Rinzai 32
The master said, “Today’s students of the Buddha-Dharma need to attain genuine insight. If you have genuine insight, birth and death will not affect you and you will be free to come and to go.”
Genuine insight means enlightenment, the eye of wisdom that can see everything as empty. To see everything as empty is to know that everything is an illusion and not to be deluded by illusions. When you have genuine insight, you naturally become free from birth and death since you’ve realised that they are empty.
Tripping over or being trapped by the illusions which are imaginary lines created by us is said to be no other than suffering. Birth and death are also typical illusions which we are very firmly attached to. ‘Be free to come and go’ means not to be trapped by, or not to trip over illusions, which is not to be deluded by illusions.
To sum up, if you have genuine insight, you are free from birth and death because you are not deluded by illusions such as birth and death.
Student: “How can I attain genuine insight?”
Master: “Don’t be deluded by the illusion of genuine insight.”
©Boo Ahm
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