Introduction to Chan Buddhism by Cleary Thomas

Author:Cleary, Thomas [Cleary, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown

I always sadly say that as we see the life we rely on today, it depends on a grain of rice, a bit of vegetable to eat—if we do not get food from time to time we starve, if we do not get water we die of thirst, and if we do not have fire we freeze to death. If we lack for one day we aren’t living, yet if we lack for one day we don’t die either—we are in the grip of the gross elements.

This is not comparable to our predecessors who entered fire without burning and went into water without drowning, yet burned if they wanted to burn and drowned if they wanted to drown. They lived when they wanted to live, and died when they wanted to die—they were free to go or to stay.

Such people have their share of freedom. If the mind is not disturbed, there is no need to seek Buddha, to seek enlightenment, or extinction of suffering. If you seek with attachment to Buddha, this is in the province of greed, and greed makes it a disease. That is why it is said, “The disease of ‘Buddha’ is most difficult to cure; only by slandering the Buddha and repudiating the Dharma can you take food.” Food means your own purely aware essence—the meal of non-indulgence, the food of liberation. These words cure the ailment of the bodhisattvas of the tenth stage.

Bodhisattvas from the first to the tenth stage are still disciples. As long as they presently have any seeking mind at all, they’re all called immoral monks and nominal saints; they’re all called jackals. Clearly they cannot digest the offerings of others.

But if one presently hears sound as like an echo, smells scent as like air, detached from all things, existent, nonexistent, or otherwise, and yet does not dwell in detachment, and has no understanding of not dwelling either, this person cannot become morally polluted.

For one to be called a renunciant because of the search for supreme enlightenment and ultimate peace is still a false aspiration—how much more so worldly disputation and contention, claiming ability and understanding for oneself, seeking a following, liking a disciple, being fond of a dwelling place, making a pact with a patron for a robe, a meal, a name, a gain. Those like this may say they have attained total unimpeded freedom, but they are only fooling themselves.

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