Mind is Buddha.

[Guest guest]

All Buddhas and all sentient beings are

no different from the One Mind. In

this One Mind there is neither arising

nor ceasing, no name or form, no long

or short, no large or small, and

neither existence nor non-existence.

It transcends all limitations of name,

word and relativity, and it is as

boundless as the great void.

 

Giving rise to thought is erroneous, and any

speculation about it with our ordinary

faculties is inapplicable, irrelevant

and inaccurate. Only Mind is Buddha,

and Buddhas and sentient beings are not

different. All sentient beings grasp

form and search outside themselves.

Using Buddha to seek Buddha, they thus

use mind to seek Mind. Practicing in

this manner even until the end of the

kalpa, they cannot attain the fruit.

However, when thinking and

discrimination suddenly halt, the

Buddhas appear.

 

 

The Mind is Buddha, and the Buddha is

no different from sentient beings. The

Mind of sentient beings does not

decrease; the Buddha's Mind does not

increase. Moreover, the six paramitas

and all sila, as countless as the

grains of sand of the Ganges, belong to

one's own mind. Thus there is no need

to search outside oneself to create

them.

 

 

When causes and conditions unite,

they will appear; as causes and

conditions separate, they disappear. So

if one does not have the understanding

that on'es very own Mind itself is

Buddha, he will then grasp the form of

the practice merely and create even

more delusion. This approach is

exactly the opposite of the Buddha's

practice path. Just this Mind alone is

Buddha! Nothing else is!

 

 

The Mind is transparent, having no

shape or form. Giving rise to thought

and discrimination is grasping and runs

counter to the natural Dharma. Since

time without beginning, there never has

been a grasping Buddha. The practice

of the six paramitas and various other

disciplines is known as the gradual

method of becoming a Buddha. This

gradual method, however, is a secondary

idea, and it does not represent the

complete path to Perfect Awakening.

 

If one does not understand that one's mind

is Buddha, no Dharma can ever be attained.

 

 

~ Huang Po

 

< http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Ancestors/The%

20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Huang%20Po/Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Huang-

po.htm>