| Chant of the Heart's
Impression This is an
exquisite truth:
Saints and ordinary folks are the same from the start.
Eventually there's a difference between
them.
You don't borrow string when you've got a good strong
rope.
Every Dharma is known in the heart.
After the rain, the mountain color intensifies.
Once you become familiar with the
design of fate's illusions
Your ink slab will contain all of life and death.
Clearing Your Heart
of Obstacles
Since there's no such thing as form
There can't be image, either.
How then can obstacles arise?
Safe within this principle
Bodhidharma was secure.
Describing the
Glorious Layman Lin Guangqian
From reciting Buddhist chants
He became a complete Buddha.
Whether moving or still, busy or resting,
There's never the slightest variation.
He chants to the point where his heart
is not scattered.
He is the Dharma King.
This means he presides over every creature on earth!
(Do you realize that this makes us all members of his
family?)
Floating on West
Lake with the Truly Venerable Xi Tian Mu
Through this impenetrable fog
His mind surges confidently.
Who steers this boat?
His heart - clear as the Autumn water
His body - pure and undefiled as the white clouds.
Being with him is just like being immersed in the True
Emptiness;
Why in my breast do I cling to the dross of worldly
problems?
This trusted master has the Three Secret Powers.
Can I not, with him, roam the oceans and the heavens?
On Living at Yun Yi
Shi
(a place name which means
"the stone moved by the clouds")
I like it best when I'm living out in
the open,
As in the old days when I'd forget the years were
passing,
When I'd follow where fate led me.
I thought nothing could change me.
But the Pearl of the Heart works in
such an exquisitely subtle way.
It fills you. .. makes you feel complete with Heaven's
Nature.
There's no need to move.
Before the beginning of this senseless
world
The clouds moved this fist of a stone right here
To this very place.
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Mountain Living Mountain living! There's deep meaning here!
A place where your spirits open up without limit.
Lean on a pine trunk for your pillow.
Wake from your nap and make yourself some tea.
Mountain living! No guests arriving!
The path through the bamboo grove is locked in smoke and
mist.
Near the front door a clear brook flows
The wind carries small flowers on the water.
Mountain living! Spring comes so early.
Plum blossoms are everywhere you look.
Their subtle fragrance captures the attention of your
nose.
See or smell the slanting branch just outside the window.
Song of Walking
Standing Sitting Lying
Walking in the mountains
You step through clouds at the tip of the ridge
And seen in the reflected light
The earth has not a speck of dust.
Standing in the mountains
You avoid the road of life and death
You can open your eyes and see a thousand saints
But they don't turn to look at you.
Sitting in the mountains
You spend the whole long day like this
Sitting till you wear through the mat
No word of any teaching drops into your lap.
Lying in the mountains
You imagine you've a mule or horse beneath you.
You'll get through. Master is an old man.
He knows the way by heart.
Traveling Mount Jun
... (a mountain in Hunan)
which is in central China
and no where near the Indian border ...
That year, the Indian border was
opened...
That day, I was able to climb Mount Jun.
The clouds were clear and all the peaks exquisite
The forests, high and nestled in the shadows.
I called out and the echo of my voice startled a bird
from its dreams.
The soughing of the pines became a song of Chan.
I came to a cave; and in the water floor of its hall
My heart became clear, reflecting both its heaven
And its earth.
On Living in a Cave
of Stone
A stone cave. That's the ultimate in
cleanliness and refinement. But live alone. Don't concern
yourself with the business of life. Get a round mat made
of rushes. Take a meditation pose and sit.
Then, the body will become like just so
many bubbles. The wheels of life will roll into
timelessness. When you enter deepest meditation Your
Inner Being will be wrapped in Being, Itself.
The great material world will vanish.
How could those grains of sand remain?
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