Daily Buddhist Verses
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“Arouse the mind without resting it on anything.”
Diamond sutra
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A Cup of Tea
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"
"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"
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The five aggregates, monks, are anicca, impermanent.All is impermanent. And what is the all that is impermanent? The eye is impermanent, visual objects [ruupaa]... eye-consciousness... eye contact [cakku-samphassa]... whatever is felt [vedayita] as pleasant or unpleasant or neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant, born of eye-contact is impermanent. [Likewise with the ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind] (SN 35.43/vol. iv, 28)All formations are impermanentWhatever is subject to origination [samudaya] is subject to cessation [nirodha] (MN 56)
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“Renunciation is not giving up the things of the world, but accepting that they go away.” ~Shunryu Suzuki
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Not the Wind, Not the Flag
Two monks were arguing about a flag. One said: `The flag is moving.'
The other said: `The wind is moving.'
The sixth patriach happened to be passing by. He told them: `Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving.'
Mumon's Comment: The sixth patriach said: `The wind is not moving, the flag is not moving. Mind is moving.' What did he mean? If you understand this intimately, you will see the two monks there trying to buy iron and gaining gold. The sixth patriach could not bear to see those two dull heads, so he made such a bargain.
Wind, flag, mind moves.
The same understanding.
When the mouth opens
All are wrong. -
Do Not Think Good, Do Not Think Not-Good
When he became emancipated the sixth patriach received from the fifth patriach the bowl and robe given from the Buddha to his successors, generation after generation.
A monk named E-myo out of envy pursued the patriach to take this great treasure away from him. The sixth patriach placed the bowl and robe on a stone in the road and told E-myo: `These objects just symbolize the faith. There is no use fighting over them. If you desire to take them, take them now.'
When E-myo went to move the bowl and robe they were as heavy as mountains. He could not budge them. Trembling for shame he said: `I came wanting the teaching, not the material treasures. Please teach me.'
The sixth patriach said: `When you do not think good and when you do not think not-good, what is your true self?'
At these words E-myo was illumined. Perspiration broke out all over his body. He cried and bowed, saying: `You have given me the secret words and meanings. Is there yet a deeper part of the teaching?'
The sixth patriach replied: `What I have told you is no secret at all. When you realize your true self the secret belongs to you.'
E-myo said: `I was under the fifth patriach for many years but could not realize my true self until now. Through your teaching I find the source. A person drinks water and knows himself whether it is cold or warm. May I call you my teacher?'
The sixth patriach replied: `We studied together under the fifth patriach. Call him your teacher, but just treasure what you have attained.'
Mumon's Comment: The sixth patriach certainly was kind in such an emergency. If was as if he removed the skin and seeds from the fruit and then, opening the pupil's mouth, let him eat.
You cannot describe it, you cannot picture it,
You cannot admire it, you cannot sense it.
It is your true self, it has nowhere to hide.
When the world is destroyed, it will no be destroyed. -
Who is hearing?
Your physical being doesn't hear,
Nor does the void.
Then what does?
Strive to find out.
Put aside your rational Intellect,
Give up all techniques.
Just get rid of the notion of self.
Bassui -
10. Nothing Exists
Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.
Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."
Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.
"If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"
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"Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.” -
When we see truly, there is nothing at all.
There is no person; there is no Buddha.
Innumerable things of the universe
Are just bubbles on the sea.
Wise sages are all like flashes of lightning.- Yoka Genkaku (665-713 CE), Shodoka
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Do you not know the ease of the man of the Way;
One who has gone beyond learning, and whose state is "non-action,"
Who neither suppresses thoughts, nor seeks the "Truth?"
To him the reality of ignorance is the Buddha Nature;
The empty illusory is the Dharmakaya.
When one who is awakened to the Dharma-body, there are no objects;
The essence of all things comes from the self-nature -- Buddha!
The Five Aggregates -- mere floating clouds aimlessly coming and going;
The Three Poisons -- bubbles that appear and disappear.Release the Four Elements: cling to nothing!
And in the midst of Nirvana you may eat and drink!
Seeing that all things are not lasting and are Void,
One attains the Great Perfect Enlightenment of the Tathagatas.- Ch'an Master Hsuan Chuen of Yung Chia
The Song of Enlightenment -
In all lands of the ten directions,
Vast, great, pure, and wonderfully adorned,
All Tathagatas sit beneath regal Bodhi trees,
While assemblies walk around in wonder.
- The Flower Adornment Sutra
Translated by The Buddhist Text Translation Society -
Why is it? Because:
All phenomna are like a dream, an illusion,
a bubble, a shadow,
like dew and lightning.
Thus should you meditate on them.
- The Diamond Sutra
Translated at the Sukhavati Forest Retreat -
Let go of anger.
Let go of pride.
When you are bound by nothing
You go beyond sorrow.
Buddha
Dhammapada. -
Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.
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無事忙ä¸è€�　　
空裡有å“笑　　
本來沒有我　　
生æ»çš†å�¯æ‹‹ -
All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?
Buddha -
However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
Buddha -
Seek without Seeking
There is something in each of you that you will only be able to perceive when you turn around. So how does one turn around? By nonseeking seeking, seeking without seeking. This is precisely what people find hard to deal with or get into. How can you seek if you are not seeking? How can you not seek if you are seeking? If you only seek, how is that different from pursuing sounds and chasing forms? If you do not seek at all, how are you different from inert matter?
You must seek, and yet without seeking; not seek, yet still seek. If you can manage to penetrate this, you will then manage to harmonize seeking and nonseeking. So it is said, "Nonseeking nonseeking—the body of reality is perfectly quiescent. Seeking seeking—responsive function does not miss. Seeking without seeking, nonseeking seeking—objects and cognition merge, substance and function are one." Therefore you find the three bodies, four knowledges, five eyes, and six spiritual powers all come to light from this. Students must be able to turn around and search all the way through in this way before they can attain realization.
- Foyan (1067-1120) -
The tongue like a sharp knife... Kills without drawing blood.
Buddha -
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Buddha -
What we think, we become.
Buddha -
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Then the Buddha addressed all the monks once more, and these were the very last words he spoke:
"Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation."
