Followers of the Way, even if you know how to explain and interpret a hundred volumes of Sutras and Treatises, better it is to be peaceful and a master who has nothing further to seek. If you know how to interpret and explain, you hold others in contempt and create hellish Karma with the competitive mind of the Asuras and the ignorance of man’s ego like the monk Sonsong who completed the study of the Twelve Divisions of the Teachings, yet fell living into hell. The earth no longer could hold him. Far better to have nothing further to seek, and to put oneself at ease. When hungry, I eat my food. When sleepy, I shut my eyes. Fools laugh at me; the wise understand.
Commentary:
Having intellectual knowledge of Buddhism and enlightenment, no matter how vast it may be, is not as good as being a peaceful man who has nothing further to seek by realising that everything is empty. You should know that enlightenment cannot be attained by accumulating knowledge but rather by doing away with it because what can be increased or decreased is an illusion. Despising people with less knowledge than yours and feeling competitive towards those who have more knowledge than you do is to create hellish karma. Once you have realised that you are the true-Self itself you are looking for and that whatever you do and speak is the function of the true-Self, eating a meal when hungry and sleeping when sleepy is much better than pursuing enlightenment through intellectual understanding.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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