The sound of emptiness

Hui Neng asked the novice:

Under which bell hides the empty nut?

Karma: Past actions and Future effects

Our actions have non-immediate effects,

which we can call karma.

Karma are the traces of past actions

in the present moment.

Action can only take place now,

at the present moment.

We should not wander in the imaginary past:

we should be aware right NOW.

Consciousness plays around the present moment towards the future:

Awareness is always NOW.

Hell: Confusion and suffering

Confused mind is hell.

Mental disturbances are demons.

Ignorance is the root of suffering.

Dispel the fog of ignorance,

and hell will turn into heaven.

The tree of life

Duality is the quality of the world of action.

Non-duality is the characteristic of the world of emanation.

The essence of mind is beyond duality and non-duality.

Suffering: First Noble Truth

Is internet a source of suffering?

Your Self states: Yes, it is.

Is your Self the root of suffering?

Your Self says: No, I am not.

Who is asking these questions?

Your Self whispers: I am not.

A No-melody appears from nowhere,

and it goes: Clinging, clinging, clinging;

That´s the root of the tree of confusion,

that yields the bitter fruit of suffering.

Fear: Ego

What are you scared of?

Look at the subject who fears.

Is it different from the object of fear?

Is the fearing process distinct from

the subject and object of fear?

Ordinary Mind: freedom

Fettered mind worries about its destiny.

Ordinary mind enjoys flowing.

Should space worry about the fate of clouds?

Should unborn mind worry about the appearance of thoughts?

Pyramidion: Buddha Nature

Compassion: Patience

If you really want to help other people

to abandon suffering

turning confusion into wisdom,

be patient.

Compassion without patience,

is as useless as wisdom

without skilful means

or a car without gas.

Compassion without wisdom

turns into masochism.

Patience without intelligence

turns into permissiveness.

Faith without intelligence

degenerates into fanaticism;

Intelligence without compassion

turns into cunningness.

Supernova: The beginning

Let your old habits explode,

let your old dogmas blast,

and awareness will shine.

Let the old I explode

then the MINE will blast

and satori will show up.

Mushotoku

Selflessness: Unmasking

Take the mask off.

What do you see NOW?

There is not a YOU

Satori: Crossing the river

The mind is fresh and pure,
the water too.

The water is moving,
the mind too.

The rocks are still,
the mind too.

Do not build a bridge
to get to the other shore.

Get into the water,
get wet and see its nature.

Satori is unexpected,
like slipping into the water.

CHOFF

Appearances: Dreamlike

Hui Neng asked himself:

Does the mind go towards the apparent object
or does the apparent object comes to the mind?

And the mountain replied:

Neither does the mind go to the apparent object,
nor does the apparent object comes to the mind.

MU

Utterly releasing: Awareness

The nature of rivers is to flow down, towards the ocean.

The nature of conceptual mind is consciousness.

The nature of rain is to fall down.

The nature of non-conceptual mind is awareness.

Both rivers and clouds are made out of water.

Mind is both conceptual and non-conceptual.

What do you see: consciousness or awareness?

Zen 10 Ox-herding pictures: 6- Getting free of hindrance

Traditional poem:

Sleeping contentedly under the sky,
the buffalo needs the whip nevermore.
The boy, sitting under the pine tree,
starts to play a peaceful, happy tune.

My words:

Mushotoku,
the old Patriarch is HERE,
right NOW, by the pine tree;
NOW, you are HERE too.

Insight has turned into WISDOM,
and mind is CALM and CLEAR,
FREE from hopes and fears,
no longer fettered by CLINGING
and CRAVING.

This is a stage where SATORI
has been polished, and mind
dwells in PEACE and BLISS,
even in the midst of turmoil.

Mind rests in a SELFLESS state,
which is its natural state,
fresh, artless and unbound.

This is the old Patriarch,
NOW, beyond past, present
and future, right HERE.

Watching: "I" and "Mine"

Stick a bunch of memories,
together with some hopes and fears,
using the craving-clinging glue
and the heap called "I" appears.

This "I" has some likes and dislikes,
and labels as "Mine" some objects and ideas,
clinging to and identifying with them,
so "not-Mine" is also born.

Take a closer look at this ghostly "I",
and his fellow shadow called "Mine",
and tell me what you find,
if there is anything left.

Not Now: Now

Neither NOW,
nor Not NOW.
Neither NOW and Not NOW,
nor none of them.

Cracking the clinging to words,
facing the wall of the screen,
full of tweets and written thoughts,
while listening to Enya.

A perfect mirror of alaya consciousness,
reflecting atavic hopes and fears,
empty of self entity:
MUGA

Wisdom: Now

There is no such thing as ancient wisdom.

Wisdom is a quality of the mind established
in the NOW.

It is freshness, sharpness and clarity.

Ancient knowledge is a dim shadow of Wisdom,
pointing out to it.

Now: Pond of manifestation

Diving into the pond of emptiness,
No-self comes out.

Diving into the pond of clarity,
spontaneous action takes place.

Now, at this no-moment,
the diver is self-liberated.

Jump without fear,
into the pond of nowness.

Right Now,
the only existing moment.

Well: Washing the bowl

Wash the bowl of consciousness
into the well of awareness.

Wash it time after time,
until it vanishes into clarity.

Wash it again and again,
so it disappears into emptiness.

Then, and only then,
you can take the kesa off.

Mushotoku