Sublime

But the future is the future, the past is the past; now we should work on something new. This is our attitude, and how we should live in this world. This is dana prajna paramita, to give something, or to create something for ourselves.

As the Zen master Suzuki Roshi says: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”

Therefore, if you want to hear the dharma, you can hear it from many different places, but you are uncommitted until you actually encounter a particular way that rings true in your heart and you decide to follow it. Then you make a connection with that particular lineage of teachings and that particular body of wisdom.

The process of the Four Noble Truths. The practice of mindful awareness. The power of self-reliance.

Zen begins at the point where there is nothing further to seek, nothing to be gained. Zen is most emphatically not to be regarded as a system of self-improvement, or a way of becoming a Buddha. In the words of Lin-chi, “If a man seeks the Buddha, that man loses the Buddha.”

rely on the guidance of an authentic tantric guru who has realized these teachings and is authorized to transmit them to others.

49

Hui-neng says, “This teaching is neither true nor false. This path is neither great nor small. Salvation and liberation depend on abilities. Choose among the different doctrines and hold up one for veneration. Thus follows a chapter on the true teaching of the Great Path.”