See for yourself.
Directly transcend the
principles and activities
of the buddhas and patriarchs.
Go through the forest of thorns.
Transcend the barriers
of potential described by
ancestral teachers.
Pass through the silver mountain
and iron wall; then for the first time
you will realize there is a
transcendent fundamental endowment;
you can sit, helping people solve their
sticking points and untie their bonds.
~ Shiotsu (1202-1280)
In the secret transmission on the Spiritual Mountain, the pure tradition of Shaolin, actions accord, words complement each other, great perfect awareness is one’s own sanctuary. Body and mind dwelling at peace, with knowledge of equality of the real nature of all things, keep pure as ice and snow. Summon forth great energy in your efforts, great courage and determination; wielding the sword of wisdom, go directly ahead, going beyond all, beyond seeing that mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers, the whole body comes thus, the whole body goes thus – there are no complications around at all.
At this time, can you call it the fundamental business of a patch-robed monk? You must let go your hands over a mile-high precipice and appear with your whole body throughout the universe.
To Eminent Kumyo
In the direct teachings of the ancestral masters, there are no special techniques, just lay down all entanglements, put to rest all concerns, and watch quietly. Whenever you wander into distinctions among things, just bring your attention back.
Don’t think in terms like “the way to enlightenment” or “the path of purification.” Avoid consciously anticipating understanding and beware of letting feelings of doubt or despair distract you. Go directly in like cutting through an iron bar with a single stroke, where there is no flavor, no path of reason, without getting involved in other thoughts.
After some time you will naturally be as if waking from a dream, like a lotus blossom opening. At this moment, the koan you have been observing is just a piece of tile to knock at the door – throw it over on the other side and then look instead at the sayings of the enlightened ancestors and buddhas expressing activity in the world of differentiation.
All of these are just to stop children crying; the one road going beyond does not let a single thread through, but cuts off the essential crossing between ordinary and holy, while students toil over forms like monkeys grasping at the moon.
We might say that if you forget your own body and go frantically searching outside, when can you ever find it? Sitting peacefully on a cushion, day and night seeking to become buddhas, rejecting life and death in hopes of realization, is all like monkeys grasping at the moon.
If you want some real help, it’s just that not minding is the way; yet it’s not the same as wood or stone—always aware and knowing, perfectly distinctly clear, seeing and hearing are normal; there are no further details.
Elder Kumyo sits facing a wall day and night and has asked for some words to urge him on. Not begrudging the way of my house, I have let my brush write this, 1267.
Shiotsu (1202-1280)
((( @moonbus )))
The universal is present
in the individual.
Just so, liberation comes
from recognizing
the subtle in the gross,
the unity in diversity,
the similarity in differences,
the truth in untruth,
the light in darkness,
the life in death.
This is real liberation.
~ Nityananda (d.1961)
The wind in the pines plays a subtle
song, of which I have become
effortlessly aware.
I did not compose it, I do not perform it;
yet it simply is as it is.
Nor do I strain to be aware of it.
It just is as it has always been.
The music, strangely, is as bright as
My Self-lit interior.
If I tried to compose it or
perform it, I could not do so.
If I strained to become aware of it,
it would surely die and fade away.
~ Ji Aoi Isshi
