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Steam some sand for your dinner
When you’re thirsty dig a well
Polish a brick with all you might
You still won’t make a mirror
The Buddha said we’re basically equal
We share the same true nature
Figure it out for yourself
Give up this useless struggle
Notes:
The Suwen ssuchi tiaoshen talun says: “Waiting for an illness before taking medicine is like waiting until you’re thirsty to dig a well.”
And according to Chuantenglu: 5, one day Master Huai-jang asked Ma-tsu, “Why are you practicing meditation?” And Ma-tsu answered, “I’m trying to become a Buddha.” Huai-jang picked up a brick next to Ma-tsu’s hut and started to grind it on a rock. When Ma-tsu asked what he was doing, Huai-jang replied “I am trying to make a mirror.” Ma-tsu said, “But how can you make a mirror by grinding a brick?.”Huai-jang answered, “And how can you become a Buddha by practicing meditation?”
As for chen-ju (truly real), in his Tacheng chihsinlun (Awakening of Faith in Mahayana): 3.1A, Ashvaghosha wrote, “Since all dharmas have always been indescribable, unnamable, inconceivable, and ultimately the same, changeless, irreducible, and indivisible, they are therefore called ‘truly real.’”
The last two lines of Lao-tzu’s Taoteching go: “the way of the sage / is to act without struggling.”
from “The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain” translated by Red Pine
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Infinite
Reblogged this on Simon Sundaraj-Keun.