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Monday, May 30, 2011

Excerpts from "Living Buddha Zen" - Lex Hixon

"Spiritual completeness is self-authenticating free from any obligatory reference to master or tradition."

"at the center f the Sun, there is neither night nor day."

"If you think about mind-essence or Buddha nature, you begin to look elsewhere and ignore your own naked being."

"A wild tiger prowling through the marketplace...no distinction between remote mountain and busy city."

"If you cannot say reality is anything at all, how can you say it is silence?"

"Both singing and keeping still, Keizan Zenji offers his closing poem this morning: 'Only birds can fly over the sharp sword mountains against the dawn sky. Who can walk along a sharp line edge?' Yet when the birds reach the peaks, they find not a sharp line but a vast landscape, range after mountain range, covered with pine trees, filled with rushing streams. When someone actually reach the realmless realm - not speech, not silence - this sword edge provides plenty of space to walk comfortably. Even to dance and run in all directions."
Excerpts from Transmission of the Light - tranlation by T. Claery.

"The truth is beyond written words - how can it be made the subject of a lecture?"

"Yuantong then took his staff and went into the hall, where he saw Touzi sleeping. He hit the seat and scolded him. 'I have no extra rice here to give you so you can just eat and sleep.' Touzi said, 'What would you have me do?' Yuantong said, 'Why don't you ask about Zen?' Touzi said, 'Fine food is not for a satisfied man to eat.' Yuantong said, "What about the fact that many people do not agree with you?' Touzi said, 'Waht would be the use of waiting for them to agree?' Yuan tong said 'Who have you seen?' Touzi said, "Fushan." Yuantong said, "I had marveled at such stubborn laziness,' and they both laughed."

"When one person is benevolent, myriad people naturally benefit from it."

"Even if Shakyamuni Buddha were to appear in the world, and even if great master Bodhidharma were still alive, people shouldn't rely on their power - one can only attain enlightenment through one's own acceptance and personal realization."