Post by JustaWhistleStop on Jun 10, 2024 15:17:36 GMT
Virtually no one in the latter generations has been able to see into what they were doing [back then]. You will only be able to see where they were really at when you achieve transcendental realization and reach the stage that all the enlightened ones share in common. I recall this story from olden times.
Mazu asked Xitang, “Have you ever read the scriptural teachings?”
Xitang said, “Are the scriptural teachings any different?”
Mazu asked, “If you haven't read the scriptures, how will you be able to explain for people in various ways?”
Xitang said, “I must care for my own sickness—how could I dare try to help other people?”
Mazu said, “In your later years, you are sure to rise to greatness in the world.”
And that’s the way it turned out later.
-Yuanwu, Zen Letters
Mazu asked Xitang, “Have you ever read the scriptural teachings?”
Xitang said, “Are the scriptural teachings any different?”
Mazu asked, “If you haven't read the scriptures, how will you be able to explain for people in various ways?”
Xitang said, “I must care for my own sickness—how could I dare try to help other people?”
Mazu said, “In your later years, you are sure to rise to greatness in the world.”
And that’s the way it turned out later.
-Yuanwu, Zen Letters
Zen study doesn't oblige us to read text, even though it is helpful. Zen can be accessed through our environment, the people we meet, our experiences, but most importantly through our receptiveness to the Dharma, which itself can have infinite meanings.
Before saying the above words, Yuanwu said this:
In every case it took at least ten or twenty years of close association between teacher and pupil before the pupil was fully prepared to become a teacher himself. That is why, with the genuine Zen teachers, every word and every phrase, every act and every state resonated with the music of gold and jade.
It's difficult for most of us to find a real Zen teacher. We rely on forums such as this one to share what little, or much, we know with each other. Often, I find that what I read from each of you here, as well as on other sites I've participated in, to be what "resonated with the music of gold and jade".
