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Dropping Ashes on the Buddha by Seung Sahn

by Parker · 136 things on NewTwos

Nothing is holy or unholy. All things in the universe are one, and that one is himself. All things in the universe are one, and that one is himself. So everything is permitted. Ashes are Buddha; Buddha is ashes
Since you are a Zen student, you are also a Zen teacher. You are walking on the path of the Bodhisattva, whose vow is to save all beings from their suffering
All things in the universe are just as they are
There is nothing that is you; there is nothing that is not you
Original nature has no opposites. Speech and words are not necessary. Without thinking, all things are exactly as they are. The truth is just like this
Most people have a deluded view of the world. They don't see it as it is; they don't understand the truth. What is good, what is bad? Who makes good, who makes bad? They cling to their opinions with all their might. But everybody's opinion is different. How can you say that your opinion is correct and somebody else's is wrong? This is delusion
If you want to understand the truth, you must let go of your situation, your condition, and all your opinions. Then your mind will be before thinking. "Before thinking" is clear mind. Clear mind has no inside and no outside. It is just like this. "Just like this" is the truth
"If you want to pass through this gate, do not give rise to thinking"
If you are thinking, you can't understand Zen. If you keep the mind that is before thinking, this is Zen mind
Everything the Buddha taught
Was only to correct your thinking.
If already you have cut off thinking, what good are the Buddha's words?
1. Zen Is Understanding Yourself
All things in the universe-the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, rivers, people, and so forth- have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same substance. The universe is organized into pairs of opposites: light and darkness, man and woman, sound and silence, good and bad. But all these opposites are mutual, because they are made from the same substance. Their names and their forms are different, but their substance is the same. Names and forms are made by your thinking. If you are not thinking and have no attachment to name and form, then all substance is one. Your don't-know mind cuts off all think- ing. This is your substance. The substance of this Zen stick and your own substance are the same. You are this stick; this stick is you
Substance has no name and no form. Energy, mind, God, and matter are all name and form. Substance is the Absolute. Having name and form is having opposites. Not understanding yourself is not understanding the truth. That is why there is fighting among ourselves. If all the people in the world understood themselves, they would attain the Ab- solute. Then the world would be at peace. World peace is Zen
People desire money, fame, sex, food, and rest. All this desire is thinking. Thinking is suffering. Suffer- ing means no world peace. Not thinking is not suffering. Not suffering means world peace. World peace is the Absolute. The Absolute is I
Intuitive action means acting without any desire or attachment
I have no desires for myself. My actions are for all people
If you are thinking, you can't understand Zen. If you read with a mind that has cut off all thinking, then Zen books are all the truth. Zen is keeping the mind which is before thinking. We must return to before thinking. Then we will attain our true self
There is only "I don't know." Always keep this don't-know mind. When this don't-know mind becomes clear, then you will understand. You must keep don't know mind always and everywhere. This is the true practice of Zen
The Great Way is not difficult if you do not make distinctions. Only throw away likes and dislikes, and everything will be perfectly clear
Throw away all opinions, all likes and dislikes, and only keep the mind that doesn't know
The mind that becomes one with the universe is before thinking. Before thinking there are no words. "Same" and "different" are opposites words; they are from the mind that separates all things
It is very important for you to cut off your thinking and your attachment to words
Your mind is like the sea. When the wind comes, there are very big waves. When the wind dies down, the waves become smaller and smaller, until finally the wind disappears altogether and the sea is like a clear mirror. Then mountains and trees and all things are reflected on the surface of the sea. There are many thought-waves now in your mind. But if you continue to practice don't-know mind, this thinking will become gradually smaller, until finally your mind will al- ways be clear. When the mind becomes clear, it is like a mirror
Too enthusiastic is no good, too discouraged is also no good. Zen mind is everyday mind. You must keep this mind during every action-eating, talking, playing tennis, watching tele- vision. Always keep don't-know mind. What is most impor- tant is how you keep your mind at this very moment. Just-now mind. If you have free time, it is good to sit. If you don't have free time, then just do action Zen. But be very careful about wanting enlightenment. This is a bad Zen sick- ness. When you keep a clear mind, the whole universe is you, you are the universe. So you have already attained enlight- enment. Wanting enlightenment is only thinking. It is some- thing extra, like painting legs on the picture of a snake. Already the snake is complete as it is. Already the truth is right before your eyes
