The nature of the Absolute is neither perceptible nor imperceptible; and with phenomena it is just the same. But to one who has discovered his real nature, how can there be anywhere or anything separate from it?...
...Therefore it is said: 'The perception of a phenomenon IS the perception of the Universal Nature, since phenomena and Mind are one and the same.'
Source: The Zen Teachings of Huang Po - on the Transmission of Mind - translation by John Blofeld
Add to Library | Favorites
More quotes about: huang po, buddhism, zen, mind, void, enlightenment, nature, perception, phenomenon, universal

Help




One quite morning, sipping tea, and reading this passage, I stopped to try and get it. I looked at a large Bougainvillea plant repeating to myself, “I don't know what that is but there it is,” trying to take on the meaning of phenomena, like the Absolute, being neither perceptible nor imperceptible. I had an inner dialogue about how I could know about the plant but I didn't know it and yet, again, there it is.
Whoosh! I had a sudden One-ness that words will never express. Suffice to say I got a satori. I saw that the bush was nothing but there it was and that I was nothing but there I was and then I realized that there is NOTHING TO LEARN! Then like any novice I've since gone chasing after that realization thereby losing it to some degree. Enter Zen from there, huh?
…that's the wordless transmission of Mind for ya!