Sublime

Shen is the force that keeps you alive. It has no substance, but it gives expression and appearance to your jing. Shen is also the control tower for the qi. When your shen is strong, your qi is strong and you can lead it efficiently. The root of shen (spirit) is your mind (yi, 意) or intention. When your brain is energized and stimulated, your mind

WANG AN-SHIH says, “Resting where you are eliminates extremes. Treasuring simplicity eliminates extravagance. Being content with less eliminates excess.

Red date (or jujube)

3. Li shih wu ai,e “between principle and thing no obstruction,” which is to say that there is no incompatibility between nirvana and samsara, void and form. The attainment of the one does not involve the annihilation of the other. 4. Shih shih wu ai,f “between thing and thing no obstruction,” which is to say that each “thing-event” involves every oth

This seems to be the consistent doctrine of all the T’ang masters from Hui-neng to Lin-chi. Nowhere in their teachings have I been able to find any instruction in or recommendation of the type of za-zen which is today the principal occupation of Zen monks.47 On the contrary, the practice is discussed time after time in the apparently negative fashi

A famous Zen master, while weighing flax on a scale, was once asked the meaning of Zen by a student. Without taking his concentrated eyes off the scale, he adjusted the weights and said, “Three pounds of flax.”

piety.

Although we don’t know if he lectured on the Lankavatara or if he was conversant with Zen, two hundred years later, the Northern School of Zen credited Gunabhadra with bringing Zen to China, such was the importance of the sutra he translated.