...

Can this matter of Zen be understood or not?
If you say that it can be explained and understood,
Then you are attaching to words and concepts
And miss the basic fact.
On the other hand, if you say
It cannot be understood, then how can the
Zen Dharma be taught to all beings?
What can you do?
Look clearly!
A crow’s head is black
A crane’s head is white.

~ Ma-tsu (709-788)

Learned friends,
Our self-natured Bodhi
Is fundamentally pure
And clean.
Use only this mind
Of yours for direct
Understanding and
Attainment of Buddhahood.

Altar Sutra

@rookie54 said
Can this matter of Zen be understood or not?
If you say that it can be explained and understood,
Then you are attaching to words and concepts
And miss the basic fact.
On the other hand, if you say
It cannot be understood, then how can the
Zen Dharma be taught to all beings?
What can you do?
Look clearly!
A crow’s head is black
A crane’s head is white.

~ Ma-tsu (709-788)

@moonbus said
"Don't think. Look!"

"Whereof we cannot speak, thereof be silent."

-- Wittgenstein

@rookie54 said
Learned friends,
Our self-natured Bodhi
Is fundamentally pure
And clean.
Use only this mind
Of yours for direct
Understanding and
Attainment of Buddhahood.

Altar Sutra

@Arkturos said
Sounds kind of bossy. No wonder he had so few friends.

Zen is to help one believe, practice, and realize the principle of without thought, without cultivation. What matters is the direct pointing to the true nature of your mind. Therefore, in the five divisions of the teachings there is also, besides the scriptural teachings, mind-to-mind transmission.

Worshipping Buddha statues is nothing more than resorting to an expedient for those who do not understand true nature. However many scriptures you have finished reading over the many years, I think you will not understand through them the way of mind-to-mind transmission.

~ Toui d. 825

When we reach the ultimate
Stillness, we joyfully become
Aware that this mind of ours
Is empty, without any things,
And extends infinitely in all
Directions. It is something
Like the eternal sky,
In which clouds and wind circulate
Without stopping or reaching an end.

~ Luo Hongxian (1504-1564)

regrets in advance
these words themselves
are an obstruction

Through green fog, red clouds,
Miles of bamboo,
To a hut where quiet lasts
Just let go and worries end
Stop to think and they’re back
An unpolished mirror holds millions of shapes
A bell doesn’t ring until it’s rung
Your basic nature is the real Buddha
Not form or space nothing old or new.

~ Stonehouse

The world is unstable, like a house on fire. This is not a place where you stay long.

The murderous haunt of impermanence comes upon you in a flash, no matter whether you are rich or poor, old or young.

If you want to be no different from a Zen master or a buddha, just do not seek outwardly.

~ Lin Chi (d ~867)

If you can get through
The world by following
The Way and embracing
Virtue to the end of your years,
It can be said that you are able
To embody the Tao.



~ Huai-nan-tzu

People who study Buddhism
Should seek real, true
Perception and understanding for now.
If you attain real, true
Perception and understanding,
Birth and death don’t affect you;
You are free to go or stay.
You needn’t seek wonders,
For wonders come of themselves.

~ Linji (d.~867)