddha (c. 563-483 B.C.)
Verily, I declare unto you, that within this very body, mortal though it be, and only a fathom high, but conscious and endowed with mind, is the world, and the waxing thereof, and the waning thereof, and the way that leads to the passing away thereof.
CHCHCHQU - [Ta-ning Tao-kuan] ( - )
Who is capable of embracing this? The four seasons follow each other in succession. The sun and moon shine constantly. Truth suffers no fundamental alteration, and the Tao is not confined to a single place. Therefore, free yourself to yield to whatever happens to you. Rise and fall with it. Here you may be simultaneously a common man and a sage.
CHCHCHQU - Obaku [Huang-po] ( -849)
During the twelve periods of the day I do not attach myself to anything.
JDJAJSQU - Dogen-zenji (1200-53)
Realizing this place, practice follows, and this is the realized koan. Realizing this way, practice follows, and this is the realized koan. For the place and the way are neither large nor small, neither subject nor object, without existing previously or without arising now; therefore, they exist thus.
CHCHCHQU - Ummon [Yun-men Wen-yen] (?-849)
To grasp Zen, you must experience it. ...You should withdraw inwardly and search for the ground upon which you stand; thereby you will find out what Truth is.
JDJAJSQU - Dogen-zenji (1200-53) (from Fukan zazen-gi)
Think of nonthinking. How is this done? By thinking beyond thinking and non-thinking. This is the very basis of zazen.
CHCHCHQU - Isan Reiyu [Kuei-shan Ling-yu] (771-853)
The Sutra says, "To behold the Buddha-nature one must wait for the right moment and the right conditions. When the time comes, one is awakened as from a dream. It is as if one's memory recalls something long forgotten. One realizes that what is obtained is one's own and not from outside one's self." Thus an ancient patriarch said, "After enlightenment one is still the same as one was before. There is no mind and there is no Dharma". One is simply free from unreality and delusion. The mind of the ordinary man is the same as that of the sage because the Original Mind is perfect and complete in itself. When you have attained this recognition, hold on to what you have achieved.
CHCHCHQU - Sekito Kisen [Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien] (700-790) In our sect, realization of the Buddha-nature, and not mere devotion or strength of concentration, is paramount.
CHCHCHQU - [Teng-yuan of Hsiang Lin] ( - )
Monk: How is it when mind and objects are both forgotten? Teng-yuan: Sitting sleeping with your eyes open.
CHCHCHQU - Isan Reiyu [Kuei-shan Ling-yu] (771-853)
With the subtlety of thinking the thoughtless, return thought to the boundlessness of the spiritual effulgence; when thought is exhausted, return to the source, where nature and appearances always abide, phenomena and principle are not-two; the true Buddha is thus.
CHCHCHQU - [Lo-han Kuei-ch'en] (867-928)
Not-knowing most closely approaches the Truth.
CHCHCHQU - Hogen [Fa-Yen] (855-958)
Monk: What is the Mind of the ancient Buddha? Hogen: It is that from which compassion, sympathy, joy, and limitless indifference flow out. Monk: What is the ground of Absolute Truth? Hogen: If there should be a ground, it would not be Absolute Truth.
JDJAJSQU - Dogen-zenji (1200-53) (from Fukan Zazen-gi)
The Way is completely present where you are, so of what use is practice or enlightenment? However, if there is the slightest difference in the beginning between you and the Way, the result will be a greater separation than between heaven and earth. If the slightest dualistic thinking arises, you will lose the Buddha-mind.
BUINBUSU - Shakyamuni (c. 563-483 B.C.) (quoted by [Ta Hui])
You use the characteristics matter and emptiness to overturn and eliminate each other in the Repository of Thusness, and the Repository of Thusness accordingly becomes matter or emptiness, extending everywhere throughout the cosmos. For this reason, within it, the wind stirs and the air clears, the sun is bright and the clouds are dark.
CHCHCHQU - Sekito Kisen [Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien] (700-790)
Our teaching has been handed down by the ancient buddhas; we do not speak of meditation or spiritual progress, only the arrival at the knowledge and vision of Buddhahood. Mind itself is buddha; mind, buddha, sentient beings, enlightenment, affliction, all are different names for the same thing. You should know that your own mind's aware essence is neither finite nor eternal, by nature neither defiled nor pure. It is still and complete; it is the same in ordinary people and in saints, responding effectively without patterns, apart from mind, intellect and discriminating consciousness. The three realms - desire, matter, and immaterial - and six states of being - animals, hell-beings, hungry ghosts, titans, human beings, gods - are only manifestations of your own mind; the moon in water, images in a mirror - how can there be any birth or death? If you can realize this, you will be complete in every way.
JDJAJSQU - Dogen-zenji (1200-53)
Now to concentrate on the way of enlightenment should also be like this; no matter how bad a state of mind you may get into, if you hold out over the long run, the floating clouds will disappear and the autumn wind will cease. That is a fact.
ECCHECDH - Kanchi Sosan [Seng-t'san] (6th c. A.D.) (3rd patriarch, China)
The Ultimate Path has no difficulties - Just avoid picking and choosing. Don't hate or love, and you'll be lucid and clear. When there's the slightest distinction It's as far apart as heaven and earth. If you want it to appear before you, Don't keep to going with or going against.
