*Amongst White Clouds*

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Once delusion is extinguished
your wisdom arises naturally.
You don't differentiate suffering and joy
because this joy and this suffering
they are the same, the same.
Don't put the plants to close, they need space.
quiescence (calmness) and action, you can't separate.
Don't distinguish these, there is no difference.
Put your heart into work, work with one mind
with one mind, all this is done in no time.
Even work is very calm, don't get distracted,
if you work, just work.
Don't heat your bed, if you don't practice lying in cold,
You will always feel cold in winter.
You must understand the practice,
or you will get lost in the mountains,
because it will be like torture.
People eat dirt, dirt eats people.
No matter what you do, we must return to earth.
None of this is real, everything returns to this.
If you see through the world and let go of it,
This is wisdom.
If you see through it, but don't let it go.
that's just talking about zen.
"Ten thousand things, all in this breath.
Grasping hold of emptiness
there is really nothing to say."
Ten thousand things, all in this breath -
Why are people in this world so busy?
For just one breath they say busy, mine
busy a whole lifetime for "me"
but when this breath is cut off
you let go of the whole universe.
Why not let go from the start?
Grasping hold of emptyness -
You want to talk about "real"
show me one thing that is real.
There's nothing real from the start.
Every day morning to night,
gathering things big and small,
valuables, money, name and recognition
gathering it all up into your lap
like you're holding the golden key.
Busy your whole life for nothing
acting like a thief.
Why not put all this energy into liberation
put this mind to the path?
Everyone in the world is controllbed by desire.
Shed this control and you'll be free, content and liberated.
There is really nothing to say -
The Lengyuan Scripture says:
"Though there are words to speak,
none of these are real.
Talks are like flowers falling from heaven - worthless
and so, there is really nothing to say.
If you think that what you are grasping is real
it's no good, because you can't take with you.
- Is Nature is a delusion?
What is nature?
Delusion is nature,
nature is delusion.
- The clothes we wear and food we eat aren't from nature?
Our food and clothes are natural?
Well if that's natural,
why don't you sit on the rock and don't move?
Your belly will become full,
your clothes will crawl onto your body, cover you.
This is nature, so is this natural?
What wisdom is there in solitude?
What changes in a person
living so close to birth and death and nature?
Do I feel myself in this?
Are we somehow different from that old tree,
dying to be reborn?
This life, the struggle, there is something in this nature,
something in us all, a calm, a clarity
in the face of change and uncertainty.
You live in the mountains a few years,
and then you go into town,
you sit on the bus,
you look at all those people and you feel:
Who are you struggling for?
Who are you troubled for?
People living in the mountains
practicing here one, two four or five years,
they don't think about these mundane and trivial matters.
They are quiet.
If this reckless delusional mindful
has not been extinguished
everyday you will have thoughts like
is it good or bad,
should I, shouldn't I?
You can't stop it.
- What's this we call "reckless delusional mind"?
This is your habitual ways of thinking.
It's because of theses thoughts
that you are always bumping heads with reality
everywhere stubbing your toe.
Your delusional mind taking control.
Once you become aware of these mental habits, you practice
if not then you go along with your negative habits
and it's like you're stuck in a cloth-dying vat.
You'll never come clean.
This is the reason for living in the mountains.
- Do you remember the day you left home to become monk?
When I was young it was my family's influence
when I was a little child,
my grandma took me to the temple.
At that time children liked going to the temple.
The temple was a place, where people learned good things.
A place where people become Buddhas and saints.
When I was young my father died.
My grandma was so good to me, and she died too.
I realized people can't escape birth and death.
The people who make you so happy,
the people you can't live without, they leave you.
No one could explain this to me
when I was just a little boy, I had this heart.
Later I went to Dayan Temple.
I went in and saw those buddha statues
their posture and their their energy was so dignified
so quiet and calm.
It felt likes they were great resting beings with no troubles.
They were not created, they were not destroyed
they were happy all the time.
I thought, if there is a way to become a buddha
I will leave home, become a monk... right now
I was a teenager then.
