- Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate. Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, source unknown
- Above, below, and all around you, all things spontaneously exist, because there is nowhere outside the Buddha mind. Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, source unknown
- Our original Buddha-Nature is, in highest truth, devoid of any atom of objectivity. It is void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peaceful joy – and that is all. Enter deeply into it by awakening to it yourself. That which is before you is it, in all its fullness, utterly complete. There is naught beside.
Even if you go through all the stages of a Bodhisattva's progress toward Buddhahood, one by one; when at last, in a single flash, you attain to full realization, you will only be realizing the Buddha-Nature which has been with you all the time; and by all the foregoing stages you will have added to it nothing at all. Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (Huangbo Xiyun) (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po. On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, Grove Press, 1st Evergreen edition 18. January 1994
- When a sudden flash of thought occurs in your mind, and you recognize it for a dream or an illusion, then you can enter into the state reached by the Buddhas of the past – not that the Buddhas of the past really exist, or that the Buddhas of the future have not yet come into existence. Above all, have no longing to become a future Buddha; your sole concern should be, as thought succeeds thought, to avoid clinging to any of them.
If a Buddha arises, do not think of him as "enlightened" or "deluded," "good" or "evil." Hasten to rid yourself of any desire to cling to him. Cut him off in the twinkling of an eye! On no account seek to hold him fast, for a thousand locks could not stay him, nor a hundred thousand feet of rope bind him. This being so, valiantly strive to banish and annihilate him.
I will now make luminously clear how to set about being rid of that Buddha. Consider the sunlight. You may say it is near, yet if you follow it from world to world you will never catch it in your hands. Then you may describe it as far away, and you will see it just before your eyes. Follow it, and behold, it escapes you; run from it, and it follows you close. You can neither possess it, nor have done with it. From this example you can understand how it is with the true Nature of all things, and henceforth, there will be no need to grieve or to worry about such things. Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (Huangbo Xiyun) (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po. On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, S. 76, Grove Press, 1st Evergreen edition 18. January 1994
- 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 [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, source unknown
- Mind is the Buddha. There is no other Buddha. There are no other Buddhas. There are no other minds. Mind is pure, bright, and empty, without having any form or appearance at all. Using the mind to think conceptually is missing the essence and grasping the form. The eternal Buddha is nothing to do with attachment to form. Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, source unknown
- I may express it thus- the way of the Buddhas flourishes in a mind utterly freed from conceptual thought processes, while discrimination between this and that gives birth to a legion of demons! Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, 52, Wan Ling Record, S. 127, edition 1959
Quoted from: Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po. On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, Preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, Grove Press, Evergreen, 1st edition 18. January 1994
- The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient things, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood. By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind. Huang Po (Huangbo Xiyun) [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po: On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, S. 29, Grove Press, Evergreen, 1st edition 18. January 1994
- If you students of the Way do not awake to this Mind substance, you will overlay Mind with conceptual thought, you will seek the Buddha outside yourselves, and you will remain attached to forms, pious practices and so on, all of which are harmful and not at all the way to supreme knowledge. Huang Po (Huangbo Xiyun) [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po: On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, S. 31, Grove Press, Evergreen, 1st edition 18. January 1994
- The substance of the Absolute is inwardly like wood or stone, in that it is motionless, and outwardly like the void, in that it is without bounds or obstructions. It is neither subjective nor objective, has no specific location, is formless, and cannot vanish. Those who hasten towards it dare not enter, fearing to hurtle down through the void with nothing to cling to or to stay there fall. Huang Po (Huangbo Xiyun) [LoC 960] (770-~850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po. On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, S. 32, Grove Press, Evergreen, 1st edition 18. January 1994
- It is by preventing the rise of conceptual thought that you will realize Bodhi; and, when you do, you will just be realizing the Buddha who has always existed in your Mind! Aeons of striving will prove to be so much wasted effort; just as, when the warrior found his pearl, he merely discovered what had been hanging on his forehead all the time; and just as his finding of it had nothing to do with his efforts to discover it elsewhere. Therefore the Buddha said: 'I truly attained nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment.' S. 38
- The Bodhisattva's mind is like the void, for he relinquishes everything and does not even desire to accumulate merits. There are three kinds of relinquishment. When everything inside and outside, bodily and mental, has been relinquished; when, as in the Void, no attachments are left; when all action is dictated purely by place and circumstance; when subjectivity and objectivity are forgotten – that is the highest form of relinquishment. When, on the other hand, the Way is followed by the performance of virtuous acts; while, on the other, relinquishment of merit takes place and no hope of reward is entertained – that is the medium form of relinquishment. When all sorts of virtuous acts are performed in the hope of reward by those who, nevertheless, know of the Void by hearing the Dharma and who are therefore unattached – that is the lowest form of relinquishment.
The first is like a blazing torch held to the front which makes it impossible to mistake the path;
➤ the second is like a blazing torch held to one side, so that it is sometimes light and sometimes dark;
➤ the third is like a blazing torch held behind, so that pitfalls in front are not seen. S. 49
- The Buddha Way/Mind which is not to be found inside, outside, or in the middle. Truly it is not located anywhere. The first step is to refrain from knowledge-based concepts. This implies that if you were to follow the empirical method to the utmost limit, on reaching that limit you would still be unable to locate Mind. The "Way" is spiritual Truth and was originally without name or title. S. 55
- When Bodhidharma came from the West, he just pointed out that the substance of which all men are composed is Buddha. You people go on misunderstanding; you hold concepts such as "ordinary" and "Enlightened", distracting your thoughts outwards where they gallop like horses! All this amounts to beclouding your own minds. So I tell you Mind is the Buddha. As soon as thought or sensation arises, you fall into dualism. Beginningless time and the present moment are the same. There is no this and no that. To understand this truth is called complete and unexcelled Enlightenment. S. 58
- All the Buddha's teachings just had this single object – to carry us beyond the stage of thought. Now, if I accomplish cessation of my thinking.
