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Winter Retreat - The Recorded Sayings of Linji, The Essentials of Linji
Descendants of the Linji (Rinzai) School have the duty to transmit the Linji Record to future generations, but this is a strong “purgative medicine”: if used in the wrong dose, accumulated knowledge that is not digested will lead to blockage and suffering. Therefore, it is necessary to study the Admonitions of Master Guishan first, before coming to the essential teachings of the Linji Record, to absorb the path and methods of the Ancestors before reading the original text.
Presenting the Linji Record to young people should include two parts:
- Principles and direction of practice.
- Concrete methods of practice to trust in oneself and to bring the “Pure Land” into the present moment.
The teachings of the Ancestors are tools for “breaking through, healing, and untying knots,” not fixed dogmas. All teachings are only skillful means (upaya kausalya), like “a finger pointing to the moon” or “a raft to cross the river”—we must distinguish between conceptual ideas and direct insight, and avoid attachment. When the six miraculous sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind consciousness) are clear and bright, every moment of life becomes a miracle, and the Buddha and the Pure Land are revealed right here and now.
