A dharma teaching by Linji (d. 866):
“If you want to be free to live or to die, to go or to stay as you would put on or take off clothes, then right now recognize the one listening to my discourse, the one who has no form, no characteristics, no root, no source, no dwelling place, and yet is bright and vigorous. Of all his various responsive activities, none leaves any traces.
Followers of the Way, don’t acknowledge this illusory companion, your body – sooner or later it will return to impermanence. What is it you seek in this world that you think will bring you emancipation? You hunt about for a mouthful to eat and while away time patching your robe. You should be searching for a good teacher!
Don’t just drift along pursuing comfort. Value every second. Each successive thought-moment passes quickly away. The grosser part of you is at the mercy of [the four elements]: earth, water, fire, and wind; the subtler part of you is at the mercy of the four phases: birth, being, decay, and death.
Followers of the Way, you must right now apprehend the state in which the four elements are formless, so that you may avoid being buffeted about by circumstances.”
Someone asked, “What is the state in which the four elements are formless?”
The master said, “An instant of doubt in your mind and you’re obstructed by earth; an instant of lust in your mind and you’re drowned by water; an instant of anger in your mind and you’re scorched by fire; an instant of joy in your mind and you’re blown about by wind. Gain such discernment as this, and you’re not turned this way and that by circumstances.”
(Sasaki, Ruth Fuller; ed. Kirchner, Thomas:
The record of Linji. Honolulu 2009, p. 198-201)
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