Awaken on your own

[SPJ]

After many years of practice of Buddism in China, people were stuck with literally following doctrines and fixed system of practice.

Zen masters (teachers) appeared 1500 years ago.

Instead of following rituals, myths, and doctrines of Buddha, they internalized the teachings with open and unobstructed minds to attain enlightenment.

So the question is that how do you have a uncluttered mind to see things as they are?

How to have a Buddha mind?

How to have a normal mind?


:)

[SPJ]

Learning the path of Zen study has no special mysterious gateway or essential road: it requires individuals to awaken on their own.

-Yun-ku (1256)

If you want to understand the way directly, the normal mind is the way. what I call the normal mind is free from artificiality: in it there is no right or wrong, no grasping or rejection, no extinction or permanence, no banality or sanctity.

-Ma Tsu (709-788)

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Buddha mind, Normal mind? even that distinction deviates from the natural.. we are too easily swayed by this theory and that theory..

Zen? monasteries? deceptions?... the world is the monastery, life is the ritual.. separation into classes and cults is a separation from the "Way" things are..

Learning the path of Zen study has no special mysterious gateway or essential road: it requires individuals to awaken on their own.
Yet, toady with its formal schools, its intricate Koans, its harsh masters, it is difficult to recall its humble origins..

Self-awakening is always the only way, regardless of whatever path one takes.. the awakening is dependent upon the individual, no one can force us into awareness.. it comes through individual acceptance..

How do you have an uncluttered mind?.. you choose to have an uncluttered mind.. being mindful that a choice without the deeds to manifest it is just an empty wish.. There may be several paths that lead us to the uncluttered mind but don't confuse the path with the goal..

Be well..

[SPJ]

well said.

Silence is also a response. So that no more distraction to your post.

:)

[Repulsive Monkey]

Very few individuals have ever reached enlightenment by self cultivation.
The majority of people don't know where to begin, and I think its a foolish path to tread because most people can'y keep thier ego's in check.

Having a guru to show the way is usually the best and safest manner, as they already know the way. They don't make you enlightened, naturually one has to work hard by oneself to culivate a point where you can have realisation.
My ego would say that that I could manage it but my mind knows that it requires help from those further along the path than me, if I don't want to waste time.

Zen's humble beginings are in Chan Buddhism. Zen is Chan. The Japanese took Chinese Chan Buddhism and cultivated it themselves to call it Zen. Chan Buddhism is documented.

[SPJ]

Good point.

Not just ego. There are many worldly things or distractions to blind our mind.

In the 21 century, there are more distractions than ever before. There are cable TV, video gaming, internets, more stuff to occupy our mind.

Yes to look for a guide or a teacher.

We only have to take up one thing in life and start from there.

I studied the Bible since kidhood. Never miss a Sunday school except for illness.

I came to US. Too many things cluttered up.

My father is a Buddhist. He meditates. I follow suits. I study TCMA everyday.

Only when I was in high school, I realized that I do not need to meditate, not to read the Bible and not to practice CMA. They are optional. I wanted to quit. Guess what I got lost.

So I turned around and practice them again. But this time I knew I wanted to.

These are what I know best. I may as well stay put and start from something that has been part of my life this long.

A carpenter may see the world and life via the things he made.

A musician from the music he composed.

A MA dude from the style he studied.

A Christian from the Bible.

A Buddhist from sutras.

---

The world is full of things can be made via wood. Houses, bridges, chairs, beds, desks, etc.

The world is full of music, the chirps of birds, the noises from rainfall and thunder, the splashing sound of ocean, the howling of the wind, the--

The world is full of MA, crane, snake, mantis, scorpion, monkey, tiger, leopard, dragon. etc
Let us move up a notch to take the forms to resemble the meaning (Xing Yi). I like the Daoist idea of Tai Ji, how about Tai Ji Quan. I like to walk in a Ba Gua circle. etc

The world is full of God's creations and God's love for people.

