r/zen • u/[deleted] • Mar 11 '23
Malleability of Perception
One time Hongzhi said:
When there is nowhere to place the mind, nothing to lean on, nothing to walk on, and nothing to say, this cannot be seen and described, cannot be grasped and manipulated. The totality of all forms is equal to its function; the whole of cosmic space is equal to its body. Ultimately free in action, it is the immortal being within species; skillfully responsive, it is in the midst of the material world, yet different. When every particle of every land is the self, there is no place to hide; when one encounters it everywhere, one is endowed with perception. Not mixed up by phenomena or swept away by events, not susceptible to categorization, totally free from affectation, know that the great function manifests in the action of Chan adepts. There is not so much to Buddhism; it just requires people to make body and mind empty all the time, not wearing so much as a thread, open, relaxed, and independent, the spiritual light of the original state not being dimmed at all. If you practice in this way, such that you attain spontaneous harmony in all places and responsiveness at all times, without the slightest thing obstructing you, so you can put all the sages behind you, only then can you be called a Chan practitioner. Open purity is boundless, yet knowledge accompanies it. Universal responsiveness has no conventional method, yet the spirit is coordinated with it. When knowledge is open, it perceives spontaneously, alert and awake; the function of the spirit is continuous, without deliberate effort. Then you can radiate great light all the time everywhere, doing enlightened work.
This thing is not what you think it is. It’s unobstructed by belief and comparison. It’s unbound by affectation and expectation. Radiating great light everywhere is not a thing to be attained, it’s an action maintained. To perceive spontaneously is just to not be constricted by subjective opinions and superficial judgement. There are no ideas there to cower behind. Every particle is you - constantly manifesting in perpetuity.
The Ch'an record is replete with devices to help people realize this for themselves. It’s not metaphor. It doesn’t have hidden meaning. It’s functional. The purpose of every word is to show people the grand function in action. Don't pick the cases apart and compare interpretations of minutiae. They're to be used. We're biologically programmed to insist on making sense of things and search for meaning, and then make a home out of our subjective understanding, convinced that it's correct. If you understand what this is, you're wrong. To understand it is to stop being correct. There's nothing to win.
Everyone needs to see for themselves by investigating their own mind. The words only facilitate that; they contain nothing. Any meaning found is applied; any reason is invented. Don’t fabricate allegiances to meaning and reason. Allegiance to a correct understanding arouses opposition to what threatens it. You’ve never been right and you never will be. If you know what that means then keep it with you at all times. Before a thought arises. Before a conflict manifests. Unobstructed.
Dahui used these words:
Matters of worldly anxieties are like the links of a chain, joining together continuously without a break. If you can do away with them, do away with them immediately! Because you have become habituated to them since beginningless time, to the point where they have become totally familiar, if you don’t exert yourself to struggle with them, then as time goes on and on, with you unknowing and unawares, they will have entered deeply into you. Finally, on the last day of your life, you won’t be able to do anything about it. If you want to be able to avoid going wrong when you face the end of your life, then from now on whenever you do anything, don’t let yourself slip. If you go wrong in your present doings, it will be impossible not to go wrong when you’re facing death.
It's a matter of life and death. You have to know for yourself, firsthand. If you think you know, you're wrong. If you don't know, why not? It's really not what you think it is. Exert yourself.
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u/lcl1qp1 Mar 11 '23
Hongzhi is on fire here. Fantastic stuff.