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Nonduality Highlights: Issue #3436, Saturday, February 7, 2009, Editor: Mark
Q: If our own Mind is the Buddha, how did Bodhidharma transmit
his doctrine when he came from India?
A: When he came from India, he transmitted only Mind-Buddha. He
just pointed to the truth that the minds of all of you have from
the very first been identical with the Buddha, and in no way
separate from each other... Whoever has an instant understanding
of this truth suddenly transcends the whole hierarchy of saints
and adepts... You have always been one with the Buddha, so do not
pretend you can ATTAIN to this oneness by various practices.
Q: If that is so, what Dharma do all the Buddhas teach when they
manifest themselves in the world?
A: When all the Buddhas manifest themselves in the world, they
proclaim nothing but the One Mind. Thus Gautama Buddha silently
transmitted to Mahakasyapa the doctrine that the One Mind, which
is the substance of all things, is co-extensive with the Void and
fills the entire world of phenomena. This is called the Law of
All the Buddhas. Discuss itas you may, how can you even hope to
approach the truth through words? Nor can it be perceived either
subjectively or objectively.
So full understanding can come to you only through an
inexpressible mystery. The approach to it is called the Gateway
of the Stillness beyond all Activity. If you wish to understand,
know that a sudden comprehension comes when the mind has been
purged of all the clutter of conceptual and discriminatory
thought-activity. Those who seek the truth by means of intellect
and learning only get further and further away from it. Not till
your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till
you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your
mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right
road to the Gate.
- Huang Po, from: The Wan Ling Record of the Zen Master Huang Po
The undisturbed mind is like the calm body water reflecting the
brilliance of the moon. Empty the mind and you will realize the
undisturbed mind.
- Yagyu Jubei
To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders
- Lao Tzu
People the world over are always seeking secret or mystical
spiritual techniques, hoping they will provide a short cut to
enlightenment. There are no special techniques other than the
basic principles revealed here. If you turn to the Chrisitian
contemplation practices espoused by St Augustine you'll find
cessation and contemplation. If you turn to the Jewish Kabbalah,
or the self-remembering techniques of Gurdjeff, or even the
practices for moral self-improvement advocated by Benjamin
Franklin, you'll find cessation / contemplation practices once
again. Most of the spiritual practices are based on the
principles of stopping (samadhi) and observation (prajna), so if
you really wish to master the road of spiritual cultivation,
there's no way you can accomplish this feat without understanding
the priciples of cessation and contemplation, and applying these
in your spiritual sadhana (practice).
- excerpt from Twenty Five Doors to Meditation, A Handbook for
Entering Samadhi, William Bodi & Lee Shu-Mei
The beginner's mind is an open mind, an empty mind, a ready mind,
and if we really listen with a beginner's mind, we might really
begin to hear. For if we listen with a silent mind, as free as
possible from the clamor of preconceived ideas, a possibility
will be created for the truth of the teachings to pierce us, and
for the meaning of life and death to become increasingly and
startlingly clear.
My master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche said: "The more and more
you listen, the more and more you hear; the more and more you
hear, the deeper and deeper your understanding becomes."
- Sogyal Rinpoche