..续本文上一页ntil 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.
An ancient saying goes,
If someone sits quietly for an instant,
That is better than building pagodas made of the seven jewels in number
like the Ganges” sands.
"If someone sits quietly for an instant"--even for such a brief period of time; if you can truly become quiet, "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 moment in time, then that in itself can eradicate infinite kalpas of offenses that bind us to birth and death. That is why we need to investigate Chan. As long as you can sit quietly, the merit and virtue will be much better than that of building pagodas of the seven jewels numbering like Ganges” sands.
When you build Ganges” sands” pagodas of the seven jewels, you are merely making material offerings to the Buddhas, which may serve to influence people to bring forth their own resolve. If you can sit quietly in an instant, you are creating a true Buddha, which is to say, a living Buddha. Returning to the self-nature and gaining the original light of wisdom is genuine merit and virtue. Building external pagodas of the seven jewels like sands in the Ganges is a conditioned dharma. What you are doing is an unconditioned Dharma. Sitting quietly is cultivating an unconditioned Dharma. That”s why it”s said, "If someone sits quietly for an instant, that is better than building pagodas made of the seven jewels in number like the Ganges” sands." Well, since just one instant”s merit and virtue is that great, how much the more is that derived from sitting pure and still, astute and clear, without dozing off or falling asleep for an entire hour, and yet feeling that the time has passed swiftly.
Someone who is really working hard at developing his skill will not even know how many days have passed in a Chan session, because there is no need for him to pay attention to the time. When I meditated for ten weeks on Kongqing (Empty Blue) Mountain, I had no idea ten weeks could pass so fast. Since there were people to take care of counting the days, I didn”t need to keep track of it myself, and so I felt the time passed very fast. My legs didn”t hurt either. I sat for one hour, two hours, and even the entire day, and they never hurt because I”d broken through the pain barrier. After you have sat for a long time, the pain will subside and settle down.
You are not alone in experiencing pain. Anyone who has just begun to meditate will experience all kinds of discomfort, such as pain in the legs and aches in the back; they will feel uncomfortable all over. At that time, if you can summon your patience and concentrate your mind, you will have the kind of samadhi-power needed to defeat all difficulties. You will be able to break through all barriers. Once you break through those barriers, another vista opens up.
What states have you had
D…
《佛来佛斩，魔来魔斩 If the Buddha Comes, Smash Him; If A Demon Comes, Beat Him Away· 》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…