r/zen • u/[deleted] • Mar 14 '18

Huang Po: Motionless Mind

Not til your thoughts cease their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.

  • Huang Po
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u/TFnarcon9 Mar 14 '18

will you be on the right road to the Gate.

So what road will/can you take until your thoughts cease?...whatever it is it won’t be towards the gate.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

The Gateless Gate.

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u/TFnarcon9 Mar 14 '18

The road you will take will be the gate less gate? I don’t understand.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

There is no road you can take "until you thoughts cease."

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u/TFnarcon9 Mar 14 '18

What do you do until then?

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

Make no distinction between now and "then" and you realize you've been on the path the entire time.

The decision is yours, whether or not you want to take that first step.

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u/TFnarcon9 Mar 14 '18

If you can take a ‘first step’ towards no thought, and no thought leads you to the gate...then you are really just saying that the first step is towards the gate...which Huangbo says is a no go.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

No, the first step is already the Way. You believe that the gate or the Way is a destination, when its clearly not-- It's the journey.

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u/TFnarcon9 Mar 14 '18

Could you explain more about the journey being the destination (not trying to be snarky)?

u/mackowski

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

Butting in.

In Zen Buddhism the journey is definitely not the destination, as the destination is an unbinding, Nibbana, a total freedom, where the journey requires practice, study, and change in the manner of purging your mind of its defilements and delusions.

People here often confuse the destination for the journey, which is why they are drug addicts living in their mom's basement but think they're on the cusp of enlightenment. Hilarious.

The journey is work. The destination is no more work.

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u/essentialsalts Dionysiac Monster & Annihilator of Morality Mar 14 '18

Cusp of enlightenment?

This may be exciting news for you then... there are plenty of drug addicts living in their mom’s basement who have acquired anuttara-samyaksambodhi... on this very forum!

If you weren’t such a religious troll maybe you could learn some enlightenment tips from them.

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u/TFnarcon9 Mar 14 '18

I don’t understand this:

people often confuse the destination for the journey

Additionally as a side note, didn’t you tell me that you believed the journey is the destination the other day?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

I disagree. Sitting in Zazen, goalless, without any disturbance, without any conceptual discrimination, is already the Way. Nirvana is right here before our eyes, like low hanging fruit. Nirvana isn’t a goal, it’s something that is already possessed in our Buddha Nature.

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u/HakuninMatata Mar 14 '18

I disagree. In non-Zen Buddhism, the journey is not the destination. Zen is that form of Buddhism characterised by the journey being the destination. That doesn't mean doing no work, though.

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u/Kingrap1441 Mar 14 '18

I feel like you shouldn't be judging other parts of the onemind for their shortcomings. If you're spending your free time the same way in the same place are you really any better then them for their situation? Drugs are the same as any other worldly possession, how long can you go without Reddit? Aren't you an addict too?

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u/WreCK_ed Mar 15 '18

Buddha continued meditating and practicing rigorously after enlightenment. The destination includes being comfortable while striving and working, not seeking to reach a place of rest because of aversion to work.

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