The buddha said only the very courageous
are able to become a monk or nun
because it's so difficult to let go of this world.
You must let go of it all
enjoyment, social life, conjugal love
you must let go of this all
and give your life to buddha.
You live alone in a hut
not a single person near you.
You feel so lonely, really so very lonely
but after a long time
you don't want to go down off the mountain.
You feel the cities are just a lot of trouble.
All those emotions and desire,
they fool and trouble you.
People in the world aren't balanced
love and hate, they do both to extremes.
You have to take this heart
and make it bigger
compassion can overcome all hardships.
If you see all beings with a compassionate heart
then your heart is big and then these troubles are gone.
Every morning and evening I do my service
then I do some sitting meditation.
In the afternoon I read a bit, I'm very free.
I had a lot of trouble leaving home
I left home three times
my family wouldn't let me
they went and found me and brought me back
- And now they can't find you?
They know, but I've been a monk so long
they don't care anymore.
When I was in school I liked to read novels
Chinese Classical Novels
I read "Journey to the West".
I thought being a monk would be great.
According to buddhist rules,
if there is noone to take care of your parents
you can't leave home.
I have a brother at home, he takes care of my parents
so I feel okay about being a monk.
I have no regrets.
There are things you learn as a monk
that you can't learn as a house-holder.
In a married life, if you find a good wife
someone who believes in Buddhism
then you can still practice
but if she doesn't believe it
you can't even eat vegetarian
you can't live happily together.
There are good things about being a monk
and good things about being a house-holder
but in the end a householder
is still stuck in the mundane world.
"I've lived on cold mountain so many years,
following the way of forests and springs...
No one will visit, joust clouds floating by.
Grass for a bed
blue sky for a quilt
happy with a rock as a pillow
let the world go about its changes."
Hanshan, Tang Dynasty
I haven't got a plan
I'm not a saint
I can't manipulate my surroundings
I don't have any ability.
Everything is just following
this natural cause and effect
that's what buddhism teaches, right?
I'm just hanging out here, passing the days
You can't force this, push hard, you get hardship!
Living in the forest is a tradition
every day, every drop of energy goes into the practice
it's not easy to open this wisdom gate.
You have to eat a little bitter
if you can't swallow the bitter down
it's not so easy.
You take care of yourself, do your bit
every day you don't think about anything else.
All of the great masters
if they hadn't endured some hardship
they would not have opened their wisdom.
When I first came here, that was true hardship
but how does it compare to the great masters?
When I first arrived I lived at Wangjaping
we ate the weeds growing outside the gate
we ate dandelion and some grains of rice.
What about the great masters form the past?
Master Shiying ate tree bark
at least we had weeds to eat!
These great masters are a model for us, an example.
Everything is a trial.
You can't be afraid of hardships
the more the hardship
the more you move forward.
There is this physical hardship
but the mental hardship is most important
If you see a demon it is your mind.
It's not just any demon
you don't want to grasp hold of it
don't fear it, don't hurt it.
Just sit and don't move
something happens outside
you let go of it, examine yourself
meditate quietly.
Go into the mountain of jewels
and come out empty handed
Everyone has jewels
it depends whether you can use them or not.
The time I spend with my master
has been a constant challenge.
To balance and disolve contradictions
between the spiritual and mundane.
Work is spiritual culturation.
Leaving the world is a means to return to it.
- Are you enlightened?
No, are you enlightened?
- I felt amazing, but I still get angry, still felt confused.
It's no good to follow old habits.
Observe your mind
habits are your old problems, your old ignorance.
You need to know your mind
it's just understanding life.
Have to get it straight, before everything else.
You must understand this mind
True mind and delusional mind
finally you can see your true nature.
Seeing your Buddha Nature happens in a flash
then after that your delusions and ignorance are gone.
It's not to say I'm a Buddha and you are not!
Everyone is a Buddha!
This heart is nothing but Amita Buddha!
Even bird, an ant, they are all Buddhas too!
It's just that we don't recognize it in ourselves.
This is just obstrctions from our past.