MOUSJSQU - Shunryu Suzuki-roshi (1905-71)
In the beginner's mind there is no thought, "I have attained something." All self-centered ideas limit our vast mind... The beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless... Then we are always true to ourselves, in sympathy with all beings, and can actually practice. Whatever we see is changing, losing its balance. The reason everything looks beautiful is because it is out of balance, but its background is always in perfect harmony. This is how everything exists in the realm of Buddha nature... Without realizing the background of Buddha-nature, everything appears to be in the form of suffering. ...Suffering itself is how we live, and how we extend our life. To stop your mind does not mean to stop the activities of mind. It means that your mind pervades your whole body. When your practice is calm and ordinary, everyday life itself is enlightenment. If you do not lose yourself, then even though you have difficulty, there is actually no problem whatsoever... When your life is always a part of your surroundings - in other words, when you are called back to yourself, in the present moment - then there is no problem. When you start to wander about in some delusion which is something apart from yourself, then your surroundings are not real anymore, and your mind is not real anymore... Once you are in the midst of delusion, there is no end to delusion... To solve the problem is to be part of it, to be one with it. We do not seek for something besides ourselves. We should find the truth in this world, through our difficulties, through our suffering. Mindfulness is, at the same time, wisdom. ...It is the readiness of the mind that is wisdom. Our true nature is beyond our conscious experience. ...firm conviction in the original emptiness of your mind is the most important thing in your practice... Even though you think you are in delusion, your pure mind is there. To realize pure mind in your delusion is practice. If you have pure mind... the delusion will vanish. ...This is to attain enlightenment before you realize it. True nature is watching water. When you say, "My zazen is very poor", here you have true nature, but ... do not realize it. Nothing exists but momentarily in its present form and color. One thing flows into another and cannot be grasped. The true purpose is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. This is to put everything under control in its widest sense. Zen practice is to open up our small mind. So concentrating is just an aid to help you realize "big mind", or the mind that is everything. That everything is included within your mind is the essence of mind... Even though waves arise, the essence of your mind is pure... Waves are the practice of the water... Big mind and small mind are one... As your mind does not expect anything from the outside, it is always filled. A mind with waves in it is not a disturbed mind, but actually an amplified one... In one sense our experiences coming by one by one are always fresh and new, but in another sense they are nothing but a continuous unfolding of the one big mind... With big mind we accept each of our experiences as if recognizing the face we see in a mirror as our own... with this imperturbable composure of big mind we practice zazen.
CHCHCHQU - Sozan Honjaku (commentary on the Five Ranks of Tozan) [Ts'ao-shan Pen-chi] (840-901)
COMING FROM WITHIN THE ABSOLUTE The whole body revealed, unique; the root source of all things, in it there is neither praise nor blame.
ARRIVING WITHIN THE RELATIVE Going along with things and beings without hindrance, a wooden boat empty inside, getting through freely by being empty.
THE RELATIVE WITHIN THE ABSOLUTE A piece of emptiness pervading everywhere, all senses silent.
THE ABSOLUTE WITHIN THE RELATIVE The moon in the water, the image in the mirror - fundamentally without origin or extinction, how could any traces remain?
ARRIVAL IN BOTH AT ONCE The absolute is not necessarily void, the relative is not necessarily actual; there is neither turning away or turning to. When mental activity sinks away and both the material world and emptiness are forgotten, there is no more concealment - the whole thing is revealed; this is the relative within the absolute. Mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers, - no one establishes the names, nothing can be compared: this is the absolute within the relative. Clean and naked, bare and free, the visage is in full majesty - throughout all heaven and earth, the sole honored one, without any other; this is coming from the absolute. ...As ear does not enter sound, and sound does not block up the ear, the moment you turn therein, there have never been any fixed names in the world. The is called arrival within both at once. This is not mind or objects, not phenomena or principle; it has always been beyond name or description. Naturally real, forgetting essence and appearance, this is called simultaneous realization of both relative and absolute.
CHCHCHQU - Fuyo Dokai [Fu-jung Tao-k'ai] (1042-1118)
Going into the Jeta Grove by day, the bright moon is in the sky; climbing the Vulture Peak by night, the sun fills the eyes. The raven is like snow; lone geese form a flock. An iron dog howls through the night, fighting clay bulls go into the sea - all this time, all everywhere are gathered together; what difference is there between others and self? On the terrace of the ancient buddhas, in the house of the patriarchs, everybody puts forth a hand to greet the friends who come and go. But tell me, good people, what does this amount to? - Plant more shadowless trees for people of later times to see. Even if you can spring up in the east and disappear in the west, open out or shut away freely, you still haven't dreamed of seeing what was before the buddhas. You should know that there is one man who doesn't get anything from others, does not accept any teaching or command, and does not fall within the scope of grade or rank. If you know this man, your life's study is completed.
CHCHCHQU - Fuyo Dokai (1042-1118) (from Standards of Jetavana)
Those who leave home and society do so because they are fed up with mundane turmoil and seek liberation from birth and death. Therefore they rest their minds and stop their thoughts, cutting off clinging involvements; that is why they are called renunciants. How can we bury our daily lives away for gain and honor? You must let go of both sides and cast down the middle, being in the midst of sound and form like flowers planted on a rock, seeing profit and fame as dust in the eye. Still it is not that it hasn't been happening since beginningless time, or that we are ignorant of the process, but it is making the head into the tail; why should you suffer so for your greedy attachment in such a situation? If you don't stop now, when are you waiting for? This is why ancient sages taught people to be complete in the present, what else is there? If you can get to have nothing on your mind, even the buddhas and enlightened ancestors are enemies - all mundane things will be cool and simple. Then for the first time you will merge with the other side.
CHCHCHPO - Sozan Honjaku [Ts'ao-shan Pen-chi] (840-901)
The formless body of complete illumination of the nature of awareness; Don't use knowledge and views, misconstruing far and near. If thoughts vary, you're blind to the profound essence; If the mind differs, you're not close to the path. When feelings discriminate myriad things, they submerge the present situation; When consciousness perceives many aspects, you lose the original reality. If you can understand clearly from such sayings, Clearly you're the man of before, without any concern.
CHCHCHQU - Mumon (1183-1260) (from Mumonkan, 47)
An instant realization sees endless time. Endless time is as one moment. When one comprehends the endless moment He realizes the person who is seeing it.
JRJAJSQU - Manzan (1635-1714) (Soto lineage) Great perfect awareness is the ocean of ultimate peace; still and silent, myriad forms and images reflect therein. Yet suddenly when the wind of objects arises it turns into an ocean of birth and death, with waves and consciousness and feelings billowing day and night, where all sentient beings appear and disappear, with no end in sight. Although the two oceans seem different, really they come from the same source, mind. Originally there is no sign of distinction in the mind source; life and death and nirvana all revert to the essential nature of the source.