The world is full of suffering, we have to see thru them, practice good intent, good speech and good deeds and transcend the Karma cycles.

--

:)

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..


The world is full of suffering, we have to see thru them, practice good intent, good speech and good deeds and transcend the Karma cycles.
Suffering?.. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.. if one looks for suffering one will create it.. what is referred to as "suffering" is quite natural and it is contradictory to nature to seek its elimination.. needless suffering, on the other hand, should be addressed and mitigated.. life is a constant interaction between Yin and Yang, eliminate one and the other has no meaning.. practice "good" this and "good" that, is someone's subjective value judgement.. "good" in one culture may be "bad" in another.. There is no "good/bad", only consequences (and our labels of desirability).. it is the consequences that matter, if they promote harmony they are beneficial, if they cause harm they are detrimental.. seek the harmony, forget the judgements..

Be well..

[SPJ]

Buddha was born a royal prince and never knew hardships.

On a few outings, he learned sickness, aging and death.

He pondered that it all starts with birth.

Sufferings of sufferings are birth, sickness, aging and death.

Awakeness simply means we come to a realization of something.

In this case, it is the meaning of the life.

Personally, I think life is gift. Each of us has a chance in life. What to do with it? That is the question.

Life is a gift from God and the parents.

My parents just want me to be happy.

God wants me to have faith in him and love my neighbors.

What do I want for my life? That is my question.

:)

[Nexus]

Part of Buddhisms ideas are not so much to unveil the meaning to life as they are to give meaning to your life. The ideas of cultivation rested on having contemplative experience, not simply intellectual experience. As for suffering, the Buddha taught that suffering could be overcome by discovering its source, which we can trace to our thoughts. With a thought that gives rise to negative emotions, suffering can be born. Thus the saying comes that every moment is one that can bring about Heaven or Hell. It is up to the individual to discipline and transform themselves internally.

[blooming lotus]

Originally posted by SPJ
After many years of practice of Buddism in China, people were stuck with literally following doctrines and fixed system of practice.

Zen masters (teachers) appeared 1500 years ago.

Instead of following rituals, myths, and doctrines of Buddha, they internalized the teachings with open and unobstructed minds to attain enlightenment.

So the question is that how do you have a uncluttered mind to see things as they are?

How to have a Buddha mind?

How to have a normal mind?


:)



can they guenuinely exist in the same time and place??? Remember buddha, particularly saakyamuni when he received his enlightments was not doing secular society, nor were the monks!!

In my dissertation on ch'an , which I am getting very excited about as it now takes structure, Id' like to discuss that. I think "the buddha mind " has evolved to include more non- aesthics lifestyles as multi media etc becomes more readily available. There are so many versions of the "normal" mind today, that you can almost pick a state, match your group and come off peachy ;) :)

Ps: the Zen path leads to the "buddha mind" no?

[Nexus]

blooming lotus,
Another way this can be viewed as Ch'an states is "We already possess the Buddha mind, we must simply come to realize this." or in another sense, "Remove all the obstructions and dellusions which prevent us from seeing our true nature, which was with us all along."

[blooming lotus]

but to see our "true " nature , don't you think it's somewhat neccessary to see our "old " / "human " nature , in order to overcome it????

Spiritual or "as a spirit " we are, I feel it's still important and even crucial to acknowledge the role our human bodied existance and experiences plays in that scenario ( in all its' contributions) . Do you disaggree???

We should know what we are weeding and why.... no???

[Scott R. Brown]

Hui-neng, the sixth patriarch of Zen and the only Chinese to have authored a sutra states:

“ ….our essence of mind which is the seed of or kernel of enlightenment, is pure by nature, and by making use of the mind alone we can reach buddhahood directly.”

“You should know that so far as buddha-nature is concerned, there is no difference between an enlightened man and an ignorant one. What makes the difference is that one realizes it, and the other is ignorant of it.”