Buddha is mindfulness
mindfulness is wisdom, that is Buddha.
Therefor Mind is Buddha!
People become Buddhas!
It's not just "The Buddha"
past, present and future
It's people who become Buddhas you know!
All forms of life, practice to become human.
Practice more and become a Buddha.
So all of you living here
It's not easy I tell you
If you can live here
You're sure to arrive in the Pure Land.
If I'm lying I'll go straight to hell.
If you're afraid of hardship then just leave!
No room for that here, no joke!
We are the Buddha's disciple.
One of the monks here explained to me
the importance of the master disciple relationship in Buddhism.
He said: Once a master sees into his own mind,
he can see into the mind of the student
understand his barriers, his progress and lead him in this way.
Once a master sees into his own true mind,
his true nature, all the wisdom in the texts,
and in the tradition is hidden
and he becomes it, sees through it.
So it seems like asking an enlightened master
is the same as asking Buddha himself.
- Can you tell us about yourself
what you feel when you mediate?
That's hard to say, everyone is different
I've never really studied meditation, I just sit.
This has to do with your own self-cultivation.
If you can cultivate your own mind
then you can learn something really great from others.
So it depends on your own self-observation.
Once you cultivate your practice,
you just give yourself to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Then you realy on your heart and practice
no fear of hardship, no fear of suffering
when the bitter ends, there is sweetness
resist all this wild guessing and grappling.
You coming here shows our connection.
Without this natural connection,
You'd have never come here.
People need this connection to meet.
If I didn't open my gate
You'd have just waited there
Wouldn't that have meant that
We don't have this connection?
We plant seeds in the spring
That's why we meet.
Have some tea and then we talk.
You want to listen something about Zen?
There is nothing to tell.
It's all in the texts - me right now
I haven't saved myself,
I can't save anyone.
Nothing to say.
If you don't have any ability
you are like a blind person.
You want to liberate beings
but you can't find the path yourself.
People with experience
they can explain the path
they've been to this land of "no creation, no destruction"
they've entered the fortress
they come back down this road and write it all down
and tell everyone.
If you haven't been there
you can't lead anyone down the road
and you can't liberate anyone.
Holding on to this self is birth and death
the birth-less, death-less self,
I have yet to see - have you seen it?
Just talking is no good!
You can memorize all texts but it won't help you
without discipline, meditation and wisdom.
It's nonsense to think that you will be liberated in this life.
- You said that you walk this road.
If you get lost you can ask others for directions,
but living alone in the mountains, you must still get lost sometimes.
Who do you ask, how do you find the path? (it's about his practice, nor a real r
oad)
You read the texts, right? That's who you ask.
The texts contain the true path to buddhahood.
With a little ability, wherever your mind arrives
you see, the text talks about that place.
Your mind is there, and the text talks about it
so you have arrived there, right?
Now if you don't have this ability
even if you read something in a text
if you mind isn't there, then you won't understand
so you practice more.
It's easy to read a text, but difficult to understand it.
The buddha is like a doctor
and beings are like patients.
A doctor gives a prescription for an illness
different illness, different medicine
there are many hearts in this world
the buddha has a teaching for the heart of every being.
If everyone had the same mind
then he could speak just one teaching
but the illnesses are so many
and the doctor must prescribe many remedies
because the sickness is different, right.
When ignorance is exhausted
we see our Original Nature.
In the sea of suffering
beings don't know if they have this Buddha nature.
The buddhas teachings are all aimed
at showing us this nature.
The Lotus Scripture says "The one great vow
is to lead all beings to see what a buddha sees
see like a buddha see and witness what a buddha sees."
You practice according to the teachings
with meditation, discipline and wisdom
and break apart this false self
false self covers our buddha nature
so beings can't see it.
On a cloudy day, you can't see the sun.
That's not to say there is no sun, right?
there's nothing wrong with the sun,
it's just that we can't see it.
Our Buddha nature is just like that.
Beings in this world live in ignorance.
They summon heaven and summon hell
if we have negative awareness
then this world is hell.
If we have kind awareness
then this world is heaven.