JRJAJSQU - Manzan (1635-1714) (Soto lineage)
The ultimate way is the one real great way, the mind of faith is the non-dualistic inconceivable mind. Mind and the way do not decrease when in illusion nor increase when in enlightenment; everything is perfect reality, each particular is complete - you can't grasp or reject anything. However, even so, "if you don't practice it, it will not become manifest; if you do not realize it, you cannot attain it." It is like having a jewel hidden in your pocket and suffering for want of food and clothing.
CHCHCHQU - Isan Reiyu [Kuei-shan Ling-yu] (771-853)
The mind of a man of the Way is straightforward, without falsehood; there is no turning away nor turning towards, no deceitful false mind. At all times his seeing and hearing are normal; there are no further details or subtleties beyond this. He does not close his eyes or block his ears; it is enough that feelings do not attach to things. Since time immemorial all the sages have only spoken of the faults of impurity; if there is no such perverted consciousness, opinion and thought habits, then it is like an autumn pond, limpid and clean. Pure and clear, without contrivance, quiescent and still, without hindrance; such is called a man of the Way. He is also called an unconcerned man.
CHCHCHQU - Hyakujo Ekai [Po-chang Huai-hai] (720-814)
You should all first put an end to all ties, and lay to rest all concerns; ...do not remember, do not recollect, do not engage your thoughts with them. Abandon body and mind, letting them be free. With mind like wood or stone, mouth makes no object of distinction, mind pursues no activity; then the mind becomes like space, wherein the sun of illumination spontaneously appears... In the presence of all objects, mind being neither still nor disturbed, neither concentrated nor scattered, passing through all sound and form without lingering or obstruction, is called a man of the Way. Not setting in motion good, evil, right or wrong; not clinging to a single thing, not rejecting a single thing, is called a man of the great vehicle... Once affirmation and negation, like and dislike, approval and disapproval, all various opinions and feelings come to an end and can't bind, then one is free wherever he may be; this is called a bodhisattva with a newly aroused mind immediately ascending to the stage of Buddhahood.
JDJAJSQU - Keizan Jokin (1268-1325) (from Zazen Yojinki)
Zazen just lets people illumine the mind and rest easy in their fundamental endowment. This is called showing the original face and revealing the scenery of the basic ground. Mind and body drop off, detached whether sitting or lying down. Therefore we do not think of good or bad, and can transcend the ordinary and the holy, pass beyond all conception of illusion and enlightenment, leave the bounds of buddhas and sentient beings entirely. So, putting a stop to all concerns, casting off all attachments, not doing anything at all, the six senses inactive - who is this, whose name has never been known, cannot be considered body, cannot be considered mind? When you try to think of it, thought vanishes; when you try to speak of it, words come to an end. Like an idiot, like an ignoramus, high as a mountain, deep as an ocean, not showing the peak or the invisible depths - shining without thinking, the source is clear in silent explanation. Occupying sky and earth, one's whole body alone is manifest; a person of immeasurable greatness - like one who has died utterly, whose eyes are not clouded by anything, whose feet are not supported by anything - where is there any dust? What is a barrier? The clear water never had front or back, space will never have inside or out. Crystal clear and naturally radiant before form and void are separated, how can object and knowledge exist?
CHCHCHQU - Mumon (1183-1260) (from Mumonkan, case 48)
Without raising a foot we are there already; the tongue has not moved but the teaching is finished. (alt. trans. Nyogen Senzaki/Paul Reps): Before the first step is taken, the goal is reached. Before the tongue is moved the speech is finished. More than brilliant intuition is needed To find the origin of the right road.
CHCHCHQU - [Ch'ing-yuan] ( - )
Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters.
CHCHCHQU - Rinzai [Lin-chi I-hsuan] (?-866)
Do you want to know the Buddha? None other than he who here in your presence is now listening to the Dharma. Just because you lack self-reliance, you turn to the outside and run about seeking. Even if you find something there, it is only words and letters and never the living spirit of the patriarchs. Do not be deceived.
CHCHCHQU - Rinzai [Lin-chi I-hsuan] (?-866)
Followers of the Way, the Dharma of the Mind has no form and pervades the Ten Directions. In the eye, it is called seeing; in the ear, hearing; in the nose, smelling; in the feet, walking. Fundamentally it is one light; differentiated it becomes the six senses. When one's whole mind comes to a full stop, one is delivered where one stands. Why do I speak thus? It is only because I see you, followers of the Way, all running about with an agitated mind, quite unable to stop, fretting yourselves over the playthings of the old masters. A moment of doubt in your mind is Mara. But if you can grasp that the ten thousand things are unborn and that the heart is like an illusive fantasy, then no thing even the size of a speck of dust exists - everywhere is purity - this is Buddha. If you want to get free from birth and death, from coming and going, from taking and putting on, know and take hold of him who is now listening to the Dharma. He has neither form nor shape, neither root nor trunk; nor does he have a dwelling place; he is as lively as fish jumping in water, and performs his function in response to all situations. Only, the place of his functioning is not a locality. Therefore, if you search for him, he eludes you. The more you seek for him, the farther away he is. That is why he is called "mysterious". I have no Dharma to give to men. I only cure diseases and undo knots. Followers of the Way who come from everywhere, try not to depend on anything. I only want to ponder this matter with you. Far better it is to have nothing further to seek, to be simple and plain. Then even the Bodhisattvas who have completed the ten stages are seeking the traces of you, followers of the Way, and cannot find them. ...And how does this come to be so? Because the man of the Way who is now listening to the Dharma leaves no trace of his activities. When the mind is stilled, the manifold things cease. And when the mind does not rise, the ten thousand things are without blame. In the world and beyond the world, neither Buddha nor Dharma manifest themselves, nor do they disappear. Though things exist, they are only as names and words.
