Nobody Wants to Drink Coffee

　　沒有人想喝咖啡

　　Sitting in meditation is cultivating samadhi. walking meditation is cultivating the precepts. you should walk inside the Chan hall, rather than outside, unless you are going to the restroom or taking a tea break. you should drink your tea quickly. do not wait till when it is almost time for the sit to begin before you take your tea break. Time is especially precious during a basic meThoDs of inVesTigaTing chan (1 0 )

　　Chan session. You do not know in which minute or second somebody will be enlightened. This is why no one should be thinking solely about drinking tea or wanting to drink coffee. Nobody drinks coffee in the Chan Hall. When you are really thirsty, you should drink water.

　　Other beverages are seldom consumed. Under such conditions, many people can become enlightened or have a breakthrough in their investigation of Chan. We now wake up early and go to sleep late. During this period, everybody is working hard but those who are really keen on enlightenment or making some progress are few in number. The majority has a half-hearted attitude towards the Chan session. In this way, who knows how long they have to wait to become enlightened. In China, the Chan session is the most important event of the year. But there have not been any Chan sessions since China came under Communist rule. Nor are there authentic Chan sessions where true cultivation takes place in Hong Kong and Taiwan either.They may hold a session in name, but it lacks substance.

　　打坐是修定，跑香就是修戒，怎麼跑也是在裏邊跑，不要跑到禅堂外邊去；除了到廁所、喝茶的才可以。你要喝茶也要快點，不要等著快要止靜的時候去喝茶。在打七的期間，時間是特別寶貴，你不知道在哪一秒鍾、或者哪一分鍾，就有人開悟了，所以不會有人盡去想喝茶，也沒有人想喝咖啡。尤其在禅堂裏，大家都不喝咖啡，有的時候實在渴了，喝點水，其他的東西很少用的，那時候常常有人開悟、破本參。我們現在很早起來，晚間很晚睡，這期間不能說沒有人專心用功，但是真正想要開悟，想要得到受用的人是很少的，都是馬馬虎虎的對打七不太熱心，這樣子打到什麼時候也不會有成就的。在中國，一年裏就以打七的時候最重要，自從大陸變色後，這種打禅七的就沒有了；在臺灣、香港都談不到真正的打禅七、真正的修行，都是有名無實。