Zen work is becoming empty mind. Becoming empty mind means having all your opinions fall away. Then you will experience true emptiness. When you experience true empti- ness, you will attain your true situation, your true condition, and your true opinions
Zen mind means always and everywhere believing in myself. I vow to become Buddha and save all the people
Courage means bringing all your energy to one point. A Zen mind cuts off all thinking and directing all your energy to one point
Zen is not difficult. And it is not easy. It is only as it is. Don't make difficult. Don't make easy. Just practice
The Absolute is true emptiness. True emptiness is before thinking. Your don't-know mind is true emptiness, is before thinking, is the Absolute, is your true self
When you say, "I know I don't know," this is no good. Don't check your don't-know mind
If you make "my life is Zen," then your life becomes Zen. If somebody else makes "my life is suffering," then that person's life becomes suffering. So it all depends on how you are keeping your mind just now, at this very moment! This just-now mind continues and becomes your life, as one point continues and becomes a straight line. You like Zen, so your life has become Zen. Now you think that the world is wonderful. Your mind is wonderful, so the whole world is wonderful. If you attain enlightenment, you will understand that all people are suffering greatly, so your mind also will be suffering. This is big suffering. So you must enter the great Bodhisattva way and save all people from their suffering. I hope that you only keep don't-know mind, always and everywhere. Then you will soon attain enlight- enment and save all beings
You must keep your mind big. Then you will understand that God, Buddha, and the whole universe fit into your mind
When you are thinking, all things have different names and different shapes. But when you are not thinking, all things are the same. There are no words for them. People make the words
F you are thinking, it is necessary. If you
Have cut off all thinking, it is not necessary. If your mind is clear, a Zen Master is not necessary, Buddha is not necessary, all things are not necessary
Those who seek the easy way do not seek the true way
F you want the easy way, this is desire. But if you want the difficult way, this too is desire. Zen is letting go of all your desires. Then you will find the true way
You mustn't think that Zen is difficult or that it is easy. Zen is just as it is
We don't know ourselves. Desire, anger, and igno- rance cover up our clear mind. If we cut off all thinking and return to empty mind, then your mind, my mind, and all people's minds are the same. W e become one with the whole universe
Put it all down, now, at this very moment. Keep your mind as if you were already dead. Then all your attachments will disappear, and it won't matter whether you study Zen or not. Right now you think, 'I am alive, I am strong.' So you have many desires, many attachments. Only think, 'I am dead.' A dead man has no desire
Before thinking, your mind was like a sheet of white paper. Then you wrote down 'one,' and 'God,' and 'nothing,' and so on and so forth. When you cut off all thinking, you erase all these names and forms and return to your original emptiness. What am I? I don't know. When you keep the great question, you keep the mind that doesn't know.Don't-know mindisemptymind.Therearenowords, no speech. So there is no one, no God, no nothing, no mind, no emptiness. This don't-know mind is very important. I is don't-know, don't-know is I. Only this. This is your true self. So always keep don't-know mind
Craziness is good. Crazy people are happy, free, they have no hindrance. But since you have many at- tachments, you are only a little crazy. This is not crazy enough. You must become completely crazy. Then you will understand
If a man kills his desire to search, he will surely find what he is searching for
When you are hungry, eat; when you are tired, rest. The minute you wake up every morning, ask yourself, 'Who is the master of this body, and where does he reside?' This will lead you to a final under- standing
Freedom means no hindrance. If your parents tell you to do something and you think that you are a free person so you will not listen to them, this is not true freedom. True freedom is freedom from thinking, freedom from all attachments, freedom even from life and death. If I want life, I have life; if I want death, I have death
Freedom thinking is freedom. Attachment thinking is hindrance. Suppose your parents say, 'Your shirt is dirty; you must change it!' If you say, 'No, I won't change; I am free!', then you are attached to your dirty shirt or to your freedom itself. So you are not free. If you are really free, then dirty is good and clean is good. It doesn't matter. Not changing my shirt is good; changing my shirt is good. If my parents want me to change, then I change. I don't do it for my own sake, only for theirs. This is freedom. No desire for myself, only for all people
When I am hungry, I eat' means 'just like this.' This means that there is no attachment to food. There is no 'I want this' or 'I don't want this.' If I didn't eat, I couldn't teach you. So I eat for you
Nothing is lacking. You are the master of everything. Why, then, are you running away from yourself and seeking for things outside?