CHCHCHQU - Baso Doitsu [Ma-Tsu or Kiangsi Tao-I] (709-788)
Those who seek for the truth should realize that there is nothing to seek. There is no Buddha but Mind; there is no Mind but Buddha. Do not choose what is good, nor reject what is evil, but rather be free from purity and defilement. Then you will realize the emptiness of sin. Thoughts perpetually change and cannot be grasped because they possess no self-nature. The triple world is nothing more then one's mind. The multitudinous universe is nothing more than the testimony of one Dharma. What are seen as forms are the reflections of the mind. The mind does not exist by itself; its existence is manifested through forms. Whenever you speak of Mind you must realize that appearance and reality are perfectly interfused without impediment. This is what the achievement of bodhi is. That which is produced by Mind is called form. When you understand that forms are non-existent, then that which is birth is also no-birth. If you are aware of this mind, you will dress, eat, and act spontaneously in life as it transpires, and thereby cultivate your spiritual nature. There is nothing more that I can teach you.
MOUSJSQU - Shunryu Suzuki-roshi (1905-71)
When you are sitting in the middle of your own problem, which is more real to you, your problem or you yourself? The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact. This is the point you will realize by zazen practice. In continuous practice, under a succession of agreeable and disagreeable situations, you will realize the marrow of Zen and acquire its true strength. To leave a trace is not the same as to remember something. It is necessary to remember what we have done, but we should not become attached to what we have done in any special sense. What we call "attachment" is just these traces of our thought and activity. In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do... If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do... Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ashes.
CHCHCHQU - from Blue Cliff Record (Hekigan Roku, 4)
"Even if you're like the moon reflected in an autumn pond, which when striking the waves is not scattered, or like the sound of a bell on a quiet night, which when hit never fails to resound, this is still an affair on the shore of birth and death" [Hsuan Sha].
When you arrive here there is no gain or loss, no affirmation or negation, nor is there anything extraordinary or mysterious.
(Hekigan Roku, 19) Those who attain it do not choose between ignorance or wisdom, between worldly or holy. Much falsehood is not as good as a little truth. Anyone who is powerful will immediately rest right this moment and abruptly still the myriad entanglements, thus passing beyond the stream of birth and death and going far beyond the usual patterns... Penetrate one place, and at once you penetrate a thousand places, ten thousand places. Clearly understand one device, and at once you clearly understand a thousand devices, ten thousand devices.
[Wu Yeh] (Hekigan Roku, 21) Just don't attach to names and words, classification and phrasing. If you have understood all things, naturally you won't be attached to them. Then there is no multiplicity of gradations of differences; you take in all things; but all things won't be able to take you in. Fundamentally there is no gain or loss, no illusions or dreams, no multiplicity of names. You should not insist on setting up names for them. Can I fool all of you people? Since all of you ask questions, therefore there are words. If you didn't ask, what could you have me say that would be right? All concerns are what you take up: none of it is any of my business. An ancient said, "If you want to know the meaning of the buddha nature, you must observe times and seasons, causes and conditions."
[Tou Tzu] (Hekigan Roku, 22) Mind revolves along with myriad phenomena: The turning point is truly mysterious.
(Hekigan Roku, 25) ...Concerns arise because outside you perceive that mountains and rivers and the great earth exist; within you perceive that seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing exist; above you see that there are various buddhas that can be sought; and below you see that there are sentient beings who can be saved. You must simply spit them all out at once: afterwards, whether walking, standing, sitting or lying down, twenty-four hours a day, you fuse everything into one. Then, though you're on the tip of a hair, it's as broad as the universe; though you dwell in a boiling cauldron or in furnace embers, it's like being in the land of peace and happiness; though you dwell amidst gems and jewels in profusion, it's like being in a thatched hut. For this kind of thing, if you are a competent adept, you get to the one reality naturally, without wasting any effort.
(Ummon) [Yun-men Wen-yen] (862/4-949) (Hekigan Roku, 33) In that scripture (Lotus of Truth) it says that all livelihood and productive labor are not contrary to the characteristics of reality. But tell me, in the heaven that is beyond thought and thoughtlessness, right now how many people fall back from that position? (Ummon)
CHCHCHQU - Mumon (1183-1260) (from Mumonkan, 27)
A monk asked Nansen: "Is there a teaching no master ever preached before?" Nansen said: "Yes, there is." "What is it?", asked the monk. Nansen replied: "It is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not things." Mumon's comment: Old Nansen gave away his treasure-words. He must have been greatly upset. Nansen was too kind and lost all his treasure. Truly, words have no power. Even though the mountain becomes the sea, Words cannot open another's mind.
CHCHCHQU - from Blue Cliff Record (Hekigan Roku, 7) - pointer by [Hsueh Tou Ch'ung Hsien] (980-1052)
The thousand sages have not transmitted the single word before sound; if you have never seen it personally, it's as if it were worlds away. Even if you discern it before sound and cut off the tongues of everyone in the world, you're still not a sharp fellow. Therefore it is said, "The sky can't cover it; the earth can't support it; empty space can't contain it; sun and moon can't illumine it." Where there is no Buddha and you alone are called the Honored One, for the first time you've amounted to something. Otherwise, if you are not yet this way, penetrate through on the tip of a hair and release the great shining illumination; then in all directions you will be independent and free in the midst of phenomena; whatever you pick up, there is nothing that's not it. But tell me, what is attained that is so extraordinary?
(Hekigan Roku, 37) - Have you not seen how the Third Patriarch said, "Grasp it, and you lose balance and surely enter a false path. Let go naturally; there is neither going nor abiding in essence." If here you say that there is neither Buddha nor Dharma, still you have gone into a ghost cave. The Ancients called this the Deep Pit of Liberation. Originally it was a good causal basis, but it brings on a bad result. That is why it is said that a non-doing, unconcerned man is still oppressed by golden chains. Still, you must have penetrated all the way to the bottom before you will realize it. If you can say what cannot be said, can do what cannot be done, this is called the place of turning the body.
(Hekigan Roku, 44) - Again the monk asked, "What is the real truth?' Shan said, "Knowing how to beat the drum." In the real truth not one other thing is set up. As for the worldly truth, the myriad things are all present. That there is no duality to real and conventional is the highest meaning of the holy truths.
