As long as you have patience, you’ll succeed at whatever Dharma-door you practice.
(from page 3 “Penetrate Every Dharma: Recite the Name of Guanyin
Bodhisattva”)
There’s a Guanshiyin Bodhisattva inside the mind of every living being.
(from page 13 “Guanyin Bodhisattva is Our Brother”)
When we recite the Buddha’s name even once, a ray of bright light appears in the air.
(from page 29 “Instructions During an Amitabha Buddha Recitation
Session”)
Without wasting a single moment, I worked relentlessly at my investigation, constantly applying my efforts to it.
then plain water
is hard to swallow.
Yet if you can understand the five contemplations,
then even gold
will digest.
***
If you can’t renounce death,
then you won’t
experience real life.
If you can’t renounce what’s false,
you’ll never
accomplish anything true.
(from pages 43, 45 & 51 “The Rules of the Chan Session”)
Investigating
Chan means not having any idle thoughts.
When not even one thought arises,
the entire substance comes into view.
If the six sense organs suddenly react,
then clouds will cover you.
***
An instant of time is worth an ounce of gold,
Yet an ounce of gold can hardly buy an instant of
time.
If you lose an ounce of gold you can always find
another.
But once time goes by, you can’t bring it back
again.
(from pages 53 & 57
“Using One Idle Thought to Control Other Idle Thoughts”)
Examine yourself at all times and reform any faults that you find. If you find no faults, then press on.
Without using a compass and a T-square,
You’ll never draw good circles and corners.
***
A single grain of donor’s rice,
Is as weighty as Mount Sumeru.
If one should eat it and then fail to cultivate,
One will have to repay the debt by wearing fur and
horns.
***
This day is already done,
Our lives are that much less.
We’re like fish in evaporating water,
What joy can there be in this?
Great Assembly!
We should be as diligent and vigorous,
Never forget impermanence!
Be careful, and never be lax!
(from pages 59, 65
& 67 “Cultivate Diligently and Don’t Be Lax”)
During this meditation session, you should set aside your cleverness and your petty intelligence.
When one can train oneself to appear as if foolish,
Then one’s genuine cleverness comes forth.
If one can study until one appears dull,
Then one’s real talents begin to appear.
***
When one thing penetrates, all things penetrate.
When one thing is understood, all things are
understood.
When one thing is enlightened to, all things are
enlightened to.
***
If one can sit perfectly still for even a split
second,
One’s merit surpasses that of building pagodas of
the seven
gems in number like the Ganges’ sands.
***
As the poet comes and goes, he is always accompanied
by Foyin.
In all his undertakings, the monk’s only companion
is Dongpo.
***
I bow my head to the lord among gods,
And the light of my hair-mark shines out
Through
the whole universe.
The eight winds cannot blow me over.
As I sit erect upon my purple golden lotus.
(from pages 69 to 85
“Using Electrotherapy to Clean the Air”)
Talk less and meditate more: this is the fundamental requisite of cultivation.
If one can sit perfectly still for even a split
second,
One’s merit surpasses that of building pagodas of
the seven
gems in number like the Ganges’ sands.
***
You eat, but you’re not aware of consuming a single
grain of rice.
You dress, but you are unaware of putting on a
single stitch.
***
If we see things and awaken to them, we can
leap out
of the mundane world.
If we see things and they confuse us, we’ll fall
back on
the wheel of transmigration.
(from pages 87 to 113
“Demons Help You Cultivate”)
One-flower blossoms with five petals, and the fruit will come ripe all by itself.
The body is a Bodhi-tree,
The mind a mirror-stand bright.
Time and again wipe it clean;
Let no dust alight.
***
Originally there is no Bodhi-tree,
Nor any mirror-stand bright.
Originally there is nothing at all,
Where could the dust alight?
***
My purpose in coming to this land,
Was to transmit the Dharma and rescue confused
beings.
One-flower blossoms with five petals,
And the fruit will come ripe all by itself.
