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There was a monk who asked the Master, “Does a person who has had sudden awakening still need to continue with cultivation?”

The Master said, “If one has true awakening and attains to the fundamental, then at that time that person knows for himself that cultivation and non-cultivation are just dualistic opposites.

Like now, though the initial inspiration is dependent on conditions, if within a single thought one awakens to one’s own reality, there are still certain habitual tendencies that have accumulated over numberless kalpas which cannot be purified in a single instant.

That person should certainly be taught how to gradually remove the karmic tendencies and mental habits: this is cultivation. There is no other method of cultivation that need to be taught to that person.”

~ Kuei-shan Ling-yu (771-853)

“Strange! How Strange! How can it be that although all sentient beings are fully possessed of the knowledge of the Tathagata, because of their ignorance and confusion, they neither know nor see that?

I should teach them the noble path, thus enabling them to forever leave false thoughts and attachments, and perceive the vast knowledge of the Tathagata within themselves, not different from that of the Buddhas."

Buddha

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alas, how am i to teach if i do not yet know?
-rookie

Talking about food won't make you full,
Babbling about clothes won't keep out the cold.
A bowl of rice is what fills the belly;
It takes a suit of clothing to make you warm.
And yet, without stopping to consider this,
You complain the Buddha is hard to find.
Turn your mind within! There he is!
Why look for him abroad?

~ Han shan

@rookie54 said
Talking about food won't make you full,
Babbling about clothes won't keep out the cold.
A bowl of rice is what fills the belly;
It takes a suit of clothing to make you warm.
And yet, without stopping to consider this,
You complain the Buddha is hard to find.
Turn your mind within! There he is!
Why look for him abroad?

~ Han shan

Illusion and enlightenment depend on each other,
Principle and actuality are ultimately the same.
All day long, sutras without words,
Through the night, Zen without sitting.
Warblers sing in the willow grove by the river,
A village dog barks at the moon.
I have no one to share my feelings
So I just write what is in my heart.

~ Ryokan (1758-1831)

@rookie54 said
“Strange! How Strange! How can it be that although all sentient beings are fully possessed of the knowledge of the Tathagata, because of their ignorance and confusion, they neither know nor see that?

I should teach them the noble path, thus enabling them to forever leave false thoughts and attachments, and perceive the vast knowledge of the Tathagata within themselves, no ...[text shortened]... uddhas."

Buddha

--------------------

alas, how am i to teach if i do not yet know?
-rookie

((( ms hakima )))

Leaves fluttering before the wind;
How to convey their splendor?
I know this stone pagoda
With my entire body,
And laugh at the changes of earthly life.

~ Fugai Ekun (1568-1654)

https://www.dailyzen.com/

The Sufi harmonizes with everybody whether good or bad, wise or foolish,
by becoming like the key-note. All races, nations,
classes and people are like a strain of music based upon one chord,
where the key-note, the common interest,
holds so many personalities in a single bond of harmony.


Each individual composes the music of his own life;
if he injures another he breaks the harmony and there is discord in the melody of his life.

Bowl of Saki, June 23, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

https://wahiduddin.net/saki/saki_date.php

@rookie54 said

Principle and actuality are ultimately the same.

Joshu asked his teacher, Nansen,
“What is the Tao?”
Nansen replied, “Ordinary mind is the Tao.”
Joshu asked, “Shall I try to seek it?”

“If you try for it, you will become apart from it,” Nansen replied.
“How can I know the Tao unless I try for it?” persisted Joshu.

“The Tao is not a matter of knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion, not knowing is ignorance. When you have truly reached the Tao, undoubtedly you will find it as vast as the boundless space. How can it be discussed on the level of right and wrong?”
With these words, it is said that Joshu came to a sudden realization.

Joshu (778-897)
Nansen (748-834)

Holding his stick,
He points directly to humanity,
Yet as he was originally without form,
This portrait is not true.
His form cannot be seen
As form,
His benevolence is merely his
Natural benevolence.
If, all of a sudden,
You can understand this law,
Then your spirit can roam
Beyond the world.

~ Ingen (1592-1673)

My heart is like the autumn moon
Pure and unsullied
On the blue green pool
No this comparison is not right,
How in the world can I explain it?

~ Gako (1737-1805)

dying slowly in the midst of vibrant life i close my eyes

The practice of meditation is a matter of developing and establishing your energy. Indeed you must not waste it. The beginner should just push ahead with determination and awaken the genuine will to practice.

Make it your basic purpose in chanting the scriptures to stabilize your energy in your hara. You should not diminish your energy by chanting the scriptures in an unnaturally forced way, nor by emptiness zazen, and the like. In chanting the scriptures, you should just train yourself in the stabilization of your energy.

~ Shosan (1579-1655)

After sunset the whole world is cool,
And after a rain, mountains and rivers are clear.
The prevailing wind comes from the west,
The sounds of autumn are concealed
In the sounds of grasses and trees.
I feel the rapidity of passing years,
And lament the fading away of material things.
Who would feel distressed
Seeing how the seasons affect people's emotions?
Let me ask the philosopher of the Gateway to the Void.
What method is there to practice,
Which will cause me to abandon the
Desires for gain and not cause
Vexations to arise?

~ Po Chu-i (772-846)