Showing posts with label right way. Show all posts
Showing posts with label right way. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

On Right and Mistaken Paths

"If one not yet having attained true perception were to gather followers... discoursing from limited perception, he would become a demon and his followers hell-dwellers." --Bassui

Bassui writes, "The way of Zen began without the establishment of any sect. It is simply a religion that points to the original mind of all buddhas and ordinary people. The mind is nothing other than Buddha nature. To see this nature is what is meant by religious practice. When you realize your buddha nature, wrong relationships will disappear, will not be of concern, the dust of dharma will not stain you. This is what is called Zen. This real buddha is nothing other than the heart of all beings, the master of seeing, hearing, and perceiving."

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Misguided Students of the Way

Said Bassui, "They care only about their relation to the teacher and his name, not knowing whether he is a teacher of the Right or a misguided heretic. They count names, journeys to the East, West, North and South, and take pride in having met many teachers. Some may for example, place their faith in one place, spending their summer training there. During this summer period, however, they are just spending their time preparing for a pilgrimage in the Fall. Some may consider a summer and a winter place, counting the days. Others may hold onto sacred relics, secretly forming groups of three to five persons, discoursing upon inferiority or superiority among them... some burn their bodies, inflicting severe pain to their minds and bodies... Others ignore the laws of cause and effect, meeting others and desiring what they possess, they desire it for themselves. They love to talk Zen and wish only to be victorious in Zen combat. They talk of their long practice of Zen while they drag their juniors down the road of heresy."

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"Today's students of the Way go to teachers everywhere, but they don't want to penetrate all the way to the bottom of the great matter... They try to surpass others with great Zen stories and they collect paradoxical words and clever expressions from old masters. These are examples of the way of heretics." --Zen Master Bassui, 14th century Japan