(from pages 115 to 127
“The Patriarch Bodhidharma’s Advent in China”)
Sitting in the lotus posture can eradicate karmic obstacles gathered over limitless eons, end birth and death, and generate limitless merit and virtue.
(from page 129 “The
Secret to Controlling Random Thoughts”)
To “investigate” means to look, to look for the one who is reciting the Buddha’s name.
When one has a large doubt, then one’s
enlightenment can be large.
When one has a minor doubt regarding this
topic,
one’s enlightenment will be small;
When one’s has no doubts about this topic,
one will
have no enlightenment.
***
When one is confused, an entire library
of books
is too few;
But when one is enlightened, even a single
word is
too many.
***
To endure suffering is to end suffering;
To enjoy blessings exhausts blessings.
***
Disasters bring blessings along;
Blessings usher in catastrophes.
***
It would be better to got without enlightenment
for a
thousand lifetimes.
Than to be possessed by a demon for even
a single day.
(from pages 135 to 143
“On Investigating a Meditation Topic”)
Sit in meditation until “Inside you have no body and mind, and outside there is no world.”
(from page 145 “The
State of Chan Meditation”)
You can go off to rebirth at any time you choose; you are free to come and go as you please.
Before New Year’s Day, be very cautious of heaven’s
tears;
A gift with two dots beneath it will harm you
grievously.
***
Heli is coming from the South,
But I am
going to the West.
If my strength in the Dharma were not sufficient,
I would
surely have fallen into the villain’s hands.
(from pages 157 to 161
“How Chan Meditation Can Halt the Process of Birth and Death”)
For cultivators, it’s important to be able to endure cold and heat, wind and rain, hunger and thirst, and insults and beatings.
(from page 163
“Cultivation Requires Patience”)
To reach success with the method of investigating the meditation topic, we must work at it for a long time.
When you suddenly awaken to the Chan of the Tathagatas,
Then the Six Paramitas and the Myriad Practices
are
complete within your substance.
In a dream, very clearly, you perceive all the
Six Realms
of Rebirth.
When you awaken, then you see all as empty and void,
And not
one bit of the universe exists at all.
***
In life it’s all a dream;
In death, a dream as well.
Dreaming, we enjoy glory and wealth;
Awake, we’re back in the gutters.
We dream every day,
Unaware that the dream takes no longer than a quick
supper.
If we fail to wake up to our present dream,
Then we’ve dreamt through it all in vain.
***
Don’t set up even a single dharma;
Empty out all the myriad things.
***
The five colors blind the eyes;
The five musical notes deafen the ears;
The five flavors dull the palate.
***
The Five Aggregates are mere floating clouds,
aimlessly drifting back and
forth.
And the Three Poisons are only bubbles of foam,
rising and sinking on the tides.
***
Realize Ultimate Reality, and people and dharmas
no longer exist.
In that instant we eradicate the karma of the
Relentless Hells.
If I am deceiving living beings,
May I fall into the hells where tongues
are
ripped out, for endless eons.
***
If they hadn’t endured the bone-chilling cold,
How could the plum blossoms smell so sweet?
(from pages 173 to 193
“Chan Meditation Is the Method for Attaining Enlightenment”)
Not even a single minute or second should be wasted; we must cultivate vigorously at all times.
(from page 195 “We Won’t Be Enlightened Until Our Idle Thoughts Stop!”)
People who claim enlightenment have to stand up to the test; otherwise, they are simply telling a great lie and will fall into the Relentless Hells.
(from page 203
“Enlightenment Must Be Certified Before It Counts”)
A thought of goodness increases the proper energy in the world; a thought of evil increases the world’s bad energy.
Bring forth the good thoughts that have not yet
arisen;
Increase the good thoughts that have already arisen.
Suppress the evil thoughts that have not yet
emerged;
Wipe out all the evil thoughts that have already
occurred.
***
How many of the great heroes from times past
Are lying in the mud beneath the mountains.
(from pages 213 to 219
“Good and Evil Are Not Beyond a Single Thought”)