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truc lam dai si no17
The mountains and forests may be tranquil, but if you practice for ten or twenty years without attaining understanding and love, it is of no use. It is necessary to be close to a true teacher and good spiritual friends (Kalyāṇamitra) so that the flower of enlightenment can ripen in a single night. The secret to success in practice is to cultivate Chitta Ekaggatā—one-pointed mind, gathering the mind onto a single object, to transform the three poisons (craving, anger, ignorance) and cut off the six thieves (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, dharmas through the six sense organs). When enlightenment is attained, the six sense organs become wondrous instruments for spreading the Dharma, afflictions dissolve, and the three bodies (Dharma body, Reward body, Transformation body) are revealed.
The Great Master offers many methods of practice based on the Tripitaka and the regulations of the Zen monasteries, including:
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Three approaches to Zen practice in the Tang dynasty:
- Ceasing deluded thoughts to cultivate the mind—closing the eyes, blocking the ears, contemplating to extinguish wandering thoughts.
- Compassionately cutting off indifference—seeing all phenomena as dreams and illusions, transcending all attachments.
- Directly manifesting the nature of mind—opening the light of inherent nature, not fearing the six sense objects.
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The five precious fragrances of the mind (the five-part incense) to nourish the Three Jewels:
- The fragrance of precepts,
- The fragrance of concentration,
- The fragrance of insight,
- The fragrance of liberation,
- The fragrance of liberated understanding.
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The eight winds (Eight Worldly Winds) to contemplate, not to suppress:
- gain, 2. loss, 3. defamation, 4. praise, 5. fame, 6. ridicule, 7. suffering, 8. happiness.
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The Three Profound Gates and Three Essentials as “levers” to open the mysterious door:
- The Profundity within the Essence,
- The Profundity within the Phrase,
- The Profundity within the Profundity,
- Principle, 2. Wisdom, 3. Skillful Means.
On the path of Prajñā Pāramitā, the true form of Suchness is beyond discrimination; there is no need to avoid forms and sounds. When true knowing is attained, the wandering thoughts of the six sense objects can no longer cause suffering; entering the gate of non-action is to step into the realm of the unborn and undying, where one can rediscover the Buddha’s roots right in one’s own home.
