‘People of the way journey through the world responding to conditions, carefree and without restraint. Like clouds finally raining, like moonlight following the current, like orchids growing in shade, like spring arising in everything, they act without mind, they respond with certainty.’ (Cultivating the Empty Field) Cathering brought some Hongzhi into yesterday’s talk to the … More Hongzhi
‘Thoroughly observing each thing with the whole eye is a patch-robed monk’s spontaneous conduct.’ (Cultivating the Empty Field) As I believe is often said over here, 24/7, 365.
‘Your body sits silently; your mind quiescent, unmoving. Your mouth is so still that moss grows around it. Grass sprouts from your tongue. Do this without cease, cleansing the mind until it gains the clarity of an autumn pool, bright as the moon illuminating the evening sky.’ (quoted in The Poetry of Enlightenment) I took this … More Hongzhi
The round pearl has no hollows, The great raw gem isn’t polished. What is esteemed by people of the Way is having no edges. Removing the road of agreement, senses and matter are empty: The free body, resting on nothing, stands out unique and alive. (The Book of Serenity)
‘In clarity the wonder exists, with spiritual energy shining on its own. It cannot be grasped, and so cannot be called being. It cannot be rubbed away and so cannot be called nonbeing. Beyond the mind of deliberation and discussion, depart from the realms of the shadowy images. Emptying one’s sense of self-existence is wondrous. … More Hongzhi
‘Thoroughly observing each thing with the whole eye is a patch-robed monk’s spontaneous conduct.’ (Cultivating the Empty Field)
The true person of no rank is a slab of red meat. Great thousands of realms of sand manifest on the tip of a hair. Obviously it is a matter of not borrowing from someone else’s house. This is how all achievement functions.
‘Traveling the world, meeting conditions, the self joyfully enters samadhi in all delusions and accepts its function, which is to empty out the self so as not to be full of itself.’ (Cultivating the Empty Field) The footnote to this sentence points to Hongzhi’s expression pre-figuring Dogen’s exposition of jijuyu zanmai, and observes that ‘the Chinese compound that means … More Hongzhi
‘There is an excellent saying that the six sense doors are not veiled, the highways in all directions have no footprints. Always arriving everywhere without being confused, gentle without hesitation, the perfected person knows where to go.’ (Cultivating the Empty Field) So where do you go?
‘In wholeness take one step.’ (Cultivating the Empty Field) Just like yesterday’s post, this reminds me of a koan – in this case, one of the translations of Yunmen’s response in the Blue Cliff Record (case 14): ‘Preaching facing oneness.’ For a long time I stuck with the other answer to the question (the question itself is a relatively stock … More Hongzhi
