um..'Om'..no,no!...ummmm?....

[Guest guest]

source: Journal of Chinese Philosophy, V. 3.3 (June 1976) pp. 235-252:

 

In his discourses, Lin-chi addressed each person in the audience as

" the one who is, at this moment, right in front of me, solitary, being

illuminated, in full awareness, listening to (my) discourse on the

Dharma " . " If you wish to transcend birth-and-death, going-and-coming,

and to be freely unattached, you should recognize the Man who is

listening at this moment to this discourse on the Dharma. He is the

one who has neither shape nor form, neither root nor trunk, and who,

having no abiding place, is full of activities. He responds to all

kinds of situations and manifests his activities, and yet comes out of

nowhere. Therefore, as soon as you try to search for him, he is far

away; the nearer you try to approach, the farther he turns away from

you. 'Mysterious' is his name. " [14]

 

We should not miss the point that it is our true Selves that

Lin-chi called 'Man' and 'mysterious'. To awaken to 'Man' or " true

Self who is, at this moment, in full awareness, listening to this

discourse on the Dharma " is nothing but Self-Awakening through which

one becomes an Awakened One, that is, a Buddha. Huang-po, Lin-chi's

teacher, and an outstanding Zen master of T'ang China once said: " Your

Mind is Buddha; Buddha is this Mind. Mind and Buddha are not separate

or different. " Buddha is not separate even for one instant from our Minds.

 

Let me conclude this paper by mentioning one more story.

Nan-chuan, a Chinese Zen master (748-834) was once asked by Pai-chang

(720-814), one of his fellow monks, if there was a truth that the

sages of old had not preached to men. " There is " , said Nan-chuan.

" What is this truth? " , asked Pai-chang. " It is not mind " , answered

Nan-chuan, " It is not Buddha; it is not a thing. " To this, Pai-chang

replied: " If so, you have already talked about it. " " I cannot do any

better " , was Nan-chuan's answer. " What would you say? " " I am not a

great enlightened one. So how do I know what either talking or

non-talking is? " answered Pai-chang. " I don't understand " , said

Nan-chuan. " Alas " , said Pai-chang, " I have already said too much for you. "

 

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