Hui-neng received the robe of authority by responding to a poem written by Shen-hsui the top student of the 5th patriarch. Shen-hsui wrote:

“Our body is the bodhi tree,
And our mind a mirror bright,
Carefully we wipe them hour by hour,
And let no dust alight”

This method of gaining enlightenment is the most common path tread by individuals whose purpose is spiritual development. These individuals waste their time. Spiritual development is not a process. It cannot be gained through gradual improvement of the self over time. It is a instant realization of the essence of mind,

Hung-jen the 5th patriarch informed Shen-hsui,

“Your stanza shows you have not yet realized the essence of mind. So far you have reached the door of enlightenment, but you have not yet entered it. To seek for supreme enlightenment with such an understanding as yours can hardly be successful.
To attain supreme enlightenment, one must be able to know spontaneously one’s own nature or essence of mind, which is neither created nor can it be annihilated. From kshana to kshana [thought moment to thought moment], one should be able to realize the essence of mind all the time. All things will then be free from restraint [i.e. emancipated]. Once the Tathata [suchness, another name for essence of mind] is known, one will be free from delusion forever; and in all circumstances one’s mind is absolute truth. If you can see things in such a frame of mind you will have known the essence of mind, which is supreme enlightenment”

What Hung-jen is saying is that enlightenment is a state of realization, that is, a state of mind that is spontaneously realized. All paths that confuse enlightenment with something to be attained or gained through a process of development cannot be successful. Enlightenment is not earned or developed over time, it is instantly realized, intuitively, by direct seeing or perceiving with the mind.

Hui-Neng responded to Shen-hsui’s poem with one of his own. Being illiterate he had some one else write the stanza for him:

“There is no bodhi tree,
Nor mirror bright,
Since all is void,
Where can dust alight?”

His point is that there is nothing that is soiled, nothing that needs cleaning. Our essence of mind is already pure and unblemished, we just don’t realize it. Since it is inherently pure there is nothing to clean as Shen-hsui would have us do. This is why Shen-hsui fell short in his understanding. He was under the delusion that there was something to clean and that this something was thereby impure. But the impurity was in his point of view not in the essence or truth of things. The intent to clean something that is inherently pure is delusion. The act or belief in impurity causes the impurity or delusion in the mind. It is this false view we are to see through.

The original method of Zen teaching was called direct pointing. That is, the master would use methods designed to point the student’s attention towards the true essence of their mind in an attempt to get the student to directly perceive or understand his own essence of mind. This is the only method of attaining enlightenment. It is the direct understanding or seeing into of the truth or essence of things. Since all things are projections of the mind then the truth or essence can only be perceived through penetrating the mind. Hui-neng believed that the method of direct pointing should be tailored to the specific personality of the individual. But he always recommended using a method of opposites. He advised his advanced followers:

“Whenever a question is put to you, answer it in the negative, if it is an affirmative one, and vise versa. If you are asked about an ordinary man, tell the inquirer something about a sage, and vise versa. From the correlation or interdependence of the two opposites the doctrine of the mean may be grasped. If all other questions are answered in this manner, you will not be far away from the truth. “

and

“I preached to them in a way that befitted their understanding.”

And lastly Hui-neng was asked about meditation many times. On one occasion he was told that a number of masters stated that the ONLY way to reach realization was through meditation exercises. Hui-neng replied:

“The norm [Tao] is to be realized with the mind……and does not depend on the sitting meditation. The Diamond Sutra says that it is wrong for anyone to assert that the Tathagata comes or goes, sits or reclines. Why? Because the Tathagata’s dhyana of purity implies neither coming from anywhere nor going anywhere, neither becoming or causing to be. All dharmas are calm and void, and such is the Tathagata’ seat of purity. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as attainment; why then should we bother about the sitting position?”