(Hekigan Roku, 45) - To study the Path, first you must have a basis of enlightenment: It's like having vied in a boat race: Though you relax on idle ground as before, only having won you can rest.
[Lung Ya] (Hekigan Roku, 51) - As soon as there is affirmation and denial, you lose your mind in confusion. If you don't fall into grades and stages, then there is no seeking. But say, is letting go right, or is holding fast right? At this point, if you have any trace of an interpretive route, you are still stuck in verbal explanations. If you're still involved with devices and objects, then all of this is haunting the fields and forests. Even if you arrive immediately at the point of solitary liberation, you haven't avoided looking back at the village gate from ten thousand miles away.
(Hekigan Roku, 56) - The Buddhas never appeared in the world - there is nothing to be given to people. The Patriarch never came from the West - he never passed on the transmission by mind. Since people of these times do not understand, they frantically search outside themselves. They are far from knowing that the one Great Matter right where they are cannot be grasped even by a thousand sages.
(Hekigan Roku, 59) - Chao Chou often taught his community with this speech, saying, "The Ultimate Path has no difficulties - just avoid picking and choosing. As soon as there are words and speech, 'this is picking and choosing', 'this is clarity'. This old monk does not abide within clarity; do you still preserve anything or not?" Once there was a monk who asked, "Since you do not abide in clarity, what is to be preserved?" Chou said, "I don't know either."
(Hekigan Roku, 62) - "The true nature of ignorance is identical to Buddhahood; the empty body of illusion is identical to the body of reality." It is also said, "See the Buddha mind right in the ordinary mind."
CHCHCHPO - Tozan Ryokai [Tung-shan Liang-chieh] (807-869)
Just avoid seeking from others, Or you will be far estranged from yourself. I now go on alone; I meet Him everywhere - He is now just I, but I now am not He: One must understand in this way In order to unite with thusness.
CHCHCHQU - [Mahasattva Fu] (497-569)
The highest good has an empty heart as its basis, and non-attachment as its source; abolishment of formality is the cause, and nirvana is the result.
CHCHCHQU - Sozan Honjaku [Ts'ao-shan Pen-chi] ((840-901)
The absolute state is the realm of emptiness, where there has never been a single thing; the relative state is the realm of form with myriad forms. The relative within the absolute is turning away from principle and going to phenomena; the absolute within the relative is indifference to phenomena, entering principle. Mutual integration is subtly responding to myriad circumstances without falling into various existences. It is not defiled, not pure, not true, not biased; therefore it is called the empty mysterious great way, the non-grasping true source. The past worthies since time immemorial have esteemed this rank (state of integration) as the most wondrous and most mysterious. You must discern it clearly and thoroughly.
BUINBUSU - from Sutra of the 42 Chapters
Though a person filled with desire dwells in heaven, still that is not enough for him; though a person who has ended desire dwells on the ground, still he is happy.
CHCHCHQU - (Chinese master to disciples)
Not to commit evils, To practice all the good, And to keep the mind pure: That is the teaching of the Buddhas.
MOVTXXQU - Thich Thien-An (1975)
For a deed to be totally pure, it must be done without any thought of reward, whether worldly or divine. It is this kind of deed which is called a "deed of no merit". And because no merit is sought, it is a deed of immeasurable merit, of infinite merit.
CHCHCHQU - Dai-i Doshin (4th Patriarch, China) [Tao-hsin to Niu-T'ou Fa Yung]-(594-657)
All systems of Buddhist teachings center in Mind, where immeasurable treasures originate. All its supernatural faculties and transformations revealed in discipline, meditation and wisdom are sufficiently contained in one's mind and they never depart therefrom. All the hindrances to the attainment of bodhi which arise from passions which generate karma are originally non-existent. Every cause and effect is but a dream. There is no Triple World which one leaves, and no bodhi to search for. The inner reality and outer appearances of man and a thousand things are identical. The Great Tao is formless and boundless. It is free from thought and anxiety. You have now understood this Buddhist teaching. There is nothing lacking in you, and you yourself are no different from Buddha. There is no way of achieving Buddhahood other than letting your mind be free to be itself. You should not contemplate nor should you purify your mind. Let there be no craving and hatred, and have no anxiety or fear. Be boundless and absolutely free from all conditions. Be free to go in any direction you like. Do not act to do good, nor to pursue evil. Whether you walk or stay, sit or lie down, and whatever you see happen to you, all are the wonderful activity of the Great Enlightened One. It is all joy, free from anxiety - it is called Buddha.
CHCHCHQU - Rinzai [Lin-chi I-hsuan] (?-866)
Fellow learners! To achieve Buddhahood there is no need for cultivation. Just carry on an ordinary task without any attachments. Release your bowels and water, wear your clothes, eat your meals. When you are tired, lie down. The fool will laugh at you, but the wise man will understand.
CHCHCHQU - Joshu Jushin [Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen] (778-897) (application of the koan)
It is as if a transparent crystal were held in one's hand. When a foreigner approaches it, it reflects him as such; when a native Chinese approaches it, it reflects him as such. I take a stalk of grass and let it act as a golden-bodied one, sixteen feet high, and I take a golden-bodied one, sixteen feet high, and let it act as a stalk of grass.
CHCHCHPO - [Layman P'ang] (8th-9th c. A.D.) (quoted by Ta Hui)
Just have no mind in myriad things: Then what hindrance is there when myriad things surround you? The iron ox doesn't fear the lion's roar: It's like a wooden man seeing a picture of flowers and birds - The wooden man's body itself has no feelings, And the painted birds aren't startled when meeting the man. Mind and objects are Thus - only this is: Why worry that the Path of Enlightenment will not be fulfilled?
CHCHCHQL - [Layman P'ang Yun of Hsiang-chou] (8th-9th c. A.D.)
