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Constantly see your body as
Empty and quiet
Inside and outside
Communing in sameness.
Plunge the body into
The realm of reality,
Where there has never been
Any obstruction.

~ Tao-hsin (580-651)

When a monk looks at the green mountain
Even a mote of dust must not obstruct his sight.
Clear vision penetrates the bones naturally.
So why are you still striving for nirvana?

~ Jinkag Haesim (1178-1234)

Like entrusting yourself
To a brave person
When greatly afraid,
By entrusting yourself
To the awakening mind,
You will be swiftly liberated,
Even if you have made appalling errors.

~ Majjhima Nikaya

Constantly see your body as
Empty and quiet
Inside and outside
Communing in sameness.
Plunge the body into
The realm of reality,
Where there has never been
Any obstruction.

~ Tao-hsin (580-651)

How should those who enter
the path apply their minds?

All things are originally uncreated
and presently undying.
Just let your mind be free;
you don’t have to restrain it.

See directly and hear directly;
come directly and go directly.
When you must go, then go;
when you must stay, then stay.

This is the true path.
A scripture says,
“Conditional existence is
the site of enlightenment,
insofar as you know it as it really is.”

~ Niu-t’ou Hui-chung (683-769)

The rain in the bamboo under the eaves
Sounds familiar,
The maples crowding the valley
Wear their autumn colors.
Lovely yellow flowers cry
In the morning dew,
Lonely red leaves fall from the garden trees.

~ Wonkam Chungji (1226-1292)

We took our baskets to the blue mountain at dawn,
Leisurely picked wild greens, and came home.
Would you like to know the importance
Of what we did?
Only white clouds return with the night birds.

~ Wonkam Chungji (1226-1292)

The Sixth Patriarch heard someone recite the Diamond Sutra phrase “arouse the mind without placing it anywhere,” and he awakened.

Ling-yun saw a peach blossom and awakened.

Hsiang-yen heard a tile fragment strike bamboo, and he awakened.

Lin-chi was given sixty blows by Huang-po, and he awakened.

Tung-shan noticed his own reflection when he was crossing a river, and he awakened.

~ Daito (1282-1334)

I have just three things to teach:
Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
You return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
You accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
You reconcile all beings in the world.

~ Lao Tzu

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.
The oak sleeps in the acorn,
The bird waits in the egg,
And in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs.
Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

~ James Allen

The field of boundless emptiness
Is what exists from the very beginning.
You must purify, cure, grind down,
Or brush away all the tendencies
You have fabricated into apparent habits.
Then you can reside in the
Clear circle of brightness.

~ Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)

The Tao is as deep as can be.
Who is willing to pursue it closely?
If you don’t go into the tiger’s lair,
How can you catch its cub?
If you don’t wash out the stone and sand,
How can you pick out the gold?
Carefully seek the heart of heaven and earth
With firm determination.
Suddenly you will see the original thing;
Everywhere you meet the source, all is a forest of jewels.

~ Liu I-Ming

The nature of the one Reality must be known by one’s own clear spiritual perception;
it cannot be known through a learned person.

Similarly, the form of the moon can only be known through one’s own eyes.
How can it be known through others?

~ Shankara

Believe nothing because a wise man said it.
Believe nothing because it is generally held.
Believe nothing because it is written.
Believe nothing because it is said to be divine
Believe nothing because someone else believes it.
Believe only what you yourself judge to be true.

~ Buddha

When water is still,
its clearness shows the nose and eyebrows
of one who looks into it.
It is a perfect level.
Such is the clearness of still water,
and how much greater is that of the calm mind!
The still mind of the sage
is the mirror of heaven and earth.

~ Chuang Tzu