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There is such a thing as
training in principle, and such a thing as training in technique.
Principle is as I have already explained above: when you arrive, nothing is noticed. It is simply as though you had
discarded all concentration. I have written at length about this above. If you do not train in technique, but only fill your breast with principle, your body and your hands will not function. Training in technique, if put into terms of your own martial art, is in the training that if practiced over and over again makes the five body postures one. Even though you know principle, you must make yourself perfectly free in the use of technique. And even though you may wield the
sword that you carry with you well, if you are unclear on the deepest aspects of principle, you will likely fall short of proficiency. Technique and princi...
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Putting the mind in one place is called falling into onesidedness. One-sidedness is said to be bias in one place. Correctness is in moving about anywhere. The Correct Mind shows itself by extending the mind throughout the body. It not biased in any one place.
If the mind moves about the entire body, when the hand is called into action, one should use the mind that is in the hand. When the foot is called for, one should use the mind that is in the foot. But if you determine one place in which to put it, when you try to draw it out of that place, there it will stay. It will be without function.
The effort not to stop the mind in just one place-this is discipline. Not stopping the mind is object and essence. Put nowhere, it will be everywhere.
If there is some thought within the mind, though you listen to the words spoken by another, you will not really be able to hear him. This is because your mind has stopped with your own thoughts.
Grasping one's mind and not letting it become confused is the discipline of the novice just beginning to learn. This practice, when applied for a long period of time, leads, to advancement to the level of freedom in which one can let the mind go in any direction. The level mentioned above of "engendering the mind with no place to abide" is the highest level of all.
This is like a baby sparrow being caught by a cat. To prevent a recurrence, a string is then always tightened around the cat, and it is never let go. If my mind is treated like a tied-up cat, it will not be free and will likely not be able to function as it should. If the cat is well trained, the string is untied, and it is allowed to go wherever it pleases. Then, even if the two are together, the cat will not seize the sparrow.
the mind is not detained by the hand that brandishes the sword. Completely oblivious to the hand that wields the sword, one strikes and cuts his opponent down. He does not put his mind in his adversary. The opponent is Emptiness. I am Emptiness. The hand that holds the sword, the sword itself, is Emptiness. Understand this, but do not let your mind be taken by Emptiness.
The effect of tightening up on the mind is to make it unfree. Bringing the mind under control is a thing done only in the beginning. If one remains this way all through life, in the end he will never reach the highest level. In fact, he will not rise above the lowest.
Sever The Edge Between Before And After There is a saying, "Sever the edge between before and after." Not ridding the mind of previous moments, allowing traces of the present mind to remain - both are bad. This means one should cut right through the interval between previous and present. Its significance is in cutting off the edge between before and after, between now and then. It means not detaining the mind.
Whether the mind is correct or not is indiscernible by other people. When any single thought arises, both good and evil are there. If one will think about the foundation of good and evil, and do good and refrain from evil, his mind will become correct of itself.
I have never once heard, even in times past, of men whose minds were not correct standing in good stead to their lords.
In the song it says: It is the very mind itself That leads the mind astray; Of the mind, Do not be mindless.
When a man praises another in glowing terms, such words are likely to be returned to him as well. But when he slanders another and, the slander being given back in kind, cuts off the man's head and dies himself, this is desire. It is the opposite of right-mindedness and the height of stupidity.
What is called desire is not simply attaching oneself to wealth, or thinking only about one's fancies for silver and gold. When the eye sees colors, this is desire. When the ear hears sounds, this is desire. When the nose smells fragrances, this is desire. When a single thought simply germinates, this is called desire.
Because of the skandha of consciousness, we discriminate between good and evil, right and wrong, and ugly and beautiful, thoughts arise concerning acceptance and rejection, and, just as these thoughts arise, the carnal body is born. This is like the sun or moon being reflected in puddles of water. The Buddha explained that "the manifestation of form in response to the material world is like the moon in the midst of the water."24 Form, feeling, conception, volition, consciousness - then from consciousness back to form - if these are condensed over and over again, the linkage of the Five
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Within this body solidified by desire is concealed the absolutely desireless and upright core of the mind. This mind is not in the body of the Five Skandhas, has no color or form, and is not desire. It is unwaveringly correct, it is absolutely straight. When this mind is used as a plumbline, anything done at all will be right-mindedness. This absolutely straight thing is the substance of right-mindedness.
It is also called human-heartedness. Benevolence is its function.
"Consider the core of the mind to be a wagon, with willpower to be carried about in it. Push it to a place where there can be failure, and there will be failure. Push it to a place where there can be success, and there will be success. But whether there is success or failure, if one entrusts himself to the straightness of this wagon of the core of the mind, he will attain right-mindedness in either case. Severing oneself from desire and being like a rock or tree, nothing will ever be achieved. Not departing from desire, but realizing a desireless right-mindedness - this is the Way."