“The dharma is nondual, and so is the mind. The path is pure and above all forms. I warn you not to use those exercises for meditation on quietude or for the keeping the mind a blank. The mind is by nature pure, so there is nothing for us to crave for or give up.”

“Learned Audience, when you hear me talk about the Void, do not at once fall into the idea of vacuity, (because this involves the heresy of the doctrine of annihilation). It is of the utmost importance that we should not fall into this idea, because when a man sits quietly and keeps his mind blank he will abide in a state of 'Voidness of Indifference'.

Learned Audience, the illimitable Void of the universe is capable of holding myriads of things of various shape and form, such as the sun, the moon, stars, mountains, rivers, men, Dharmas pertaining to goodness or badness, deva planes, hells, great oceans, and all the mountains of the Mahameru. Space takes in all of these, and so does the voidness of our nature. We say that the Essence of Mind is great because it embraces all things, since all things are within our nature. When we see the goodness or the badness of other people we are not attracted by it, nor repelled by it, nor attached to it; so that our attitude of mind is as void as space. In this way, we say our mind is great. Therefore we call it 'Maha'.

Learned Audience, what the ignorant merely talk about, wise men put into actual practice with their mind. There is also a class of foolish people who sit quietly and try to keep their mind blank. They refrain from thinking of anything and call themselves 'great'. On account of their heretical view we can hardly talk to them.
Learned Audience, you should know that the mind is very great in capacity, since it pervades the whole Dharmadhatu (the sphere of the Law, i.e., the Universe). When we use it, we can know something of everything, and when we use it to its full capacity we shall know all. All in one and one in all. When our mind works without hindrance, and is at liberty to 'come' or to 'go', then it is in a state of 'Prajna'.

Learned Audience, all Prajna comes from the Essence of Mind and not from an exterior source. Have no mistaken notion about that. This is called 'Self-use of the True Nature'. Once the Tathata (Suchness, the Essence of Mind) is known, one will be free from delusion forever.

Since the scope of the mind is for great objects, we should not practice such trivial acts (as sitting quietly with a blank mind). Do not talk about the 'Void' all day without practicing it in the mind. One who does this may be likened to a self-styled king who is really a commoner. Prajna can never be attained in this way and those who behave like this are
not my disciples.”

All quotes are from the A. F. Price & Wong Mou-lam translation.

[blooming lotus]

I so deeply appreciate the post, but doctrine and even sutra as a concept can be obttained so many ways, your method is only one.! :cool:

[SPJ]

On clarity of mind (like a mirror).

On acute and instant realization of things as things are. This is the point of enlightenment.

On use of the mind actively to realize or understand things or laws.

On not to void the mind blank by sitting meditation.

Good points.


1) Worldly dusts or distractions do pile up in everyday life.

Overtime, it will be dusty. Then comes the wind. It become a sandstorm. With eyeglasses or goggles on. The visibility is still very low.

We all want a sunny day with a clear sky. But there is dust everywhere.

2) Emotions and feelings are constant inputs from our senses and interactions with our responses from the mind or heart.

If we are hungry, our mind only knows to feed.

If we are tired, our mind only knows to rest.

If we are angered, our mind only knows to seek peace.

Enlightenment of things happens at one point, when and where there are no dusts or emotions.

Cleaning and meditation away from life "events" are creating the point of environment where and when enlightenment may show itself to a non- distracted, -hungry, -weary, -dreaded nor---- mind.



:)

[blooming lotus]

Right, but can you/ have you ever emptied your mind to go beyond where those "needs " were needs??!!!!

how long without sleep??

How long without food and water??

How long without human contact and affection ( physical or otherwise??)

No one here is a monk njor nun , and call me a walking ego, but I have every intention of getting there myself. Who here has thought and committed so deeply?? Are you all so " onto it" that another minds' words are below your realm of consideration??

