..续本文上一页the legs. If you can be free of discursive thoughts, then you can practice in any posture at all. If your mind is filled with discursive thoughts, then you won”t succeed in your practice no matter how you sit. Practice consists of cultivating the mind and nurturing the nature. You must constantly observe your discursive thoughts to see what kind of thoughts are predominant. Are the majority of your thoughts concerning greed and desire

　　 Do your thoughts contain more anger and rage than anything else

　　 Does stupidity dominate your thinking

　　 Reflect inwardly and examine yourself. If you can purify your mind of these discursive thoughts, you are having a response in your work. Whether you sit in full lotus, in half lotus, or casually, the essential thing is to get rid of discursive thoughts so that genuine wisdom can appear. As long as the false is not ended, the true will not manifest. In cultivating we work on the mind-ground. That is called the Mind Ground Dharma door: causing the mind to become pure. If you can be pure for one instant, you are on Magic Mountain in that one instant. If you can be pure at all times, you are always on Magic Mountain. Regardless of whether you recite the Buddha”s name, hold mantras, keep the precepts, expound the teachings, or sit in Chan meditation, the goal is to focus the mind on a single point, to cast out the false and retain the true. At all times, look within yourself and recognize your original face.

　　That is the method to use at the initial stages of practice.

　　With the Nature Bright and Aware, There Is Nothing at All.

　　In investigating Chan, one should not want states to arise. We don”t want there to be anything, not even emptiness. Even emptiness is emptied, and yet one feels neither fear nor joy. If you experience fear, then you will be vulnerable to demons. If you experience happiness, then a demon of happiness will come. Look at the fifty skandha demons, which are discussed in the Shurangama Sutra. All of those states could be encountered when meditating. If you are clear about those states, then you will not be turned by any state that you may see. There is a saying, "If the Buddha comes, smash him. If a demon comes, beat him away." If a Buddha comes, don”t become attached to that Buddha. If a demon comes, don”t become attracted to that demon. Do not have any attachments. Don”t think: "Wow! A Buddha has come!" and be overjoyed about it, because that”s not going about it the proper way. The presence of fear also indicates not going about it the proper way; and the presence of any like or dislike indicates not going about it the proper way. Therefore, you must be able to remain "thus thus unmoving" in stillness; you must remain unmoved no matter what state you encounter so that you do not give rise to discriminations about it and you do not pursue it. If a state appears, let it be. If no state appears, don”t look for any. If you perceive a state, don”t be turned by it. >From limitless kalpas past until the present, we have accumulated all kinds of states of mind within the field of our eighth consciousness. Sitting quietly allows these states to come forth. By analogy, if you keep stirring muddy water, it will not be clear. But if you set the water somewhere and don”t disturb it, then all the mud and sediment will sink to the bottom and the water will become clear. It”s the same with you. Once you sit quietly, your mind will become clear.

　　The mind”s clarity is like that of water in which the moon can reflect.

　　The intellect in samadhi is like a cloudless sky.

　　When your mind is pure, then it”s like water that reflects the moon. And so pay no attention to whether a state of mind is true or false. Working hard is true. However, you shouldn”t be like people who don”t understand wh…

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