Let mind and the external world be as they are. There is neither actuality nor emptiness. If there is actuality, I do not care for it. Though there is a Void, I do not abide in it. I am neither a sage nor a great worthy, I am an ordinary man who fulfills his daily tasks. How simple are the Buddhist teachings! In the five aggregates lie true wisdom. All things are identified with the First Principle. The formless essence of things is not twofold. If you wish to be free from suffering and enter bodhi, I cannot tell you where the land of Buddha is.
CHCHCHQU - Isan Reiyu [Kuei-shan Ling-yu] (771-853)
When the approach to enlightenment is like the swift thrust of a sword to the center of things, then both worldliness and holiness are completely eliminated and Absolute Reality is revealed. Thus the One and the Many are identified. This is the Suchness of Buddha.
CHCHCHQU - Isan Reiyu [Kuei-shan Ling-yu] (771-853)
The mind of one who understands Ch'an is plain and straightforward without pretense. It has neither front nor back and is without deceit or delusion. Every hour of the day, what one hears and sees are ordinary things and ordinary actions. Nothing is distorted. One does not need to shut one's eyes and ears to be non-attached to things... When delusion, perverted views and bad thinking are eliminated, the mind is as clear and tranquil as the autumn stream. ...Through concentration, a devotee may gain thoughtless thought. Thereby he is suddenly enlightened and realizes his original nature. However, there is still a basic delusion, without beginning and without end, which cannot be entirely eliminated. Therefore the elimination of the manifestation of karma, which causes the remaining delusion to come to the surface, should be taught.
CHCHCHQU - Daikan Eno [Hui-neng] (638-713) (6th Patriarch, China)
An ordinary man is Buddha! and defilement is enlightenment (bodhi). A passing foolish thought makes one an ordinary man, while an enlightened thought makes one a buddha. A passing thought that clings to sense-objects is defilement; a second thought that frees one from attachment is Enlightenment. It is the function of Tathata (suchness) to give rise to "ideas". It is not the sense-organs that do so. ...Without Tathata, sense-organs and sense-objects would disappear immediately. Because it is an attribute of Tathata to give rise to ideas, our sense organs, in spite of their functioning in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and knowing, are not tainted and defiled under all circumstances. Our true nature is self-manifesting all the time. ...Who are these sentient beings, potential within our minds? They are the delusive mind, the deceitful mind, the evil mind, and such like - all these are sentient beings. Each of them has to be delivered by oneself by means of his own Essence of Mind; only by his own deliverance, is it genuine... The false will be delivered by truthfulness; the delusive by enlightenment; the ignorant by wisdom; and the malevolent by benevolence; such is genuine deliverance. Let not a vagrant thought rise up again, is 'Mind'. Let not a coming thought be repulsed, is 'Buddha'. To manifest all kind of phenomena, is 'Mind'. To be free of all form, is Buddha. Never for a moment was Nirvana either the phenomena of Becoming and Cessation, or the ceasing of Becoming and Cessation. It is the perfect manifestation of Rest and Cessation of Change, and at the 'time' of manifestation, there is no such thing as manifestation. It is called everlasting joy, because it has neither enjoyer nor non-enjoyer. Let your mind be like the illimitable void, but do not think of it as 'vacuity'. Let the mind function freely, but whether it is in activity or at rest, let it abide nowhere. Forget all discriminations: see no distinction between a sage and an ordinary man; ignore the distinction between subject and object; let Essence of Mind and all phenomena and objects be alike in a state of "Suchness". Then you will truly be in Samadhi all the time.
MOUSJSQU - Shunryu Suzuki-roshi (1905-71)
The way to practice without having any goal is to limit your activity, or to be concentrated on what you are doing in this moment. Instead of having some particular object in mind, you should limit your activity. When your mind is wandering about elsewhere you have no chance to express yourself. But if you limit your activity to what you can do just now, in this moment, then you can express fully your true nature, which is the universal Buddha-nature. This is our way.
JDJAJSQU - Bassui (b. 1327)
When the profound questioning penetrates to the very bottom, and that bottom is broken open, not the slightest doubt will remain that your own Mind itself is Buddha, the Void-universe. There will then be no anxiety about life or death, no truth to search for. In zazen neither despise nor cherish the thoughts that arise; only search your own Mind, the very source of these thoughts. You must understand that anything appearing in your consciousness or seen by your eyes is an illusion, of no enduring reality. ...If you keep your mind as empty as space, no evil spirits can disturb you even on your deathbed. While engaged in zazen, however, keep none of this counsel in mind. You must only become the question "What is this Mind?" or "What is it that hears these sounds?" When you realize this Mind you will know that it is the very source of all Buddhas and sentient beings. The Bodhisattva Kannon (Avalokitesvara) is so called because he attained enlightenment by perceiving [grasping the source of] the sounds of the world about him.
MOUSJSQU - Shunryu Suzuki-roshi (1905-71)
To have nothing in your mind is naturalness. ...When you do something, you should be completely involved in it. You should devote yourself to it completely. Then you have nothing. So if there is no true emptiness in your activity, it is not natural... When you have that mind, you have the joy of life. When you lose it, you lose everything. You have nothing... But when all you do comes out of nothingness, then you have everything. After we realize the emptiness of things, everything becomes real - not substantial. When we realize that everything we see is a part of emptiness, we can have no attachment to any existence; we realize that everything is just a tentative form and color. Thus we realize the true meaning of each tentative existence... It is because our way of observing things is deeply rooted in our self-centered ideas that we are disappointed when we find everything has only a tentative existence. But when we actually realize this truth, we will have no suffering.
