Every day in the morning, Zen master Ruiyan would slap himself in the face and say, "Don't be fooled by anything today!" To which he responded, "No I won't."
What does this mean?
It means he was entering the last phase of self-mastery. He was not accepting any concept. In fact, ANY concept that arose, he would cut it down.
After one has attained a sense of completeness, you realize that contentment comes from not accepting anyone's "truth" except your own. And, you yourself have no truth at all, no concepts, no understanding, and as soon as anyone throws a concept at you, you knock it away, leaving you just walking forward, straight ahead, not fooled by any "truth."
This was said even more cogently by the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng, who said, "The only truth is that there is no truth; beware even of this truth."
So many cannot imagine living in freedom where the only "book" they read is their own intuition in the moment, an intuition derived from throwing all books, teachings and teachers away.
Realizing the Manifest Self--the Life Force permeating our humanity--and the Unmanifest source from which it arises.
about once a year i get a real glimpse of living nakedly, intuitively, like you describe.
ReplyDeleteit used to be once a month, so i'm getting worse.
pretty soon i'll be dead thank god.
Bravo! Bravo!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Matthew
OMG, John, that is so damn funny, and trust me, I needed a laugh about right now. Burning alive with intense rage and jealousy.
ReplyDeleteSeriously John, you should get on facebook. Those half baked gurus would have an awesome time trying to fix you. LOL
Great piece of writing Ed.
Love,
Joan
half baked gurus? No such thing as that...perfection at work. You see through your own ideas of what fully baked should be...
ReplyDeleteRuby
I read this yesterday but missed the full impact of what is being .... or rather is not..................................................................
ReplyDeleteFully baked, fully steamed, what's the difference?
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the latter has been seasoned to taste :-)
Mark
Rama!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you ruby.
ReplyDeleteSara
this resonates harmoniously and this silence is peace.
ReplyDeleteisaac