Enlightenment is Actual Existence
Vinaya Master Yuan came to Huihai and asked:
“Master, when you practice the Way, do you make any effort?”
“Yes, I do make effort.”
“How do you make effort?”
“When hungry, I eat; when tired, I sleep.”
“Everyone does that – can we say they make the same effort as you?”
“No, it’s not the same.”
“Why is it different?”
“When they eat, they don’t actually eat but instead engage in a thousand discriminations. When they sleep, they don’t actually sleep but instead scheme a thousand plots. That’s how their effort differs from mine.”
‘When they eat, they don’t actually eat but instead engage in a thousand discriminations…’
Why do we suffer? Why do we create conflicts within ourselves? Why is there such a vast gap between our will and our actions? Why do our thoughts and actual existence grow increasingly distant?
You cannot enjoy the simple act of walking while walking. You think while walking. You think while eating. You drag events from two hours ago into your meal and contemplate them again. Your focus is misaligned because you’re not experiencing true existence. While in this world of actual existence, you sigh over the past; while in this present world, you sink into worry about the future. You have never truly experienced existence as it is.
Only the enlightened one truly experiences actual existence. To genuinely experience the world as it truly is, you must inevitably move toward enlightenment. This is because enlightenment lies at the end of all paths.
Source: “선문답의 정수 전등록 강의: 더 나아갈 수 없는 길 3” (The Essence of Zen Questions and Answers – Lectures on the Transmission of the Lamp: The Path of No Further Progress, Vol. 3)
Original text from: 6gaknara.com
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