..续本文上一页at”s happening, and say, "Ah! This is not good. You are possessed by a demon." In fact it is because you”ve worked hard that you encounter such a state. If you hadn”t worked hard, nothing at all would happen. And so do not be afraid. True understanding is not being attached to anything. Don”t be attached to anything at all.
Wisdom Pervasively Illumines Innate Truth.
Now we want to develop wisdom, and in order to do so, we must first go through some suffering. We must be smelted by the fire. Suppose you were a lump of gold, you would have to be smelted to find out if you were true gold or fool”s gold. If you were fool”s gold, then you would be burned up. If you really were gold, well, true gold withstands the foundry”s fire. Real gold is not afraid of fire. If you have ten ounces of true gold, it remains ten ounces no matter how much you smelt it. If you start with ten ounces of fool”s gold, then there may only be one ounce left after it goes through the fire. Now we are here in this foundry being forged into indestructible vajra bodies. Once you have a vajra body, you won”t have to fear atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, or nuclear weapons of any kind. Why do we experience fear
Because we can be destroyed! Absolutely nothing can destroy your potentially vajra indestructible body, but you must first endure some suffering. Some people say, "It”s too much pain and suffering. I can”t take it!" Who perceives the pain and suffering
"I perceive it," you say. And just who are you
"I am just this body," you reply. If your body is you, then what about when you die
Where is your body then
If someone hits your body or scolds it then, it will be able to bear it. It will tolerate all sorts of suffering without any difficulty. You say, "That”s because I”ll be dead, so there won”t be any problems." Well, why don”t you just play dead right now
If a person wants to avoid death,
He must first act like a living dead person.
If you don”t want to die, you first have to try out dying. "You mean commit suicide
" you ask. No, I mean act like a dead person. If you regard everything from the perspective of a dead person, you will no longer contend, or be greedy, hateful, or stupid.
All the patriarchs, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas through the ages succeeded by means of this method. All Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and patriarchs were born from this Dharma door. So don”t be afraid of difficulty and suffering now. Cultivate well. Diligently apply yourselves to your practice. Cast out all discursive thoughts. Don”t be lazy or try to sneak off to rest. As long as you have a breath left, use it to walk and sit in meditation. We borrow the false to cultivate the true. The harder it is, the more you should be determined to overcome the difficulty. Anyone can do easy things. We want to do difficult things that others cannot do; we want to bear what others cannot bear. Only with such vigor and courage can we accomplish true wisdom. That”s what”s meant by forging indestructible vajra bodies in the red-hot furnace. After this kind of training, your bodies will be healthy and your wisdom will come forth.
Chan meditation disciplines both the body and the mind. The body is restrained from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; and the mind is restrained from greed, anger, and stupidity. In this way, we diligently cultivate precepts, samadhi, and wisdom and extinguish greed, anger, and stupidity. It is virtually impossible to commit offenses in the Chan hall. Although we may have idle thoughts, we will not act upon them. Restrained from killing, stealing, and lust, the body is purified of its bad habits. Once the body is disciplined and the mind is pure and concentrated, we can break through ignorance and regain our inherent wisdom. However, due to attachments t…
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