Zen Fools

A monk asked Dongshan, “When cold and heat come upon us, how can we avoid them?” Dongshan said, “Why don’t you to a place without cold and heat?” The monk asked again, “Where is the place free from cold and heat?” Dongshan answered, “When it is cold, it makes you very cold; when it is hot, it makes you very hot.”

Part 14-8

“Subhuti, the practice of patience, the Realised One says, is not practice of patience but it is just called the practice of patience.”

“Why? Subhuti, it is like when I was dismembered by King Kali long ago. At that time, I had no image of self, no image of person, no image of sentient being, and no image of a liver of life. Why? When I was being...

The former applies to sentient beings’ lives, and the latter applies to the enlightened. When we can’t see things as they are, we are deluded by words and images. The continuing process of being deluded by and attached to them is referred to as no other than reincarnation.

Namchun said to an assembly, “Mind is not the Buddha, and wisdom is not the true-Self.”

Student: “What is the Buddha if mind is not the Buddha?”

Master: “Mind.”

Commentary:

Mind is not t...

Part 14-7

“Why? Subhuti, the utmost practice the Realised One expounds is not the utmost practice; this is called the utmost practice.”

Commentary:

The utmost practice refers to the practice methods taught by the Buddha to reach enlightenment. There are the six practice methods—Generosity, Precepts, Patience, Diligence, Meditation, and...