Instant Zen, Waking Up in the Present (1994) by Cleary Thomas

Author:Cleary Thomas [Cleary Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Approval

As so o n a s you accept and approve anything, recognizing it as your own, you are immediately bound hand and foot and cannot move. So even if there are a thousand possibilities, nothing is right once you have recognized, accepted, and approved it as your own.

It is like making a boat and outfitting it for a long journey to a land of treasures, then as soon as you get started you drive a stake in the ground and tie the boat down, then row with all your might. You may row till the end of time, but you will still be at the shore. You see the boat moving from side to side, and think you are on the move; but actually you haven’t gotten anywhere.

It is also like someone turning a millstone, going round and round in circles from morning till night. What a laugh! If someone whose eyes are unclear saw you fixated on recognition and told you it was right, he’d been seen through by someone with

tle$r eyes; on examination, there would be quite a few loose ends.These d&ys quite a few just employ this path of “ right now,” totally unable to get out of the immediate present. Nailed down in this way, they try to study Zen without getting the essential point. Once they have taken it up, A ey M ^ a lre a d y misunderstood; acting as if they were in change; not realize Buddhism is not understood in this way.

INSTANT ZEN Have you not read how Magu met Zhangjing, staff in hand? Magu shook the staff once and stood there serenely. Zhangjing said, “ Yes!” He also met Nanquan the same way, and Nanquan said, “ N o!” Magu said, “ Zhangjing said yes; how can you say no?” Nanquan said, “ Zhangjing is right, hut you are wrong. This is vulnerable to outside influences, and ultimately disintegrates.” Only then did Magu see his error.

Look, people: if you are about to misunderstand your whole life, how can you not go to someone to find certainty?

When I first went on my journey, I read verses by my teacher and immediately believed this man spoke like the ancient sages and must have genuine realization. So I studied with him for ten years. One of those verses said,

To learn the way, first you must find out the ultimate point;

hearing sound and seeing form

are inconceivable.

I f you discuss high and low

based on words,

it’s just like before you w ere enlightened.

Another verse said, There is a road to emptiness;

everyone arrives.

Those who arrive then realize

the excellence o f the aim.

The m ind ground does not grow

useless plants and trees;

naturally the body spontaneously

radiates clear light.

When I was young, even though I had not attained the way, in my heart I knew these were extraordinary lines. But how about hearing sound and seeing form? They are both conceivable; how

\pprovai can they be inconceivable? Then when he talks about realization, he turns around and says, “ It’s just like before you were enlightened.

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