What use to me the Dharmas Buddha taught? Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po: On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, S. 69, Grove Press, 18. January 1994
- Surely the endurance of so much unnecessary suffering is nothing but a gigantic error, isn't it? Chih Kung says elsewhere: If you do not meet with a teacher able to transcend the worlds, you will go on swallowing the medicine of the Mahayana Dharma quite in vain.
Were you now to practice keeping your minds motionless at all times, whether walking, standing, sitting or lying; concentrating entirely upon the goal of no-thought creation, no duality, no reliance on others and no attachments; just allowing all things to take their course the whole day long, as though you were too ill to bother; unknown to the world; innocent of any urge to be known or unknown to others; with your minds like blocks of stone that mend no holes – then all the Dharmas would penetrate your understanding through and through. In a little while you would find yourselves firmly unattached. Thus for the first time in your lives, you would discover your reactions to phenomena decreasing and, ultimately, you would pass beyond the Triple world; and people would say that a Buddha had appeared in the world. Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po: On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, S. 90, Grove Press, 18. January 1994
- Were you now to practice keeping your minds motionless at all times, whether walking, standing, sitting or lying; concentrating entirely upon the goal of no thought-creation, no duality, no reliance on others and no attachments; just allowing all things to take their course the whole day long, as though you were too ill to bother; unknown to the world; innocent of any urge to be known or unknown to others; with your minds like blocks of stone that mend no holes – then all the Dharmas (Laws of Existence or Universal Laws) would penetrate your understanding through and through. In a little while you would find yourselves firmly unattached. Thus, for the first time in your lives, you would discover your reactions to phenomena decreasing and, ultimately, you would pass beyond the Triple World; and people would say a Buddha had appeared in the world. Pure and passionless knowledge (Enlightenment) implies putting an end to the ceaseless flow of thoughts and images, for in that way you stop creating the karma that leads to rebirth – whether as gods or men or as suffers in hell. Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po: On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, S. 90, Grove Press, 18. January 1994
- All you need to remember are the following injunctions:
First, learn how to be entirely enreceptive to sensations arising from external forms, thereby purging your bodies of receptivity to externals.
Second, learn not to pay attention to any distinctions between this and that, arising from your sensations, thereby purging your bodies of useless distinctions between one phenomenon and another.
Third, take great care to avoid discrimination in terms of pleasant and unpleasant sensations, thereby purging your bodies of vain discriminations.
Fourth, avoid pondering things in your mind, thereby purging your bodies of discriminatory cognition. Huang Po Mountain Doctrine
- The Master said to me: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. Huang Po [Huangbo Xiyun] [LoC 960] (770-850 AD) Chinese Chan master of Zen Buddhism, The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po: On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, preface by P'ei Hsiu, Chinese scholar, Grove Press, Evergreen, 1st edition 18. January 1994
- If an ordinary man, when he is about to die, could only see the five elements of his consciousness as void; the four physical elements as not constituting an ‘I’; the real Mind as formless and neither coming nor going; his nature as something neither commencing at his birth nor perishing at his death, but as whole and motionless in its very depths; his Mind and environmental objects as one – if he could really accomplish this, he would receive Enlightenment in a flash. He would no longer be entangled by the Triple World; he would be a World-Transcendor.
- As soon as the mouth is opened, evils spring forth. People either neglect the root and speak of the branches, or neglect the reality of the "illusory" world and speak only of Enlightenment. Or else they chatter of cosmic activities leading to transformations, while neglecting the Substance from which they spring – indeed, there is NEVER any profit in discussion.
- All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearence. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measures, names, traces and comparisons.
- It is that which you see before you – begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error. It is like the boundless void which cannot be fathomed or measured.
- See the Way of life as a stream. A man floats, and his way is smooth. The same man, turning to fight upstream, exhausts himself. To be One with the Universe, each must find his true path and follow it.
- The undiscerning mind is like the root of a tree – it absorbs equally all that it touches – even the poison that would kill it.
- The Buddhas, on manifesting themselves in the world, seized dung-shovels to rid themselves of all such rubbish as books containing metaphysics and sophistry.
- My advise to you is to rid yourselves of all your previous ideas about STUDYING Mind or PERCEIVING it. When you are rid of them, you will no longer lose yourselves amid sophistries. Regard the process exactly as you would regard the shoveling of dung.
- My advice is to give up all indulgence in conceptual thought and intellectual processes. When such things no longer trouble you, you will unfailingly reach Supreme Enlightenment.
- The Mind is no mind of conceptual thought, and it is completely detached from form. So Buddhas and sentient beings do not differ at all. If you can only rid yourselves of conceptual thought, you will have accomplished everything. But if you students of the Way do not rid yourselves of conceptual thought in a flash, even though you strive for eon after eon, you will never accomplish it.
- All you need to remember are the following injunctions:
- First, learn how to be entirely enreceptive to sensations arising from external forms, thereby purging your bodies of receptivity to externals.
- Second, learn not to pay attention to any distinctions between this and that, arising from your sensations, thereby purging your bodies of useless distinctions between one phenomenon and another.
- Third, take great care to avoid discrimination in terms of pleasant and unpleasant sensations, thereby purging your bodies of vain discriminations.
- Fourth, avoid pondering things in your mind, thereby purging your bodies of discriminatory cognition.
- A fool believes what he thinks and doubts what he sees, a wise man believes what he sees and doubts what he thinks. Attributed
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