How enlightened :rolleyes:

[cerebus]

"How enlightened :rolleyes: "

Unlike blooming eyebrows, however, who can only look down upon everyone on this forum with pity from her seat of high enlightenment. :rolleyes:

[SPJ]

The previous post is saying direct and instant realization.

The previous post is also saying cleaning and sitting meditation are not right.

My post agreed to all the points.

I humbly pointed out cleaning the dust and meditation are necessary to reach the point.

This is called positive inclusion. I agreed to it and expanded its reasoning to include a counterpoint.

Buddha tried not eating, not sleeping and --.

I agreed with you on how long. I said we have to have non hungry, non weary --mind to reach the point without distractions.

Thank you for your affirmations.

:)

[blooming lotus]

in humanity , everything is a distraction from spirit ( if you believe we have one )

and Cerebus... you are seeking so hard , you 've become an extremely harsh judge. Of course I don't know everything or I'd 've figured how to check out with good karma. Death is a privelidge and I haven't earnt it.


I find beauty and enlightenmight in the most humble of places, human bodies of all levels, age and skill. How often have you looked at a new born baby and thought " crikey!! there's a point to carry "??? I sit on no throne, and if you put me there, please realise this demeans each moment I sit on it .

[cerebus]

"I sit on no throne and if you put me there, please realise this demeans each moment I sit on it."

When have I put you on a throne? No really, when? C'mon, just one instance. You can't quote a single one because there aren't any. Your talking as if I ever did any such thing is just your passive-aggressive way of trying to feed your own ego. Get over yourself, bl. The only "throne" you've ever been on was made of porcelain and fulla sh!t.

[blooming lotus]

it happens all the time, from you or others. You make a claim and folks troll to find out if you are "really " their goddess of all knowledge ever born..... Even here when I teach :rolleyes:
Laying down the correct, just a chick with different experiences in a different place. And for thr record , yah been qeen ah le john in past myself, now I realise John wasn't the domian I was shooting for.

Now shaddup.. Whaddya want me starve to death???!!1


Ps: that was retorical ;) :rolleyes:

[cerebus]

Thank you, again for proving my points. I need say no more on the subject. :p :p

[Serpent]

Originally posted by blooming lotus
How often have you looked at a new born baby and thought " crikey!! there's a point to carry "???
When was the last time you looked on your own baby?

[blooming lotus]

not sure, but I did speak to her a day or so ago and she's cheering either way. Still can't see your point. I'll be home asap. and can't wait to get there. It's been a long trip.

[Ego_Extrodinaire]

Cerebus:

"I sit on no throne and IF you put me there, please realise this demeans each moment I sit on it."

If you read BL post carefully and you had nothing to hide from yourself, then you might not have been so defensive in your response to BL.

From what I know about anthropology, it is a human trait to put what they most wish to aspire to as their diety. However, if their diety also embodies what they most fear they may try to put their diety down as a troll.

It may be the case that a lot you you fear knowledge because it may be something that you think its beyond you. You should be thankful that you have a patient teacher.

If BL were born thusands of years ago, she may have started a religion called Buddettism or maybe Bloomingdale. I strongly believe that what she says will eventually be embraced by you lot on this forum,

[blooming lotus]

I don't know about sitting on anyones' pedastle, but I speak truly from what I know , and all I can say is a small step forward is a small step forward . for you , your environment, benti and karma.

sorry to dribble dharma, but It's all I have sometimes.

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

It is, what it is.. for myself, i do my best to make my own way in this world without being a burden to it.. where possible, i offer a helping hand.. where i see inconsistency i try to evaluate whether it is my perspective or that of others manifesting the inconsistency.. if i believe the perspective of others to be inaccurate but harmless, i let silence speak its truth.. if i sense that the supposed inaccuracy is harmful, i offer advice.. but, in all cases, i am open to evidence of the contrary.. always willing to discard my own inaccuracies if favor of a more correct perception..

The real question, for me, is.. am i willing to discard what i think i am, to become what i could be..? (are we what we "think" we are.. or, are we that which does the thinking....?)(very tricky question!!).....

