947-1024, Chinese Chan Master
Attention / Awareness
When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a thousand books of scripture are still not enough. When you have realized understanding, even one word is already too much.
in Zen Essence: The Science of Freedom , Thomas Cleary, tr. & ed., 1989
Being / Essence / Soul
When you suddenly
Realize the source of mind,
You open a box of jewels.
Honorable on earth and in the heavens,
You are aloof even
From the joy of meditation.
The essence containing all flavors
Is the supreme delicacy,
Worth more than ten thousand
Ounces of pure gold.
Wisdom for The Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing , © 2004