Ling Guang-53-《Zen》

The heart of Zen, the lineage of Dharma, flowers and leaves continue each other.

After the Sixth Patriarch, five schools of Zen emerged, not as sectarian distinctions, but as five expedient means to guide sentient beings. The Guiyang School with its silent illumination of the round symbol, the Linji School with its shouts and blows to cut off the stream, the Caodong School with its ruler and minister, the Yunmen School with its single-word barrier, and the Fayan School with its sixfold harmony.

Before I was born, who was I? The original face before my parents were born. What practitioners investigate is not a philosophical question, but through Xiangyan striking bamboo and Lingyun seeing the peach, they illuminate the unborn and undying in the present moment.

So how to illuminate? Sitting at night in the true reality, the five watches of the night reveal the stages of meditation. Bodhidharma's night-sitting verse is actually the essential heart of Zen contemplation.

The first watch: merging with emptiness, ceasing all thoughts, shedding subject and object. The second watch: the true nature manifests all phenomena, all returning to emptiness. The third watch: equal to space, mind, Buddha, and sentient beings are not different. The fourth watch: the Dharma realm is level, birth and death and nirvana are like last night's dream. The fifth watch: traversing the three thousand, not a single thought arising, the whole appears.

Not a temporal sequence, but truly a transformation of mind states. From eliminating delusions to no elimination, from contemplating emptiness to emptiness also empty, finally arriving at the illumination of prajna, the three thousand worlds are nothing but the original scenery.

Therefore, the mind seal of the patriarchs does not rely on words. Where Xuyun praised Bodhidharma, he pointed out the true meaning of coming from the West. Picking reeds to cross the river shows the response to opportunity, the wall-gazing disciples reject attachment to dharma characteristics, one blow shatters to reveal the Linji method, marrow and blood symbolize great death and great life.

What words can directly point to the wondrous mind of nirvana? Even if the five schools divide the lamp, it is nothing but yellow leaves to stop crying; though three barriers and five ranks are set up, in the end, it is just fishing for the moon in a boat.

The heart of Zen is like arrows meeting at their tips. Doubt is the arrow, who am I, like the diamond king's sword; contemplation is the bow, sitting at night in the five watches is the good medicine for adjusting the mind; sudden enlightenment is, where flowers and leaves share the same spring, seeing the patriarch's meaning coming from the West.

Here and now, who is it that can recite the verse? Who is it that investigates? If this opens the eyes, then where Bodhidharma faced the wall, when Huineng pounded rice, Linji's shout shook the heavens, Yunmen's cake satisfied hunger, all are in the present moment of pure thought.

One flower opens five leaves, the fruit naturally forms, unrelated to textual transmission, only whether the person's feet are steady.

Blue-eyed from the West shoots the cold sky, one flower first blooms shaking the world
Five leaves spread open the Dharma realm, Caoxi's moon rises in a thousand rivers

Before birth, who was I? At birth's cry, who am I?
Doubt shatters the mother-born face, iron walls and silver mountains suddenly pushed aside
Bodhidharma faced the wall, his shadow became stone, Huineng pounded rice, the pestle shone
Sitting at night through five watches, the lamp continues the day, illuminating heaven and earth without ash

First watch, cross-legged merging with the great emptiness, all phenomena return to stillness
Second watch, true nature emerges from the Milky Way, abandoning the dual swords of existence and emptiness
Third watch, the mind's light swallows mountains and rivers, mirage cities are all hometowns
Fourth watch, the Dharma realm level as a palm, birth and death coming and going are a play in a painting
Fifth watch, prajna boils the three thousand, before the gateless gate spring fills the ground

Guiyang's round symbol silent as thunder, father and son in harmony swing hoes
Linji's shout enters the lion's den, three punches pierce to the marrow's fat
Caodong's ruler and minister turn bias and correctness, midnight's golden crow shines on the stone gate
Yunmen's cake narrows heaven and earth, one word locks Sumeru flying
Fayan's sixfold harmony is a delicate pagoda, Jinling's wind carries osmanthus fragrance

Picking reeds to cross the river, the river dries itself, on Liang's hall grass flourishes and withers
Nine years facing the wall, snow buried his knees, waiting only for Shenguang's arm to fall
One blow shatters the moon at heaven's edge, marrow drained reveals the precious pearl
Hair and skin shed, the true dragon appears, descendants everywhere hold empty trees

Flowers and leaves originally grow from the same tree, never separated to branches and stems
Night-sitting verses echo in a thousand-year temple, just the sound of deep spring's falling flowers
Who sees me when I am not me, where birth and death cease, the sea tide levels

If you ask the true face from the West, five leaves bloom naturally
Before the courtyard cypress seeds are green, under the eaves wind chimes ring on their own