IF one supposes that another is misinformed or purposefully distributing misinformation.. and, that information is harmless.. what value is there to the persecution of another?.. is it to demonstrate one's "correctness"?.. to illuminate one's own standing in a particular community?.. or, just the satisfaction of besting someone else?.. if the perceived misinformation is harmless, a simple response with one's own perception of "correctness" is sufficient.. pursuit and persecution only detracts from whatever value the perceived correctness may have had.. name-calling, sarcasm, and aggression are not signatures of beings on the path of enlightenment..

Be well...

[Ego_Extrodinaire]

TaiChiBob,

I see what you mean, it's just like the ending in Croaching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. That chic in the end of the movie believed she could fly and so she jumped off the cliff. We all know she will end up smacking the ground hard.

In the chronicales of Magician Merlin, he frequently lamented that if he knew more science he would less have to rely on magic - which is far less reliable.

However, Issac Asmov had once said that if science is advance enough, it would look like magic to the less informed.

The world is very Yin and Yang, the further you travel the closer you are to the beginning. Not just metaphysically speaking but also in the physical realm.

[BAI HE]

Blooming Onion - Read the "Blood Sutra: of Bodhiharma.

Read about how shaving your head and dawning robes are not the way, but further delusuion..

[blooming lotus]

how the hell d'you expect me to talk to you or acknowledge any thing you say when you speak like that????


lil boys ha !! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Buddy]

"How often have you looked at a new born baby and thought " crikey!! there's a point to carry "

or, "How soon can I abandon this one?...crikey"

[SimonM]

Originally posted by TaiChiBob

Yet, toady with its formal schools, its intricate Koans, its harsh masters, it is difficult to recall its humble origins..


But some of us remember. I am a Chan Buddhist yet I don't intend to become a wuseng, will honestly say that I don't know the Koans and haven't had any harsh masters. I just meditate, and try to be a good person.

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

We are traveling to where we have always been, from ignorance to enlightenment.. awareness is the vehicle..

We are enlightened.. we simply have so many distractions to divert our awarenesses that we seldom recognize it.. we often get distracted by judging others, by attempting to coerce others to believe the things we believe, by indulging the illusion that we are separate from our environment or separate from others.. i sense that we are One thing behaving in a universe of different ways..

Enlightenment eludes actual description, we only know it when we experience it.. those that have attained it know the futility of trying to describe it.. "the Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao".. but, my mentor says that when we accept (know) that we are each only individual aspects of One universal truth (experience).. then, our enlightened selves will be revealed.. the trick is in the knowing.. wishing, hoping, believing and desiring are not substitutes for knowing.. my experience seems to suggest that my mentor is correct.. though, i struggle with conflicts between the knowing and the distractions.. (i do favor certain distractions ;) )... That, for me, is the beauty of Taoist philosophy.. it is what it is.. we are here for a time, then we are not.. i suggest that this unique physical existence is not intended to be subjugated by harsh disciplines and critical judgements.. it is intended to be embraced with gusto and a sincere reverence for its simple beauty..

Be well...

[SPJ]

Good points.

When we are 3 to 5 years old, we experience life directly.

For we do not know many words to describe our experiences.

For we do not yet acquire some of the add-ons or distractions in life, culture or "civilizations".

And most important of all, we usually say what we feel directly without any facade.

With this honesty to ourself and directness of our minds, we then see everything in the light.

In Chan Buddhism, they call it the Buddha mind or the awakened mind.

In Christianity, Jesus said to the fact that we all have to be like a child to be able to come to the presence of God.

[SPJ]

In a sense, to do Chan meditation or Za zen is to cleanse our mind of daily dusts defiling thoughts, ill intentions or negative interaction in emotions, etc

We are to cultivate the clear and direct mind.

Or as you nicely put it as the awareness without distractions.

Good posts.

