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“Upon learning to see, a man becomes everything by becoming nothing. He, so to speak, vanishes and yet he’s there. I would say that this is the time when a man can be or can get anything he desires. But he desires nothing, and instead of playing with his fellow men like they were toys, he meets them in the midst of their folly. The only difference between them is that a man who sees controls his folly, while his fellow men can’t. A man who sees has no longer an active interest in his fellow men. Seeing has already detached him from absolutely everything he knew before.”

― Carlos Castaneda
A Separate Reality: Conversations With Don Juan

What is the truth? The truth is the reality of mind. The reality of mind is formless and pervades the ten directions. It is being used presently, right before your eyes, yet people do not trust it sufficiently, so they accept terms and expressions, seeking to assess Buddhism conceptually in the written word. They are as far away as the sky is from earth.

~ Lin Chi (d ~867)

@rookie54 said
Do we not cherish the
Infinite brightness
Of the one bright pearl?
Who can surpass
The virtue of this
Brilliant, radiant pearl
That covers the universe?
The essence of causality
Never ceases and
The pearl is always bright.
It is our original face and enlightened eye.

~ Dogen (1200-1253)

@rookie54 said
Sitting on top of a boulder
The gorge stream icy cold
Quiet fun holds a special charm
Fogged-in on deserted cliffs
A fine place to rest
The sun leans and tree shadows sprawl
While I view the ground of my mind
A lotus comes out of the mud.

~ Cold Mountain

@rookie54 said
Each night I gaze upon a pond,
A Zen body sitting beside a moon.
Nothing is really there, and yet
It is all so clear and bright,
I cannot describe it.
If you would know the empty mind,
Your own mind must be as clear and bright
As this full moon upon the water.

~ Chiao Jan (785–895)

@kevin-eleven said
This might have been better if he had left off the last line, from my POV.

@moonbus said
Beauty springs from ugliness. This is a very Buddhist attitude. In itself, nothing is beautiful or ugly, neither a flower nor mud; it is only human prejudice which calls one beautiful and the other ugly.

“Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world.” — Buddha

When water is pure and sparkling clear
You see straight to the bottom
When your mind holds no concern
No circumstance can turn you
And once your mind doesn’t stray
A kalpa has no changes
From such awareness nothing hides.

Cold Mountain

What truth am I talking about? I am talking about truth of the ground of mind, which can enter into the ordinary and the sacred, into the pure and the polluted, into the absolute and the conventional, and yet is not the absolute, conventional, ordinary, and sacred, but is able to give names to all the absolute, conventional, ordinary, and sacred. Someone who has realized this cannot be labeled by the absolute or the conventional, by the ordinary or sacred. If you can grasp it, then use it, without labeling it any more. This is called the mystic teaching.

~ Lin Chi (d 867)

@moonbus said
Beauty springs from ugliness. This is a very Buddhist attitude. In itself, nothing is beautiful or ugly, neither a flower nor mud; it is only human prejudice which calls one beautiful and the other ugly.

“Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world.” — Buddha

Just don’t seek from others,
Or you’ll be far estranged from Self.
I now go on alone;
Everywhere I meet It:
It now is me; I now am It.
One must understand in this way
To merge with thusness.

~ Dongshan Liangjie (807–869)

“People often ask me
what is the most effective technique
for transforming their life.
It is a little embarrassing
that after years and years of research
and experimentation,
I have to say that the best answer is—
just be a little kinder.”

Aldous Huxley

If you think that you have
Cut off illusory mind,
Instead of simply clarifying
How illusory mind melts,
Illusory mind will come up again,
As though you had cut
The stem of a blade of grass
And left the root alive.

~ Menzan Zuiho (1682 –1769)

Whenever a thought occurs,
Be aware of it,
As soon as you are aware of it,
It will vanish.
If you remain for a long period
Forgetful of objects,
You will naturally become unified.
This is the essential art of zazen.

Dogen (1200-1253)

Withdraw now from
the invisible pounding and weaving
of your ingrained ideas.
If you want to be rid of this
invisible turmoil, you must just sit
through it and let go of everything.
Attain fulfillment and illuminate thoroughly.
Light and shadow altogether forgotten.
Drop off your own skin,
and the sense-dusts will be fully purified.
The eye then readily discerns the brightness.

~ Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)