..续本文上一页pts of enduring pain and suffering! As you sit there single-mindedly investigating "Who is mindful of the Buddha

　　" without a second”s pause, well, you tell me, are you committing offenses

　　 Are you creating a lot of bad karma

　　 While you are sitting in meditation, could you commit murder

　　 Would you have thoughts like, "He”s so mean to me, I”m going to kill him"

　　 Would you be investigating the topic of wanting to kill someone

　　 No. Would you think about stealing things

　　 No. And so as you refrain from killing and stealing you are holding the precepts. By investigating Chan, you naturally keep the precepts without even trying, and then based on precepts you develop samadhi power.

　　If you don”t investigate Chan, all the discursive thoughts which arise in your mind may lead you to kill, steal, engage in lust, lie, or take intoxicants. One single wrong thought can lead to many offenses. On the other hand, if you sit in Chan meditation, all these problems disappear as you naturally hold the precepts without trying. If you can be patient with the pain, then the effortless upholding of precepts produces samadhi, and from samadhi there arises wisdom. You are then diligently practicing precepts, samadhi, and wisdom and extinguishing greed, anger, and stupidity. With the resolve to cultivate, you cast out greed and feel no anger if someone hits you. And when you sit in Chan, your stupidity disappears and your mad mind and wild nature vanish. Wouldn”t you say these are tremendous advantages

　　 That”s why Chan meditation is said to encompass all dharmas. When properly done, the investigation of Chan makes us more awakened, intelligent, and wise. We should avoid a form of "stupefying" Chan which makes us muddled and oblivious, as if we were on drugs, so that we can”t tell north from south or day from night.

　　So This Is What Our Original Home Is Like!

　　Every breath we take, every move we make, every word, every action, every thought, every reflection affects the time and space in the universe. Conversely, the vibrations of good, bad, pure, and turbid energy in the universe affect us as well. If we really want to return to the purity of our original source and discover our true identity, we must break all attachments to body and mind, and see through everything. We must undergo a period of smelting in the blazing furnace before the pure elements can be separated from the dross. Wisdom will appear once our thinking and our breathing are both purified. As long as defilement remains, and the purity is not total, then we are still full of stupidity. When we sit and walk in the Chan hall, we are letting the silt and mud settle to the bottom, so that the water of our mind becomes clear and sparkling. Then if we can remove the sediment on the bottom, our pure Dharma body becomes eternally manifest. Removing the sediment means we come to understand our mind and see our nature. We return to the source, and take the road home to discover what our original home is like.

　　In cultivation, we should purify ourselves internally and externally. Internal purity refers to not having confused thoughts. External purity means not acting in confused ways. Internally we want to be like sages by cultivating the mind and nature, and externally we want to be like kings by avoiding evil, practicing good deeds, and benefiting all living beings. By means of external merit, we achieve our fruition within. Externally we create merit, and internally we amass virtue. Creating merit means benefiting all beings. When we help others, we should not become attached to the thought that we are helping them. We should do it as if nothing were happening. As soon as there is attachment, then we lend reality to appearances. We create merit and benefit beings because it is what we shoul…

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