What is important is one moment of clear mind. Clear mind is before thinking. If you experience this mind, you have already attained enlightenment. If you experience this for a short time-even for one moment-this is enlightenment. All the rest of the time you may be thinking, but you shouldn't worry about this thinking. It is just your karma. You must not be attached to this thinking. You must not force it to stop or force clear mind to grow. It will grow by itself, as your karma gradually disappears
Don't worry about clear mind: it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes. You must not be attached to the coming or the going
True mind is empty mind. Empty mind is before thinking. Before thinking there are no words and no speech. So mind is no mind. Mind is only a name; it is made by thinking. If you cut off thinking, then there is no mind. If you are thinking, you have opposites: good and bad, enlightened and unenlightened. But if you cut off thinking, there are no opposites, there is only the Absolute. Opposites words are dead words. Absolute words are live words
If you have not attained enlightenment, everything is different. If you attain enlightenment, all things become one
Acting together means cutting off my opinions, cutting off my condition, cutting off my situation. Then we become empty mind. We return to white paper. Then our true opinion, our true condition, our true situation will appear. When we bow together and chant together and eat together, our minds become one mind. It is like on the sea. When the wind comes, there are many waves. When the wind dies down, the waves become smaller. When the wind stops, the water becomes a mirror, in which everything is reflected-mountains, trees, clouds. Our mind is the same. When we have many desires and many opinions, there are many big waves. But after we sit Zen and act together for some time, our opinions and desires disappear. The waves become smaller and smaller. Then our mind is like a clear mirror, and everything we see or hear or smell or taste or touch or think is the truth. Then it is very easy to understand other people's minds. Their minds are reflected in my mind
Thinking makes good and bad, life and death. It creates the whole universe. It is the universal master. And without thinking, there is no universe, no Buddha, no Dharma. All is one, and this one is empty
Many people think, "I am not attached to such-and-such." But "I am not attached" is attachment-thinking. "I am not attached" is the same as "I am attached."
These actions-anger, fear, etc.-are made by past karma, so the result is actions done in anger, etc. If a person sits Zen, he will make his karma disappear and he will no longer be caught up in these actions. So when you are angry, afraid, etc., only try Zen. If you happen to get angry, that's all right, don't worry. "I want to cut off anger!"-this is thinking. Anger is not bad, not good. Only don't be attached to it. Only ask "What am I?" and the action will soon disap- pear
If I have sex just because I like it, because of my own desires, it will result in suffering. So actions themselves are not good and not bad; only the intention is important
If you think something is good, it is good; if you think it is bad, it is bad
In the same way, with the leaves, wind, anger, etc., when your mind is mov- ing, then actions appear. But when your mind is not moving, the truth is just like this. The falling of the leaves is the truth. The sweeping is the truth. The wind's blowing them away is the truth. The people's anger also is the truth. If your mind is moving, you can't understand the truth. You must first understand that form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Next, no form, no emptiness. Then you will understand that form is form, emptiness is emptiness. Then all these actions are the truth. And then you will find your true home
Thinking is no good. Put it all down. Only "What am I?" This don't-know mind is very important. If you keep it for a long time, you will understand this tree without roots
The Bodhisattva is your true self. Your true self is Big I. Big I is all people. All people and I become one mind. So Bodhisattva action is always for all people. When people are happy, the Bodhisattva is happy. When people are sad, the Bodhisattva is sad. He always acts together with all people
Zen is meditation. Outer Path Zen includes many different types of meditation. For example, Christian meditation. Divine Light, Transcendental Medita- tion, etc. Common People's Zen is concentration meditation, Dharma Play meditation, sports, the tea ceremony, ritual ceremonies, etc. Hinayana meditation is insight into impermanence, im- purity, and non-self. Mahayana meditation is: 1)insight into the existence and nonexistence of the nature of the dharmas; 2) insight into the fact that there are no external, tangible characteris- tics, and that all is emptiness; 3) insight into existence, emp- tiness, and the Middle Way; 4) insight into the true aspect of all phenomena; 5) insight into the mutual interpenetration of all phenomena; 6 )insight that sees that phenomena them- selves are the Absolute. Utmost Vehicle Zen, which is divided into three types: Theoretical Zen, Tathagata Zen, and Patri- archal Zen. Intellectual understanding of Zen is Theoretical Zen. The attainment of emptiness, the unity of mind and the universe is Tathagata Zen. 'Like this' is Patriarchal Zen. This means a relaxed mind, the attainment of Big I. Big I is infinite time and infinite space
If you wish to thoroughly understand all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, then you should view the nature of the whole universe as being created by the mind alone