:)

[SPJ]

Off the subject of the thread;

On Tao or Dao;

Yes. Agreed that we are all from the one or universe. We are part of it. Therefore we conform to its ways or the way/dao of the nature or universe.

In the theory of Dao, there are 3 harmonies.

The heaven (Tien) which is the time, weather, and the cosmos etc.

The earth (Di) which is the platform, we live on. There are the environments, air, water, rivers, etc.

The people (Ren), us, coworkers and other.

Ren is between Tien and Di. We acquire the Qi from Tien and Di and then cultivate the harmonies between the three.

Yes, we are all connected; not just people to people but also to Tien and Di.

So the Dao is to achieve Tien Di Ren harmonies.

How to do it are the lessons for our lives.

:cool:

[Scott R. Brown]

Hi SPJ,

I am afraid you are incorrect about the purpose of Chan being to cleanse our minds of: “ill intentions or negative interaction in emotions, etc”. This was the view that
Shen-hsui took, and because he believed this he did not acquire the robe and bowl of authority from his master and they went to Hui-neng.

Remember the two poems I mentioned earlier:

Shen-hsui’s:

Our body is the bodhi tree,
And our mind a mirror bright,
Carefully we wipe them hour by hour,
And let no dust alight

And Hui-neng’s:

There is no bodhi tree,
Nor mirror bright,
Since all is void,
Where can dust alight?

We can certainly improve our character through the process of wiping away dust, but this is not the purpose of Chan. The purpose of Chan is to directly perceive, for ourselves, the truth. That is to remove the veil from our perception in order to understand existence completely or rather to see it as it truly is, without obstruction. The creator of this veil or obstruction is our ego.

Our ego is a tool we use to navigate through society. It is an artificial identity, but it is not who we truly are. Our ego is artificially constructed, similar to the character an actor plays in a movie or theater production; when the production is over the actor returns to his original identity. So we return to our true selves through realization. The problem with most of us is that we confuse our artificial construct (ego) with who we truly are; we think our ego IS who we really are; but it is not.

The purpose of Chan is to directly point to the truth so we may see it for ourselves and thereby be transformed. But the transformation is merely artificial as well. We are only seeing the truth as it always was and the false views were only illusion that we have realized as illusion. The error was in our minds, our perception and not in the world. The pain and sorrow we experience in life is a direct result of our over identification with our artificial construct. Our ego filters our perceptions through its own value system which is in and of itself an artificial construct as well. We cannot perceive the truth accurately because of the limitations imposed upon our perception by this artificial construct (ego). The goal of Chan is to provide the means to help use make an end run around our ego so to speak, in order to allow us to directly perceive the truth.

So because of our egos’ we confuse illusion with reality. This is what we must understand and transcend and this is why everyone must do so on their own. At the best a master can only point the way and inform us of mistakes and pitfalls, but nothing more.

If I remember correctly on an occasion, D. T. Suzuki was asked what was the difference he experienced upon gaining realization, he respond that there was no difference; life was exactly the same, but just 5 inches off the ground. That is a poetic way of saying, “it is the same, but different.”

Think of the attempt to perceive without obstruction as similar to the optical illusion where there are two faces in silhouette facing each other; it can be seen as either two faces, or as a vase. Now, imagine a person who can only see the faces and not the vase. It takes a certain kind of perception or perspective to see the vase and a certain perspective to see the faces, but it is a skill that must be learned. No one can show you the vase. They can point to it, or try to describe it, but you have to perceive it on your own. And once you perceive you can see both whenever you choose and this is the same activity that occurs when perceiving or realizing the Truth.

So the question arises, is it a picture of two faces or is it a picture of a vase? Well the answer is, “It is both at the same time.” This is why realization is said to be nothing special, it is like when you finally understand how a magician’s trick is done, the common reaction is, “You mean that is all it was?”

[SPJ]

Execellent post.

Agreed.

:)