JDJAJSQU - Sayings of Dogen-zenji (1200-53)
If you would be free of greed, first you must leave selfhood behind. In order to leave selfhood behind, the contemplation of impermanence is the foremost mental discipline. ...With a profound heart, which thinks little of your own life and has compassion for living beings, you should arouse a mind which aspires to entrust your bodily life to the Buddhist precepts. If you already have such a mind, even for a moment, you should preserve it so as not to lose it. Without once arousing such a mind, there can be no awakening to the Buddha Way. Even in a grass hut or under a tree, pondering even a single phrase of the Teaching, practicing even a single period of sitting meditation, this is indeed the true flourishing of Buddhism. Once you have perceived that all dharmas are the Buddha Dharma, then you should know that evil is definitely evil and is far from the Way of Buddhas and Patriarchs, and that good is definitely good and becomes an affinity with the Buddhist Way. If you are still thinking deep inside, "The fundamental purpose of the study of the Teachings is for finding the path to liberation; how could I lightly abandon the accomplishment of many years of study?": then this mind is called a mind which is bound to birth and death. You should contemplate this thoroughly. In sitting meditation as well, if you do it for a long time, you will spontaneously become suddenly aware of the Great Matter, and you should know that sitting meditation is the correct entrance. It is also said, 'That which would incur pain is called bad; that which should bring about happiness is called good.' Only when one has cast body and mind into the Buddhist Teaching and practices it with no further hope of anything - even that he awaken to the Path and grasp the truth - such is called an Undefiled Wayfarer. This is the meaning of the saying, "Do not stay where there is Buddha; run quickly by where there is no Buddha." As for the patchrobed ones, it is those who are like clouds, having no fixed abode, flowing onward like a stream, attached to nothing, who are called true monks. If you do not study the way and cultivate its practice in this life, in which life would you become a man of capacity, a man without illness, to study the Way? Just to arouse the mind and cultivate practice without worrying about your bodily life, this is the most essential thing in the study of the Way. Depending upon zeal or sloth, there is slowness or quickness in attaining the Way. The difference between zeal and sloth is whether one's determination is thoroughgoing or not. When one's determination is not thoroughgoing, it is because he does not contemplate impermanence. We die from moment to moment, ultimately not abiding even for a while. As long as you are alive for the time being, do not pass the time in vain. Without looking forward to tomorrow every moment, you must think only of this day and this hour. Because tomorrow is difficult and unfixed and difficult to know, you must think of following the Buddhist Way while you live today... You must concentrate on Zen practice without wasting time, thinking that there is only this day and this hour. After that it becomes truly easy. You must forget about the good and the bad of your nature, the strength or weakness of your power. If life comes, this is life. If death comes, this is death. There is no reason for your being under their control. Don't put any hope in them. This life and death are the life of the Buddha. If you try to throw them away in denial, you lose the life of the Buddha.
THINTHSU - Visuddhimagga
Suffering alone exists, none who suffer; The deed there is, but no doer thereof; Nirvana is, but no one seeking it; The Path there is, but none who travel it.
THINTHSU - Kevaddha-Sutta, Digha-Nikaya
Monk: Where do earth, water, fire and air come to an end? Where are these four elements completely annihilated? Buddha: Not thus, O monk, is the question to be put, but: Where is it that these elements find no footing? --- In the invisible, infinite, all-radiant consciousness; there neither earth nor water, neither fire nor air can find a footing.
MOUSJRQU - Yasutani-roshi (1885-1973)
One of the salient characteristics of water is its conformability: when put into a round vessel it becomes round, when put into a square vessel it becomes square. ...The mind of Buddha is like water that is calm, deep, and crystal clear, and upon which the "moon of truth" reflects fully and perfectly. The mind of the ordinary man, on the other hand, is like murky water, constantly being churned by the gales of delusive thought and no longer able to reflect the moon of truth. The moon nontheless shines steadily upon the waves, but as the waters are roiled we are unable to see its reflection. Thus we lead lives that are frustrating and meaningless. When you walk only Mu walks, when you eat only Mu eats, when you work only Mu works, and when you come before me only Mu appears. Prostrating yourself, it is Mu that prostrates. Speaking, it is Mu that speaks. Lying down to sleep, it is Mu that sleeps and Mu that awakens. Having reached the point where your seeing, your hearing, your touching, your smelling, your tasting, and your thinking are nothing but Mu, suddenly you directly perceive Mu. After you have seen into your True-nature, you see all objects as temporary phenomena undergoing endless change, but you see them in and through the aspect of sameness. You then understand that without the undifferentiated there can be no individual existences. If you don't separate yourself from the circumstances of your life, you live without anxiety. In summer you adapt yourself to heat, in winter to cold. If you are rich, you live the life of a rich man; if you are poor, you live with your poverty. Were you to go to heaven, you would be an angel; were you to fall into hell, you would become a devil. In Japan you live like a Japanese, in Canada like a Canadian. Lived this way, life isn't a problem. Animals have this adaptability to a high degree. Human beings also have it, but because they imagine they are this or that, because they fashion notions and ideas of what they ought to be or how they ought to live, they are constantly at war with their environment and themselves. In the profoundest sense, we can know nothing. When he awakens to the fact that he embraces the whole universe, he ceases his grasping, for he no longer feels a lack within himself. One whose actions are still dominated by ego cannot be said to have had a valid enlightenment. Furthermore, an authentic experience not only reveals one's imperfections, but it simultaneously creates the determination to remove them. Whatever is in your mind is the reflection of your mind, therefore it is you. So when you perceive this mat or this table you are perceiving yourself. Again, when your mind is devoid of all conceptions - opinions, ideas, points of views, values, notions, assumptions - your mind is reflecting itself. This is the condition of undifferentiation, of Mu. All existence is relative, yet each of us creates his own world; each perceives according to the state of his own mind. ...If when you die the universe dies with you, you and the universe are not separate and apart. Enlightenment is no more than the realization that the world of discrimination and the world of undifferentiation are not two. When you directly and positively experience this, you are enlightened.
CHCHCHPO - [Layman P'ang] (8th-9th c. A.D.)
[People of] the ten directions are the same one assembly - Each and every one learns wu-wei. * (* non-doing) This is the very place to select Buddha; Empty-minded having passed the exam, I return. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - When the mind's as is, circumstances are also as is; There's no real and also no unreal. Giving no heed to existence, And holding not to non-existence - You're neither saint nor sage, just An ordinary man who has settled his affairs. Easy, so easy! These very five skandhas make true wisdom. The ten directions of the universe are the same One Vehicle. How can the formless Dharmakaya be two! If you cast off the passions to enter Bodhi, Where will any Buddha-lands be? To preserve your life you must destroy it; Having completely destroyed it you dwell at ease. When you attain the inmost meaning of this, An iron boat floats upon water.
