Even if you cannot
endure, you have to endure. Don’t be
afraid of pain, and don’t be running about everywhere, or you won’t be able to
attain samadhi.
be able to
exchange it for life.
If you can’t give up the false, you won’t
be able to
realize the truth.
(from page 5 “Without a Compass and a T-square, You Can’t
Draw Circles
and Squares”)
You will just keep waiting for that flavorful experience to
reoccur. Waiting, you forget all about
applying effort.
A thousand pools contain water,
The moon is reflected in all of them.
For ten thousand miles there are no clouds,
There are ten thousand miles of sky.
(from page 13
“Being Greedy for the Flavor of Chan Is Wrong”)
If you can’t find a good Way-place, then even if you want
to cultivate, you won’t be able to.
If you can’t renounce death,
then you can’t
exchange it for life.
If you can’t renounce the false,
then you can’t
realize the true.
(from page 23
“It’s Difficult to Encounter a Good Way-place”)
The thing that harms people most in the world is deep love
and heavy emotion, and the most exalted thing is cultivating the way of purity.
Although the rain from the heavens is vast,
It’s difficult to nourish grass that has no roots.
Although the gate of Buddhism is wide,
It’s difficult to save people who have no faith.
(from page 33
“Bound by Infatuation, They Turned into Trees”)
Right up to their death, they are still practicing the
Secret School--- secret, secret, secret, all the way to the hells!
(from page 35
“The Misfortune of Buddhism”)
Homosexuality is a
perverted behavior which contradicts natural law, human ethics, and biological
structure.
(from page 39
“Next Life, I Want to Be a Siamese Twin”)
If you don’t lay a good foundation, your house will not be
sturdy; the wind will blow it down and the rain will wash it away.
The mountains disappear and the waters vanish,
and you doubt
there is a road ahead.
Beyond the dark willows and the bright flowers
is another
village.
***
The eyes see forms, but inside there is nothing.
The ears hear sounds, but the mind does not know.
(from pages 45
& 47 “In Investigating Chan, First Lay the Foundation”)
Basically,
science doesn’t exist. It’s just called
science because that’s what we call it.
(from page 55
“Science and the Heaven of Light-Sound”)
If
you can remain unperturbed by external states, then you are cultivating. If you are turned by external states, then you
will fall.
(from page 61
“The Nature, Consciousness, Intent, and Mind”)
Constantly
base yourself on the spirit of public justice, open-mindedness, and great
courage.
(from page 65
“An Anguished Appeal to Educators”)
If
you don’t recognize the proper Dharma, then you’ll follow after deviant
dharmas.
If for one moment you don’t understand,
For one moment you must investigate.
If for every moment you don’t understand,
For every moment you must investigate.
(from page 71
“Chan Investigation Requires the Dharma-selecting Eye”)
Any
person who understands the Zero can cultivate and realize the fruition.
***
All dharmas arise from conditions;
All dharmas cease with conditions.
Our Buddha, the great Shramana,
Always speaks in this way.
***
Even if I meet with a knife’s point,
I
am always completely tranquil.
If I am given a poisonous drug,
I
am still totally at ease.
***
When heaven attains the One, it becomes
clear;
When earth attains the One, it becomes
peaceful;
When a person attains the One, he becomes a
sage.
(from pages 77
& 79 “When You Attain the One, All Things Are Done”)
When
you are cultivating, you should be able to “pick it up” and “put it down”; that
is, be serious about what you’re doing.
Don’t contend means don’t kill;
Don’t be greedy means don’t steal;
Don’t seek means don’t engage in sexual
misconduct;
Don’t be selfish means don’t tell lies;
Don’t try to benefit yourself means don’t
take intoxicants.
(from page 93
“The Six Great Principles Are in Fact the Five Precepts”)
Cultivating the Way means to cultivate true morality by not
obstructing others and not being afraid of being obstructed by others.
(from page 95
“The Manifestation of a Virtuous Character”)
Those old cultivators, seeking to end birth and death, held
tightly to their meditation topic and didn’t stop applying effort for a single
moment.
(from page 109
“Chan Session Instructions”)
From
now on, all we need to do is to become new people, to put on new faces, and to
start fresh.
Today we complete ten weeks of Chan.
Putting on a new face, we make the Bodhi
resolve.
Always wield the Vajra sword of wisdom.
Up and down, north, south, east and west.
(from page 115
“The Completion of Ten Weeks of Chan”)
Where do the Ten Dharma Realms come from? They originate from the single thought
presently in your mind.
Neither great nor small,
Neither come nor gone,
In worlds as many as motes of dust,
They shine upon each others’ lotus thrones.
***
Sentient beings when enlightened
Leap out of the dust.
Their six perfections and ten thousand practices
At all times are nurtured.
***
The holy sages enlightened to conditions
Doze high on mountain peaks alone.
Springtime’s flowers wither in the fall
In a cycle of twelve interconnecting links.
***
The Shravaka Sangha,
Both men and women,
Contemplate and practice the four holy truths,
Concealing the real and displaying the provisional.
***
The six desire and Brahma gods,
With five precepts and ten good acts,
Plant seeds that have outflows,
So the turning wheel is hard to stop.
***
Asuras have a violent nature;
Laden with blessings, lacking power,
Absolutely determined to fight,
They bob along in karma’s tow.
***
The way of people is harmony,
With merit and offenses interspersed.
On virtuous deeds you rise, offenses make you fall;
It has nothing to do with anyone else at all.
***
Eager animals feed on greed,
Never sated by a lot.
Because they make what’s black white,
They don’t distinguish wrong from right.
***
The ghostly crew delights in hate,
Deluded by effects, confused about cause.
Their ignorance and upside-downness
Grow greater each day, deeper each month.
***
The hells’ anxiety and suffering
Is devoid of doors, yet one bores right in.
Giving rise to delusion, deeds are done.
The retribution is borne in due accord.
***
Depressed and melancholy, you roam through the hells;
Happy and smiling, you enjoy eternal youth;
Weeping and woe make a small dark room in the hells.
***
All of these ten realms---a single thought---
Are not apart from your present thought.
If you can understand that thought.
You immediately reach the other shore.
(from pages
117 to 169 “The Ten Dharma Realms Are Not Beyond a Single Thought.”)
Don’t rashly tell lies or do things to fool yourselves.
Is heavier than Mount Sumeru.
If you eat it and don’t cultivate.
You’ll have to repay it by wearing fur and horns.
(from page 173
“If You Crave Comfort, Why Leave the Home-life?”)
If you can intuitively comprehend the state of these three sutras,
then you will not have been a Buddhist in vain.
(from page 179
“Left-home People Should Recite the Three Sutras”)
The four great Bodhisattvas have come to the Western nations to
help the Buddha spread the Dharma and teach people, and to make Buddhism
flourish.
(from page 185
“Four Great Bodhimandas in the United States and Canada”)
A great hero must have the spirit of firm, unshakable perseverance
to conquer every kind of suffering.
that chills to
the bone.
How could the fragrance of its
blossoms be so
sweet?
***
To endure suffering puts an end to suffering.
To enjoy blessings uses up blessings.
(from page 189
& 191 “Leaving the Home-life Is Truly a Heroic Act”)
There
can be endless births and infinite transformations in the world, all because of
the Buddha-nature.
(from page 195
“The Buddha-nature: the Original Source of All Living Beings”)