The Scripture on Infinite Light says, “Rivers, lakes, birds, trees, and forests all invoke Buddha, Truth, and Communion.”

In a moment of awareness without discrimination, great wisdom appears. This is like pouring water into the ocean, like working a bellows in the wind.

Furthermore, how do you discriminate? “Buddha” is a temporary name for what cannot be seen when you look, what cannot be heard when you listen, whose place of origin and passing away cannot be found when you search.

It covers form and sound, pervades sky and earth, penetrates above and below. There is no second view, no second person, no second thought. It is everywhere, in everything, not something external.

This is why the single source of all awareness is called ‘Buddha.’

It doesn’t change when the body deteriorates, it is always there. But you still cannot use what is always there. Why? Because, as the saying goes “Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eye it obstructs vision.” Although buddhahood is wonderful, if you are obsessed with it it becomes a sickness.

An early Zen master said, “It is not mind, not Buddha, not a thing – what is it?” This says it all. It has brought us the diamond sword that cuts through all obsessions.

Another classical Zen master said, “The slightest entangling thought can cause hellish actions; a flash of feeling can chain you indefinitely. Just end ordinary feelings, and there is no special perception of sages to seek – the perception of sages appears where ordinary feelings end.”

To learn to be a Buddha, first you should break through the seeds of habit with great determination, and then be aware of cause and effect so that you fear to do wrong. Transcend all mental object, stop all rumination.

Don’t let either good or bad thoughts enter into your thinking; forget about both Buddhism and things of the world. Let go of body and mind, like letting go over a cliff. Be like space, not producing subjective thoughts of life and death, or any signs of discrimination. If you have any views at all, cut them off and don’t let them continue.

Xiatang (12^th c)

Excerpted from Zen Essence-The Science of Freedom translated and edited by Thomas Cleary (1989)

Xiatang (birth and death unknown) points out that the awareness basic to Zen is inherently non-discursive; it is not reached by suppression of reason, but by a level of attention beyond that of ordinary sense.

Much of what has been written of old is truly more like a finger pointing at the moon because, as Xiatang alludes, this awareness is non-discursive. However, occasionally we find a kind of writing that takes us beyond the letters and images into a different realm of perception.

Many of us have been delighted and encouraged by images similar to those expressed in the Scripture on Infinite Light:

“Rivers, lakes, birds, trees, and forests all invoke Buddha, Truth, and Communion.”

There is a vastness right here when we unlearn enough to see. Until then the division between self and the immensity around us seems very concrete. Somehow we must soften our hold here and gently intend forward.

To the mountains,
Elana, Scribe for Daily Zen