When there is no appearance or disappearance in your mind, that mind is bliss. This is a mind devoid of all thinking
Don't-know is clear mind. Don't-know is before thinking. Don't-know is like this
I don't know, but when I am thirsty I drink. I don't know, but when I am tired I rest. Only this
Desire and aspiration are two different things. The idea that you want to achieve something in Zen meditation is basically selfish. But aspiration is not for myself, it is not a merely individual desire, it transcends the idea of self. It is desire without attachment. If enlightenment comes, good. If enlightenment does not come, good. Actu- ally, this is enlightenment
"Originally there is no enlightenment. If I attain enlight- enment, it is not enlightenment. As the Heart Sutra says there is 'no-attainment, with nothing to attain.' Enlighten ment is not enlightenment. It is just a teaching word
Taking the medicine in order to understand is good. Taking the medicine because of the good feelings it gives you is not so good
"It is possible. Many people are attached to name and form. They take this medicine and for five or ten hours it is the same as death. They have no hindrance from their body and their body's desires. It is like a dream. There is only the free action of their consciousness, the free play of the Karma I. So they understand that all life is empty. Life is death; death is life. They understand very clearly that fighting and differences among people are unnecessary, are just the result of wrong thinking. They no longer desire to be rich or suc- cessful. Rich or poor, success or failure-it is all the same. It comes to the same thing when you are dead
When your body is sick, it is sometimes necessary to take a strong drug. But when you are healthy, you don't take drugs. So this special medicine cures some sickness, but it creates other sicknesses. After you take it, you have many attachments. You don't feel like working. You don't want to make money. You only want to relax or work in the garden or listen to music or enjoy art
T h i s is an attachment to natural-style or hippie-style living. It is no good for a Zen student. Many people take special medicine and understand themselves. But their understanding is only thinking. It is not attainment. True attainment of emptiness means that all thinking has been cut off. There are neither likes nor dislikes. Natural-style living is good. Plastic-style living is good. There are no attachments to anything
Your life is natural-style; that's good. Businessman-style living is also good. What is important is why you are living this way. If you desire money for yourself or if you desire natural-style for yourself-this is no good. If you cut off your desires, then business is not business. It is Bodhisattva business. Natural-style is not natural-style. It is Bodhisattva action. So you can use business or natural- style living to teach all people the true way
True hippies have no hindrance. If I have no money, that's okay. If I don't have a house or a bed, that's okay. I can sleep anywhere, I can eat any food. My whole life is freedom. I am free to do anything. Having no hindrance means not being attached to anything. So this hippie-mind is very good; it is a very high-class mind. But many young people are attached to hippie-style or natural-style living. This is no good. If you are attached, then hippie-style becomes a hindrance. You must cut off all thinking and all desires for yourself. Then you will soon attain enlighten- ment.Thehippie-mindisonlyonehair's-breadth awayfrom enlightenment. If a hippie could cut off his attachment to being a hippie, he would soon discover, 'Oh, this is enlight- enment!'
If a mother does everything for the child, the child will come to depend on her. A good mother makes the child do things for itself. Then it will grow up strong and independent
The only way to make karma disappear is for your consciousness to become empty. Then there are no miracles. Then there are only correct views and correct practice. This is the true miracle
Reflex action is not-thinking action
If you are not thinking, your mind is the same as a mirror. It is only like this. So true emptiness is clear mind. In original clear mind there is no name and no form. Nothing appears or disappears. All things are just as they are. If you are thinking, you are in a dream. You must cut off all your thinking and wake up
When you understand yourself, it is very easy to paint or write poems or do calligraphy or tea-ceremony or karate. You paint effortlessly; you write effortlessly. Why? When you are painting or writing or doing any action, you become totally absorbed in that action. You are only painting; you are only writing. No thinking gets between you and the action. There is only not-thinking action. This is freedom
If you are thinking, your mind wanders away from your action, and the flow of your painting or writing will be blocked, your tea-ceremony will be stiff or clumsy. If you are not thinking, you are one with your action. You are the tea that you're drinking. You are the brush that you're painting with. Not-thinking is before thinking. You are the whole universe; the universe is you. This is Zen mind, absolute mind. It is beyond space and time, beyond the dualities of self and other, good and bad, life and death. The truth is just like this. So when a Zen person is painting, the whole uni- verse is present in the tip of his brush
Buddha said, 'When one mind is pure, the whole universe is pure; when one mind is tainted, the whole universe is tainted.'