Like the joints in bamboo, amusement, for the most part should have limits. It is not good to go beyond them.
There are those who say, "Everything is like a dream! The only thing to do is play!" These people rattle their minds beyond limit, sink themselves in pleasure, and go to the extremes of luxury. Though they quote the words of the men of old, they are as far from the minds of the ancients as snow is from soot.
If a number of mirrors are placed around a pedestal and a single lamp is placed in the center, the lamp will be seen in each of the mirrors. The lamp is only one, but is reflected in each of the mirrors. This exemplifies the Buddha-nature being only one, yet being received by all sentient beings of he Ten Worlds, even by the hungry and by animals. This is the example of the mirror and the lamp in The Flower Garland Sutra.
Embodiment means the Embodiment of the Law. In all the Ten Thousand Things there are both Embodiment and Function. Form is born of Embodiment; then, having gone its full round, it perishes. Embodiment itself is never exhausted. Let us say that snow and ice are Function, and that water is Embodiment. When water solidifies, it becomes ice, but then melts again and becomes the original water. Consider water as Embodiment. This is an example of the manifestation of Embodiment when the ten thousand Forms are born from the Embodiment of the Law and then perish.
If a thing is possessed of Form, Nature and Embodiment, it must also have Power. Power is the strength to be able to function efficaciously; it is the strength behind the achievement of all phenomena. Concerning all things, what achieves effect is Power.
Given Form, Nature, Embodiment, Power and Function no matter what is done, it can be done at will. This is Latent Cause. If something is not done, it is to one's own detriment and there is nothing that cannot be done. Without both Latent Cause and External Cause, one will not likely get as far as the state of Buddhahood.36 The Chinese character for Latent Cause, for instance, is also read as to depend on." This means that "depending on" one thing, various other things are obtained.
Planting the seed in the ground in spring is said to be the Latent Cause. And, though one has planted it firmly, if there is no help from the rain and dew, nothing will grow. The help of the rain and dew is said to be the External Cause. Depending on the help of the rain and dew, the plant will grow and there will be fruit in the fall. This is Latent Effect.
In the same way, if one would become a Buddha, if he does not first act in accordance with the Latent Cause, he will not reach the state of Buddhahood. Make discipline the Latent Cause, and later you will obtain the effect.
This is like Mount Fuji's being concealed by a tree thick with branches and leaves, and my not being able to see it. But how can Mount Fuji be concealed by a single tree? It is simply because of the narrowness of my vision and because the tree stands in the way of my vision that Mount Fuji cannot be seen. We go on thinking that the tree is concealing Mount Fuji. Yet it is due to the narrowness of my vision.
Not understanding the principle of things, people often put on knowing faces and criticize those who do understand. And while they seem to be laughing at others, they are really laughing at themselves. At least those who truly understand must think so.
As for the meta-existence of those who were deeply attached to this world there are cases of people having seen them. Since this is something that is out of the ordinary, people doubt these events and either blame them on the transformations of foxes and raccoon dogs, or explain them as illusory visions of the dead. Both of the above situations are apt to occur as well. Admitting this, we should not dispose of each and every case as either one or the other. Real things also exist in this world.
During a dream, this body is still alive and bound and cannot go to places it would like. But with the strength of its own thoughts, it is able to see those places by drawing them to itself. When one truly dies and leaves his own body, he goes where he wants to go like a cat released from a string. Although one’s thoughts are the same as the thoughts in a dream, it is now as though he can go freely wherever he likes.
When a bird flies through an empty sky, it becomes less clear as it gets farther away, and we come to think of it as having disappeared. Although we have lost sight of the form, it is not a matter of the bird's form vanishing and no longer existing. We do not see it because it has become too dim. His form being weak and not clearly seen, we do not see a person in meta-existence. A person in this state can see us just as he did when living, but people do not know this. When people who committed serious sins are in meta-existence, their forms are apparent. People see this naturally and call them
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In the Ming-i Chi, this is exemplified by the grain of barley.41 With a single grain of barley, the bud sprouts, and although it is endowed with the same functions as the original barley, if water and earth do not unify, it will not become barley at all.
Beginning with the single thought that has no beginning, the multifarious things thus come to be. When you go and look carefully for its source, being a single thought with no beginning, you find that it has none at all. Having no origin at all, the birth of the infinite variety of things could be called a mystery.
Fan-i Ming-i Chi: a Sung Dynasty Sanskrit- Chinese dictionary in seven chapters.
it is like Shakyamuni's holding the flower and Kashyapa's subtle smile.
Kashyapa (Mahakashyapa), foremost in ascetic practices of the ten chief disciples, became the leader of the disciples after the Buddha’s death.
This mind was not born with your birth and will not die with your death. This being true, it is said to be your Original Face.51 Heaven is not able to cover it. Earth is not able to support it. Fire is not able to burn it, nor is water able to dampen it. Even the wind is unable to penetrate it. There is nothing under heaven that is able to obstruct it.
