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The Living Zen Tradition of the Buddha and the Practices at Plum Village: Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight
Mindfulness, concentration, and insight are always present, supporting each other: mindfulness gives rise to concentration, concentration gives rise to insight, and insight in turn gives rise to mindfulness, forming a cycle of mutual nourishment. When sitting in meditation, the purpose is not to achieve this or that, but simply to sit, without seeking—Shikantaza in Soto Zen: just sitting, without expectation, is the door for insight to arise and for the flower of wisdom to bloom. Suffering and happiness inter-are: within suffering there are seeds of happiness, for it is by recognizing suffering that we truly cherish happiness; the Pure Land is not somewhere far away but is our own mind—the Pure Mind Only Pure Land—the place of dwelling peacefully in each present moment.
The wondrous reality of Suchness, or one mind, is expressed through two identical “doors”:
- the ultimate dimension (Suchness, true emptiness—emptiness transcending the duality of being and non-being)
-
the historical dimension (birth and death, being and non-being, the ever-changing phenomenal world)
The three natures according to the Yogacara school, arising from contemplation of dependent origination, are: - imagined nature
- dependent nature
-
consummate nature
When we look deeply, we see all dharmas are interdependent, interbeing—a single Suchness, not needing to search elsewhere but to “eat the mango” directly, that is, to experience directly both the ultimate dimension and the historical dimension right here.