..续本文上一页, we become vigorous again. In cultivation, we should follow the Middle Way and be neither too hasty nor too relaxed.

　　Go too fast and you”ll trip; dally and you”ll fall behind.

　　Never rush and never dally, and you”ll get there right on time.

　　Don”t be nervous and don”t be lax. Don”t go too fast means don”t be nervous. Don”t dally means don”t be lazy. Enjoy developing your skill. Develop it to the point that you are free and at ease when walking, free and at ease when sitting, free and at ease when standing, and free and at ease when sleeping. Walking, standing, sitting and lying down, you have self-mastery. Self-mastery means that your skill is progressing. When your skill progresses, you will be able to truly investigate Chan. Then, even if you consider stopping, there will be no way to do so.

　　Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, you won”t lose track of "who

　　" But even though you won”t lose track of "who

　　" you still will not recognize "who

　　" You want to become familiar with "who

　　" You can”t let the "who

　　" be cut off. At all times and in all places you investigate Chan until you become one with it. When you become one with it, then "you eat each day but it is as if you hadn”t eaten a single grain of rice." It”s not that you don”t eat, but that you are not attached to eating. You eat but it”s as if nothing had happened. You wear clothing but you are not attached to it.

　　"You wear clothes but it is as if you hadn”t put on a single thread." This means that whether you are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, you forget everything. You forget about eating and wearing clothes, how much the more other matters. How much less of a problem will other matters be!

　　Smash the Black Barrel and Reveal the Source

　　Smashing the black lacquer barrel refers to enlightenment. Although the thought of investigating "who" is also a false thought, this one false thought is used to defeat all the other false thoughts. Investigation should be done in every moment; it is not that you investigate on the out-breath, and then don”t investigate on the in-breath; or that you investigate on the in-breath and then not on the out-breath. No, counting your breaths is of no use because it creates a duality. It adds a head on top of a head--it is superficial. The true and proper method for investigating chan meditation is the method for entering deeply. Thus, our patriarchs investigated their meditation topic breathing in as well as breathing out; their one thought of investigation continued on forever without interruption.

　　Those who truly know how to work do not lose track of the topic "who

　　" Little by little they inquire into "who" until mind, intellect, and consciousness all vanish. The mind becomes empty; the body is also empty; the intellect is empty, and the consciousness is empty. When you strike up false thoughts, it is the sixth consciousness that they come from. The sixth consciousness causes you to strike up false thought, causes you to register pain, and causes you to be unable to bear any more. All of those are distortions of the sixth consciousness. If you are able to smash the mind, intellect and consciousness--if you investigate until you break through them, so that you can”t be turned by such thoughts--then you are one who truly knows how to work. Not to mention gaining responses every day in your application of effort, if you gain a response for even the space of a thought, you can open your wisdom, which is another way of saying you can become enlightened.

　　There”s an old proverb that goes,

　　If someone sits quietly for an instant,

　　Then that is better than building pagodas made

　　of the seven jewels in number like the Ganges” sands.

　　If you can genuinely enter samadhi--stay quiet--for an instant, for just a mom…

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