...

Because you grasp labels and slogans,
You are hindered by those labels and slogans,
Both those used in ordinary life and those
Considered sacred.
Thus they obstruct your perception of objective truth,
And you cannot understand clearly.

~ Linji (d. 867)

You need not seek the real,
Mind originally is Buddha.
The familiar becomes remote,
The strange seems familiar.

Day and night,
Everything is wonderful.
Nothing you encounter confuses you.
These are the essentials of mind.

~ Han Shan Te Ch’ing (1546-1623)

The nightingale singing among the flowers warble Marvelous Law;
all the birds that soar in the sky
and even the frogs croaking in the water never cease chanting the Dharma.

The clang of the evening bell echoes impermanence of everything,
and the sound of the bell at daybreak reverberates with the message of appearance
and disappearance of all elements.

Flower petals flying and leaves falling before the wind disclose the perpetual changeability of karmic fortunes.
There is not a single thing that does not embody the Dharma.

~ Shosan (1579-1655)

If you don’t climb a thousand crags,
How can you learn All Things are empty?

~ Yuan Mei (1716-1798)

You try to learn Zen or Tao on the surface as something outside yourself,
learning to recognize terms and slogans,
seeking “buddhahood,” seeking “mastery,”
seeking “teachers,” considering them conceptually.

Make no mistake about it-you have but one mother and father,
so what more are you seeking?
Turn your attention back upon yourself and observe.

~ Lin Chi (d ~867)

Your hidden hut is a solitary cloud
Upon the clear deep waters of a pool.
The pines about it are dewed
With the distant moon,
A glow of liquid light to be my friend.
I pass the night in the shadow of flowers,
Where garden herbs enrich
The patterns of moss.
I too would leave the world
And fly to the western mountains
With the phoenix and crane.

~ Ch’ang Chien

Do not cling to the letter,
just comprehend the meaning,
referring each point to your own self,
so as to merge with the original source.
Then the knowledge
that has no teacher
will spontaneously appear,
the pattern of natural reality
will be perfectly clear,
and you will attain the body of wisdom,
attaining enlightenment
without depending on anyone else.

~ Chinul (1158-1210)

Independent of material existence,
Which is ever an obstruction,
Do not cling to deluded thoughts.
These give birth to illusion.

Attentively contemplate this mind,
Empty, devoid of all objects.
If emotions should suddenly arise,
You will fall into confusion.

~ Han Shan Te Ch’ing (1546-1623)

"I can has cheezburger?"
-- Happycat, the firstest lolcat

kthxbai

@Revenant-Eleven said
Sorry, Rookie -- I know you're just quoting "Zen of the Day" or something, but a lot of these "wisdom quotes" seem to have been written by self-isolating guys who didn't know how to get along in society, and some of the quotes seem to undermine themselves.

(in the sense that some of those guys must have spent some time thinking about how to compose a shapely poem a ...[text shortened]... d also appreciate that without our transitory beings, where could those thoughts and emotions occur?

do not read the following with the hope of understanding
there is nothing here
~ rookie



Q: How can we be enlightened to the nature of things and our minds attain lucid purity?

A: Neither by trying to meditate on Buddha, nor by trying to grab hold of the mind, nor by seeing the mind,
nor by analyzing the mind, nor by reflection, nor by discernment, nor by dispersing confusion,
but through identification with the natural rhythms of things.

Don’t force anything to go. Don’t force anything to stay.
Finally abiding in the one sole purity,
the mind spontaneously becomes lucid and pure.

~ Tao-shin (580-651)

Toward the One,
the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty,
the Only Being,
United with all the Illuminated Souls,
Who form the Embodiment of the Master,
the Spirit of Guidance.

opening invocation - pir vilayat inayat khan




Some people can see clearly that the mind is lucid and pure like a bright mirror.
Some need a year of practice and then the mind becomes lucid and pure.
Others need three or five years and then the mind is lucid and pure.
Or some can attain enlightenment by being taught by someone else.
Or some can attain enlightenment without ever being taught.
The Nirvana Sutra says: “The nature of the mind of beings is like a pearl which falls into the water.
The water is muddy so the pearl becomes hidden.
When the water is pure, the pearl is revealed.”

~ Tao-shin (580-651)

Those who use weapons have a saying:
We dare not act as hosts, but act as visitors.
We dare not advance an inch, but withdraw a foot.
This is called going without going.
Grabbing without an arm.
Casting aside without opposing.
Taking charge without weapons.
Of misfortunes, none is greater than rashly opposing.
Rashly opposing nearly lost me treasure.
Therefore contending militantly, adds sorrow to victory.

Tao te Ching #69

https://www.centertao.org/essays/tao-te-ching/carl/chapter-69/