Rinzai 116

Followers of the Way, the one right here before your eyes and listening to the Dharma talk is he who enters fire without being burnt, goes into water without being drowned, and plays about in the three deepest hells, as if in a garden; he enters the world of hungry ghosts and dumb animals without being molested by them. Why is this so? Because there is nothing he dislikes. If you love the sacred and dislike the worldly, you will go on floating and sinking in the ocean of birth and death.

Commentary:

‘The one here before your eyes and listening to the Dharma’ means ‘The true-Self is everywhere and there is no place without it. You cannot cease to see it even for a moment even though you close your eyes, and it is listening to my Dharma talk with you at this moment’. The reason why the true-Self is neither burnt in fire nor drowned in water is that fire and water are just the functions of the true-Self. The essence of everything, including the deepest hells and the world of hungry ghosts, is the true-Self. Things such as the hungry ghosts and hells are all just illusions, the products of the result of your failing to see the true-Self as it is. Whatever things may happen, when you see them as they are, they are not different from the true-Self. Thus, clinging to the sacred and avoiding the worldly, you are still deluded by the illusions of the sacred and the worldly without knowing that both are just one in essence as the true-Self.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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