BUINBUQU - Guru Kankanapa
The mind alone is the radiant jewel from which all things borrow their temporal reality.
PRINPRSU - from Mahayana-Sraddhotpada-Sastra
The mind has two doors from which issue its activities. One leads to a realization of the mind's Pure Essence, the other leads to the differentiations of appearing and disappearing, of life and death. What, however, is meant by the Pure Essence of Mind? It is the ultimate purity and unity, the all-embracing wholeness, the quintessence of Truth. Essence of Mind belongs to neither death nor rebirth, it is uncreated and eternal. The concepts of the conscious mind are being individualized and discriminated by false imaginations. If the mind could be kept free from discriminative thinking, there would be no more arbitrary thoughts to give rise to appearances of form, existences and conditions... for in Mind-essence, there is nothing to be grasped nor named. But we use words to get free from words until we reach the pure wordless Essence.
MOXXTIQU - Lama Anagarika Govinda
Every individual represents a certain position in space and time. Even if its consciousness has become all-embracing, by breaking down all limitations (or by no more identifying itself with individual limitations), it retains the character of its position or its starting point as a particular centre of experience.
THINTHSU - from the Dhammapada (line 330)
For it is better to go alone on the path of life than to have a fool for a companion. With few wishes and few cares, and leaving all sins behind, let a man travel alone, like a great elephant alone in the forest.
MOXXTIQU - Lama Anagarika Govinda
In the moment of profound intuition or enlightenment, the past is transformed into a present experience, in which all the moving forces and circumstances, all inner and outer connexions, motives, situations, causes and effects, in short the whole dependent origination, the very structure of reality, is clearly perceived.
PRINPRSU - from the Lankavatara Sutra
When it is recognized that there is nothing beyond what is seen of the mind [Mind] itself, the discrimination of being and non-being ceases and, as there is thus no external world as the object of perception, nothing remains but the solitude of Reality. Further, Mahamati, according to the teaching of the Tathagatas of the past, present, and future, all things are unborn. Why? Because they have no reality, being manifestations of Mind itself, and, Mahamati, as they are not born of being and non-being, they are unborn. Mahamati, all things are like the horns of the hare, horse, donkey, or camel, but the ignorant and simple-minded who are given up to their false and erroneous imaginations, discriminate things where they are not; therefore, all things are unborn. ...The self-nature and characteristic marks of body, property and abode evolve when the Alayavijnana is conceived by the ignorant as grasping and grasped; and then they fall into a dualistic view of existence where they recognize its rise, abiding, and disappearance. 2-XIX That all things are devoid of self-nature means that there is a constant and uninterrupted becoming, a momentary change from one state of existence to another; seeing this, Mahamati, all things are destitute of self-nature. ...There is no Nirvana except where there is Samsara; there is no Samsara except where there is Nirvana; for the condition of existence is not of mutually-exclusive character. ...I always preach emptiness which is beyond eternalism and nihilism; Samsara is like a dream and a vision, and karma vanishes not. 2-XXVII When the self-nature and habit-energy of all the Vijnanas, including the Alaya, Manas and Manovijnana, from which issues the habit-energy of wrong speculations - when all these go through a revulsion, I and all the Buddhas declare that there is Nirvana, and the way and the self-nature of this Nirvana is emptiness, which is the state of reality. Further, Mahamati, Nirvana is the realm of self-realisation attained by noble wisdom, which is free from the discrimination of eternality and annihilation, existence and non-existence. ...Again, Mahamati, the great Parinirvana is neither destruction nor death. Mahamati, if the great Parinirvana is death, then it will be a birth and continuation. If it is destruction, then it will assume the character of an effect-producing deed. ...Neither has it anything to do with vanishing; it is the goal of the Yogins. Again, Mahamati, the great Parinirvana is neither abandonment nor attainment, neither is it of one meaning nor of no-meaning; this is said to be Nirvana. 2-XXXVIII Of neither existence nor non-existence do I speak, but of Mind-only which has nothing to do with existence and non-existence, and which is thus free from intellection. Suchness, emptiness, realm of truth, the various forms of the will-body - these I call Mind-only. Multiplicity of objects evolves from the conjunction of habit-energy and discrimination: it is born of Mind, but is regarded by people as existing outwardly: this I call Mind-only. The external world is not, and multiplicity of objects is what is seen of Mind; body, property, and abode - these I call Mind-only. 3-LXIV
PRINPRSU - from the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra
This Buddha land of mine is always pure, but appears filthy so that I can lead people of inferior spirituality to their salvation. This is like the food of the devas which takes various colors according to the merits of the individual eater. So, Sariputra, the man whose mind is pure sees this world in its majestic purity. (- Sakyamuni Buddha) For meditation means the non-appearance of body and mind in the three worlds (of desire, form, and no-form); giving no thought to inactivity when in nirvana while appearing (in the world) with respect-inspiring deportment; not straying from the Truth while attending to worldly affairs; the mind abiding neither within nor without; being imperturbable to wrong views during the practice of the thirty-seven contributory stages leading to enlightenment: and not wiping out troubles (klesa) while entering the state of nirvana. If you can thus sit in meditation, you will win the Buddha's seal. (- Vimalakirti) Sariputra, death is unreal and deceptive, and means decay and destruction (to the worldly man), while life which is also unreal and deceptive means continuance to him. As to the Bodhisattva, although he disappears (in one place) he does not put an end to his good (deeds), and although he reappears (in another) he prevents evils from arising. (- Vimalakirti) Therefore, Maitreya, do not mislead the devas because there is neither development of supreme bodhi-mind nor its backsliding. Maitreya, you should instead urge them to keep from discriminating views about bodhi. Why? Because bodhi can be won by neither body nor mind. For bodhi is the state of calmness and extinction of passion because
