Sublime

The Dao-aware don’t have selves; they don’t have accomplishments; they don’t have honor, reputation, name.

WANG AN-SHIH says, “Sages create but do not possess what they create. They act but do not depend on what they do. They succeed but do not claim success. These all result from selflessness. Because sages are selfless, they do not lose themselves. Because they do not lose themselves, they do not lose others.”

The Buddha is not an object of sensation / to see no names is to see the Buddha

CHUANG-TZU says, “Those who are skilled toil, and those who are clever worry. Meanwhile, those who do not possess such abilities seek nothing and yet eat their fill. They drift through life like unmoored boats” (Chuangtzu: 32.1).

nor do they forsake its bliss for the nothingness of nirvana, nor do they cease giving rise to thoughts. For them, thoughts are not thoughts.

Emperor Wu of Liang asked the great master Bodhidharma, “What is the main point of this holy teaching?” “Vast emptiness, nothing holy,” said Bodhidharma. “Who are you, standing in front of me?” asked the emperor. “I do not know,” said Bodhidharma.

So what is it that knows how to talk about and listen to the Dharma? It is the bright clarity, which has not the slightest outer form, standing in front of us here. That is what knows how to speak about and listen to the Dharma. If you are able to see that, you are no different from the Buddha and the masters. The thing is to maintain that insight

Zen masters often shortened this logical technique even further by holding up one finger, by refusing to speak, by striking their disciples, or by offering them a cup of tea.

WANG P’ANG says, “Although sages are sages, they look the same as others. But because they embody the Way of Heaven and don’t fight, they alone differ from everyone else. Sages are selfless because they no longer have a self.