The monk asked, “What is breaking the peace of the Sangha?” The master said, “Realising that one thought and one mind are tied to illusions and that there is nothing to depend on is breaking the peace of the Sangha.” The monk asked, “What is the burning of scriptures and statues?” “If, seeing that karma, causation is empty, that mind is empty, and that things are empty, you decisively become Oneness and feel detached, this is burning the scriptures and statues.”
Commentary:
Practitioners are so addicted to the words ‘the mind is the Buddha’ that they tend to be attached to the illusion of the mind. The Buddha, the true-Self is essentially nameless and mind, the Buddha and the true-Self are not the essence of it but just labels used for the sake of convenience. If you, realising that every thought, even the thought ‘mind’ is nothing but an illusion, can be sure that there is nothing to depend on, this is breaking the peace of the Sangha because you are not deluded any more by the illusions such as ‘peace’ and ‘Sangha’.
If you, seeing everything, including karma and mind, as empty, become Oneness and stay detached from whatever reaches your eyes and ears, this is said to be burning the scriptures and statues because you are not deluded by the words of the scriptures and the forms of statues.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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