ZEN EXTRACTS
The Useless
Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu:
"All your teaching is centered on what has no use."
Chuang replied:
"If you have no appreciation for what has no use
You cannot begin to talk about what can be used.
The earth, for example, is broad and vast
But of all this expanse a man uses only a few inches
Upon which he happens to be standing.
Now suppose you suddenly take away
All that he is not actually using
So that all around his feet a gulf
Yawns, and he stands in the void,
With nowhere solid except right under each foot:
How long will he be able to use what he is using?"
Hui Tzu said: "It would cease to serve any purpose."
Chuang Tzu concluded:
"This shows
The absolute necessity
Of what has 'no use.'"
Duke Mu of Chin said to Po Lo: "You are now advanced in years. Is there any member of your family whom I could employ to look for horses in your stead?" Po Lo replied: "A good horse can be picked out by its general build and appearance. But the superlative horse — one that raises no dust and leaves no tracks — is something evanescent and fleeting, elusive as thin air. The talents of my sons lie on a lower plane altogether; they can tell a good horse when they see one, but they cannot tell a superlative horse. I have a friend, however, one Chiu-fang Kao, a hawker of fuel and vegetables, who in things appertaining to horses is nowise my inferior. Pray see him."
Duke Mu did so, and subsequently dispatched him on the quest for a steed. Three months later, he returned with the news that he had found one. "It is now in Shach'iu" he added. "What kind of a horse is it?" asked the Duke. "Oh, it is a dun-colored mare," was the reply. However, someone being sent to fetch it, the animal turned out to be a coal-black stallion! Much displeased, the Duke sent for Po Lo. "That friend of yours," he said, "whom I commissioned to look for a horse, has made a fine mess of it. Why, he cannot even distinguish a beast's color or sex! What on earth can he know about horses?" Po Lo heaved a sigh of satisfaction. "Has he really got as far as that?" he cried. "Ah, then he is worth ten thousand of me put together. There is no comparison between us. What Kao keeps in view is the spiritual mechanism. In making sure of the essential, he forgets the homely details; intent on the inward qualities, he loses sight of the external. He sees what he wants to see, and not what he
does not want to see. He looks at the things he ought to look at, and neglects those that need not be looked at. So clever a judge of horses is Kao, that he has it in him to judge something better than horses."
When the horse arrived, it turned out indeed to be a superlative animal.
Taoist tale
The master said, "My child, if you desire after God, God shall come to you." The disciple did not understand his master fully.
One day both went to bathe in a river, and the master said, "Plunge in," and the boy did so. In a moment the master was upon him, holding him down. He would not let the boy come up. When the boy struggled and was exhausted, he let him go.
"Yes, my child, how did you feel there?" "Oh, the desire for a breath of air!" "Do you have that kind of desire for God?" "No, sir." "Have that kind of desire for God and you shall have God."
Puman :
Someone asked, "What is your Way?"
Puman replied, "What is right now?"
Beiyuan :
Someone asked, "What is no mind?"
Beiyuan replied, "Not being tied up."
Tongxuan :
Someone asked, "Can one's own mind and the mind of another see each other?"
Tongxuan replied, "If you can't even see yourself, how can you see others?"
Huang-po :
As to performing the six paramitas and vast numbers of similar practices, or gaining merits as countless as the sands of the Ganges, since you are fundamentally complete in every respect, you should not try to supplement that perfection by such meaningless practices. When there is occasion for them, perform them; and, when the occasion is passed, remain quiescent. If you are not absolutely convinced that the Mind is the Buddha, and if you are attached to forms, practices and meritorious performances, your way of thinking is false and quite incompatible with the Way. The Mind is the Buddha, nor are there any other Buddhas or any other mind. It is bright and spotless as the void, having no form or appearance whatever. To make use of your minds to think conceptually is to leave the substance and attach yourselves to form. The Ever-Existent Buddha is not a Buddha of form or attachment. To practise the six paramitas and a myriad similar practices with the intention of becoming a Buddha thereby is to advance by stages, but the Ever-Existent Buddha is not a Buddha of stages. Only awake to the One Mind, and there is nothing whatsoever to be attained. This is the REAL Buddha. The Buddha and all sentient beings are the One Mind and nothing else.
Pai-chang Huai-hai :
A monk asked Pai-chang, "What is there that's extraordinary?"
Pai-chang said, "Sitting alone on Mount Ta Hsiung."
The monk made a bow. Pai-chang hit him.
Lin Chi
The Master said, "All of you -- if it's for the sake of the Dharma, don't hesitate to sacrifice your bodies or give up your lives! Twenty years ago, when I was at Huang-po's place, I asked him three times what was clearly and obviously the real point of Buddhism, and three times he was good enough to hit me with his stick. It was as though he had brushed me with a sprig of mugwort. Thinking of it now, I wish I could get hit once more like that. Is there anyone who can give me such a blow?"
At that a monk stepped forward from the group and said, "I'll give you one!"
The Master picked up his stick and handed it to the monk. The monk was about to take it, whereupon the Master struck him.
Bodhidharma
Bodhidharma sat facing the wall in his cave at Shaolin-ssu. Hui-k'o stood outside in the snow and asked Bodhidharma for instruction, but Bodhidharma did not stir at all. Hui-k'o waited, and the snow fell, and the time dragged on from hours into days, and Bodhidharma still did not move.
Hui-k'o bared his left arm, drew a short sword, and sliced off his own arm at the elbow. He then presented the arm to Bodhidharma and said, "The mind of your student has still found no peace. I entreat you, Master, give it peace."
(Imagine a deep voice a bit rusty from disuse)
Bodhidharma finally looked at Hui-k'o and said, "Bring this mind here and I'll pacify it."
Hui-k'o said, "I have searched for it everywhere but it cannot be found."
Bodhidharma said, "There. I have completely pacified it for you."
Standing in the snow, sword at his feet, gripping his bleeding stump, Hui-k'o felt his mind open.
Ma-tsu
Ta-mei Fa-ch'ang asked Ma-tsu, "What is the Buddha?" Master Ma answered, "This very mind is the Buddha."
A monk asked Ma-tsu, "What is the Buddha?" Master Ma answered, "No mind, no Buddha."
Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field
Paralumun New Age Village