The sea doesn't say, 'Your water is dirty, you can't flow into me.' It accepts all waters and mixes them and all become sea. So if you keep the Buddha mind, your mind will be like the great sea. This is the great sea of enlightenment
Zen teaches us to cut off all discriminating thoughts and to understand that the truth of the universe is ultimately our own true self
Fish swim in the water, but they don't know they are in water. Every moment you breathe in air, but you do it unconsciously. You would be conscious of air only if you were without it. In the same way, we are always hearing the sounds of cars, waterfalls, rain. All these sounds are sermons, they are the voice of the Buddha himself preaching to us. We hear many sermons, all the time, but we are deaf to them. If we were really alive, whenever we heard, saw, smelled, tasted, touched, we would say, 'Ah, this is a fine sermon.' We would see that there is no scripture that teaches so well as this experience with nature
When you practice Zen ear- nestly, you are burning up the karma that binds you to ignorance
Those people who practice come to melt their hindrances and attachments. Why do they practice? Because it is their karma to practice, just as it is other people's karma not to practice. Man's discriminating thoughts build up a great thought-mass in his mind, and this is what he mistakenly regards as his real self. In fact, it is a mental construction based on ignorance. The purpose of Zen meditation is to dissolve this thought-mass. What is finally left is the real self. You enter into the world of the selfless. And if you don't stop there, if you don't think about this realm or cling to it, you will continue in your practice until you become one with the Absolute
If you want Big I and enlightenment, then only let your situation, condition, and opinions disappear. This is your true teacher. A teaching based on language alone is no good. If you are thinking, even a good teacher sitting in front of you will not help you. But if you cut off all thinking, then the dog's barking, the wind, the trees, the mountains, the lightning, the sound of the water-all are your teachers. So you must keep the complete don't-know mind. This is very necessary
What is it? It is
There are two kinds of love. The first is small love. This is desire love, opposites love, attachment love. The second is big love. This is absolute love. It is freedom. If you have desire for yourself, your love is not true love. It is dependent on many conditions; if these change, you suffer. Suppose I love a girl very much, and she loves me. I go away to Los Angeles, and when I come back she has another boyfriend. My love changes to anger and hatred. So small love always contains suffering. Big love has no suffering. It is only love, absolute love, so there is no happiness, no suffering. This is Bodhisattva love
With big love, I have no desire for myself, I only give my love to other people. If I love you and you don't love me, that's okay. I will still give you as much love as if you loved me in return. If I love God and get bad karma in return, that's okay. I will not be angry at God, I will still love as much as before. So Big I is true love. It is only for all people
Mind is constantly changing. This changing mind is itself entirely the truth. If you are not attached to your changing mind, then you will attain your true nature. Then you will understand that there is neither good nor bad
Things are only as they are
You mustn't worry about how your practice is, whether you are making progress or not, whether you are in anguish or not. All these things are not important. They are like clouds passing in front of the moon. You must not be attached to anything that appears in your mind. Then you will attain freedom thinking. No-attachment thinking is just like this
Zen mind is children's mind. Children have no past or future, they are always living in the truth, which is just like this. When they are hungry, they eat; when they are tired, they rest. Children understand everything
If you practice Zen for a while and listen to many Zen Masters, you will soon understand what is correct teaching and what is not. If you don't taste sugar, you can't understand sweet; if you don't taste salt, you can't understand salty. No one can taste for you. You have to do it yourself
There are different levels of enlightenment. There is first enlightenment, original enlightenment, final enlightenment. First enlightenment is attaining true emptiness. Original en- lightenment is attaining 'like this.' Final enlightenment is 'just like this.'
