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Don't try to
understand what I'm saying. These are just
pointers. I don't understand what I'm saying either. Pointers
point to the state of direct realization but they're not a
substitute for it.
~Eckhart Tolle
“The nice
thing is that when you stop waiting for the mind to
stop doing what it does, you start to realize it doesn’t
matter
how long the mind does what it does. There’s still this
direct
taste, this sense of being. So waiting is unnecessary. It’s
just
another concept.”
~Adyashanti
To say something
meaningful,
Get in the circle of silent ones
And be silent.
~ Rumi
by Enea Bozeglav
I felt in need of
a great pilgrimage
so I sat still for three
days
and God came
to me.
~ Kabir
posted by Kia
Pierce
by Alan Larus
The desire to find the self will be surely fulfilled, provided
you
want nothing else. But you must be honest with yourself and
really want nothing else. If in the meantime you want many
other things and are engaged in their pursuit, your main
purpose may be delayed until you grow wiser and cease being
torn between contradictory urges. Go within, without
swerving,
without ever looking outward.
~Nisargadatta
Maharaj
by Along The Way
In Master
Linji's time, some Buddhist terms were used so often
they became meaningless. People chewed on terms like
“liberation” and “enlightenment”
until they lost their power. It’s
no different today.
What is a True
Person?
“As I see
it, there isn’t so much to do. Just be ordinary—put
on
your robes, eat your food, and pass the time doing nothing.”
-
Master Linji, Teaching 18
Insight can’t
be found in sutras, commentaries, verbal
expression, or —isms. Liberation and awakened
understanding can’t be found by devoting ourselves to
the
study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like trying to find
fresh
water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using our
clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch
with liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the
Buddha
and the patriarchs as living realities right in this moment.
The
person who has nothing to do is sovereign unto herself. She
doesn’t need to put on airs or leave any trace behind.
The true person
is an active participant, engaged in her
environment while remaining unoppressed by it. Although all
phenomena are going through the various appearances of
birth, abiding, changing, and dying, the true person doesn’t
become a victim of sadness, happiness, love, or hate. She
lives in awareness as an ordinary person, whether standing,
walking, lying down, or sitting. She doesn’t act a part,
even the
part of a great Zen master. This is what Master Linji means
by
“being sovereign wherever you are and using that place
as
your seat of awakening.”
We may wonder,
“If a person has no direction, isn’t yearning to
realize an ideal, doesn’t have an aim in life, then who will
help
living beings be liberated, who will rescue those who are
drowning in the ocean of suffering?” A Buddha is a
person
who has no more business to do and isn’t looking for
anything.
In doing nothing, in simply stopping, we can live freely and
true
to ourselves and our liberation will contribute to the
liberation
of all beings.
- Thich Nhat
Hanh, "Simply Stop," Fall 2007 Tricycle From
Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go (2007) by Thich Nhat
Hanh