To Study The Way Is

Yet You Must Not Cling To The Words Of The Old Sages Either; They, Too, May Not Be Right. Even If You Believe Them, You Should Be Alert So That, In The Event That Something Superior Comes Along, You May Follow That.

In The Assemblies Of The Enlightened Ones There Have Been Many Cases Of Mastering The Way Bringing Forth The Heart Of Plants And Trees; This Is What Awakening The Mind For Enlightenment Is Like. The Fifth Patriarch Of Zen Was Once A Pine-planting Wayfarer; Rinzai Worked On Planting Cedars And Pines On Mount Obaku. . . . Working With Plants, Trees, Fences And Walls, If They Practice Sincerely They Will Attain Enlightenment.

The One And Only Thing Required Is To Free Oneself From The Bondage Of Mind And Body Alike, Putting The Buddha's Own Seal Upon Yourself. If You Do This As You Sit In Ecstatic Meditation, The Whole Universe Itself Scattered Through The Infinity Of Space Turns Into Enlightenment. This Is What I Mean By The Buddha's Seal.

Students Of The Way Must Not Study Buddhism For The Sake Of Themselves. They Must Study Buddhism Only For The Sake Of Buddhism. The Key To This Is To Renounce Both Body And Mind Without Holding Anything Back And To Offer Them To The Great Sea Of Buddhism.

To What Shall I Liken The World? Moonlight, Reflected In Dewdrops, Shaken From A Crane's Bill.