Thinking is desire. Desire is suffering
Water becomes square or round according to the shape of the container it is put in. In the same way, people become good or bad according to the friends they have
Monks are free of petty personal attachments and live only to serve all people. Wanting to become a great tree or container of Dharma will prevent you from being a true teacher. Great trees have great uses; small trees have small uses. Good and bad bowls can all be used in their own way. None are to be discarded. Keep both good and bad friends. You mustn't reject anything. This is true Buddhism. My only wish for you is that you free yourselves from all conceptual thinking
If you wish to understand all Buddhas of the past, present, and future, you must perceive that the whole universe is created by the mind alone
Everybody has Buddha- nature, but they don't understand. So having your mind checked is very necessary
It is only important to see what is, to destroy or not allow to arise any discrimination of inner and outer, of holy or evil; then one can see clearly from the aspect of eternity, of no time
I am the world and the world is me. As I think, so is the world, and as I act, so I create the world around me. Since seeing this, more clearly, every day I see a duty to teach others: to teach how each person creates his own heaven and hell, how he/she, through hatred and anger, creates a world of hatred and anger
Because I see my responsibilities more clearly every day, I have become much more careful in how I act-more gentle, more involved-and not avoiding things that require activ- ity, such as working to pay off debts, feeding homeless ani- mals. But also, I get so very angry when I see other people avoiding their responsibilities: running out on debts, or in the name of spiritual detachment leaving their wives and children claiming it doesn't matter-it's all the same, every- thing is one. Bullcrap! They are just lazy and running away from the world, clinging to a false peace of nonaction. They have no order in their lives and they think they have some deep understanding. And they make me so angry because they cannot see how their way of acting, of avoiding responsibility, hurts and causes pain in others, and I see no way to do anything.
I can no longer live for myself. I must help and show others. But I lack the power to help others; they do not listen -not because I don't understand, but because my under- standing has not become me. But now, I've dropped off all understanding because when one acts from a point of under- standing, that understanding is still separate. When under- standing is dropped, real understanding of there is nothing to understand comes. But even this must be dropped. So how can one tell someone who is desperate for truth, for God, for a ceasing of pain that all that must be done is to stop seeking?
I see a very ambitious person who hurts many people in order to get his dream realized, but he doesn't care about them, he cares only for his dream
I feel frustrated, for I cannot "get to these people" to show them how they create pain in the world and damage to themselves. So I continue to sit, to clear my own mind further and maybe to see a way to teach these people to stop hurting others and themselves through their ambition, or irresponsibility, or hatred, or their ideals. And my own anger at being able to do nothing makes me ill
When all the effort comes from oneself, that self gets very big and strong and it becomes harder to let go, to drop things. It is all self power and little "other power." While if practice is strong, much of the effort to sit becomes merely a matter of doing what must be done, and the self does not become stronger and stronger
What is most important is how you keep your mind. Where you live is not important, if you keep your mind correctly
You say that other people won't listen to you. But what do you understand? What do you say? Do they want to hear your words? Do they want your understanding? Since you have your opinion and other people have theirs, there are differences, and people won't listen to you. First you must throw away all your opinions, all your cognition, your con- cern about your situation, and your explanations. Then there will be nothing. And then you will understand other people's minds. Your mind will be like a clear mirror. Red comes and it becomes red; white comes and it becomes white. When your mind is clear, then it is a reflection of other people's minds. If they are sad, then you are sad; if they are silent, you are silent; if they have desires, then you understand these desires. Then it is possible to teach others and to fix their minds
Good and bad both are your true teachers. If you cut off your "small I," then there is no like or dislike, no good or bad. All things in the universe are your good friends and teachers. So you must kill your self. Then you will get free- dom and you will have no hindrance. This is how you will find your true way. If you understand this true way, then only go and watch your step. Don't be attached to what is on the side of the road. Just go straight ahead
Buddha once said, "If one mind is clear, then the whole universe is clear." If your mind cuts off all thinking and becomes clear, then your place, wherever it is, is clear. Don't worry about other people. If you have a strong practice, they will all follow you. Your mind is very strong; but your "self" is attached to your strong mind, so you have strong likes and dislikes, strong anger, frustration, bad thoughts about other people, and so on. You must completely cut off this strong mind, this strong I. This is very important. When you talk about your understanding, this is being attached to your mind. CUT OFF THIS I!
