Hsin Shin Ming: “67. If not thus, nothing should be kept.”
‘If not thus’ means ‘If it is not like what has been described so far about the true-Self’. ‘Nothing should be kept’ means that we should not treasure anything that doesn’t accord with what has been accounted for so far’.
However, you should not make the mistake of thinking that there is something to keep. The scripture means that we should discard what doesn’t conform with what has been explained so far and not that we should cling to and keep something. When all that should be discarded has been removed, that is, when all illusions are discarded, there is nothing left but the true-Self, which is not what can be kept or lost once we have realised it, since we are the true-Self itself. Then, we don’t have to try to keep it since we are to the true-Self as wind is to air.
Student: “What should I keep?”
Master: “Discard all you can keep. Keep what you can’t keep.”
Student: “How can I keep what I can’t keep?”
Master: “No effort is needed because it keeps itself.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
#zen #meditation #zenmeditation #enlightened #enlightenment #zenfools #photography http://ow.ly/i/JYzRQ
Zen Fools 