You must understand what sitting Zen is. What is sitting? Sitting means cutting off all thinking and keeping not-moving mind. What is Zen? Zen means becoming clear
Always keep a clear mind. Always return to your true self. Then there are no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind. Then you will understand "no attainment, with nothing to attain." You must cut off the "I want en- lightenment" mind
It is very important for you to fix your mind. The more you want enlightenment, the further away it will be
Understanding is thinking. Attainment is be- fore thinking. If you open your mouth, you are wrong. I have already told you that you must keep your mouth closed. You must keep this rule!
The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not discriminate. Throw away likes and dislikes and everything will become clear
You think that the whole world is suffering, and you are afraid that the world will be destroyed. You want to save all people from suffering. So you are a great Bodhisattva, a great man. But a truly great man has no words or speech-only action
Merge with mind into the inner self. And the mind should be without any objects
Mind has no inside and no outside. Think- ing makes inside, outside, consciousnesslmind-everything is made by thinking
Only if people understand what we say, only then does it have some meaning and some purpose. If nobody understands you, then what's the use of your questions and answers? Some meaning should come out of them
I understand that you are a great man. But you don't understand. So you are a child
If you cut off all thinking, everything is the truth
There are three kinds of Zen: Theoretical Zen, Tathagata Zen, and Patriarchal Zen. Theo- retical Zen is like stamping a piece of paper: anyone can understand the sign. Tathagata Zen is like stamping water: people can only hear the sound; the stamp disappears imme- diately. Patriarchal Zen is like stamping space: no one can understand. Things come and they go, without hindrance. With water, there is a little hindrance. With paper, there is attachment. So Tathagata is the middle of these three
To think in terms of main practice and not main practice-this is divided mind. What is main practice? An eminent teacher said, "Sitting, lying down, talking, silence, moving-in all these you must become one mind." This one mind is no mind. No mind is true empty mind. True empty mind is before thinking. Before thinking is only like this. Then where is main practice and not main practice? When sitting, only sit; when talking, only talk; when working, only work. All are your main practice. Sometimes desires appear. This is not good and not bad. Only keep clear mind. You must not touch, you must not swing your ax. An eminent teacher said, "I wander around the six realms and never ask Buddhas or Bodhisattvas for the least bit of help." Thinking is good. The mind that swings the ax is also thinking. So don't worry. But you must keep everything as your main practice. I hope that you find main practice in all things, that all your actions are one-mind actions and that you save all people
"In college psychology classes there is an experiment they use to teach you about your perceptions. They take three pails of water: one with hot water, one with ice water, and one with the water at room temperature. The person doing the experiment puts his right hand into the hot water and at the same time puts his left hand into the ice water. He leaves them there thirty seconds or so to get used to the temperature. Then he takes both his hands at the same time and puts them into the third bucket-the one with room temperature water inside. That same water will feel cold to his right hand, which has been in the hot water, and warm to his left hand, which has been in the cold water. Try it. You'll see for yourself.
'What does that tell us about Zen? It shows that such dualistic categories as hot and cold depend on your having a particular viewpoint from which you are observing them. 'Cold' only means 'colder than my hand' and 'hot' only means 'hotter than my hand.' Without the reference point, 'my hand,' words like hot and cold have no meaning at all -they are nonsense.
"The same thing is true of all dualistic categories: hot and cold, light and dark, good and bad, being and non-being, etc. "So that shows you what you learn by sitting Zen. You learn to relate without any such reference point. The 'I' gets eliminated as a particular point of view. Without the view- point of an 'I,' there are no such things as good and bad, being and non-being. All that kind of thinking becomes literally nonsense. Everything is just what it is without any relative qualities added. Red comes and it is red. Pain comes and it hurts. When the sun shines, the room becomes bright. Only like this. "I only say these things to encourage you to sit Zen. These words have no Zen in them. Understanding is nothing. You must experience for yourself. Work hard and awaken. Then save all sentient beings
When you try to understand, you are like a man dreaming that he can see. The truth is right in front of you. It is alive, and infinitely great. How can human words contain it?
At this moment, you don't understand. This not-understanding is the earth, the sun, the stars, and the whole universe
All things that appear in this world are transient. If you view all things that appear as never having appeared, then you will realize your true self
All at once his body disap- peared, and he was in infinite space. From far away he could hear the moktak beating, and the sound of his own voice. He remained in this state for some time. When he returned to his body, he understood. The rocks, the river, everything he could see, everything he could hear, all this was his true self. All things are exactly as they are. The truth is just like this
Only keep this don't-know mind. That is true Zen practice
You ask me: I ask you. This is love

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