by Hakuin Ekaku Zenji
All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas. As with water
and ice, there is no ice without water; apart from sentient
beings, there are no Buddhas. Not knowing how close the
truth is. we seek it far away – what a pity!
We are like one who in the midst of water cries out desperately
in thirst. We are like the son of a rich man who wandered away
among the poor. The reason we transmigrate through the Six
Realms is because we are lost in the darkness of ignorance.
Going further and further astray in the darkness, how can we
ever be free from birth-and-death? As for the Mahayana practice
of zazen, there are no words to praise it fully. The Six Paramitas,
such as giving, maintaining the precepts, and various other good
deeds like invoking the Buddha’s name, repentance, and spiritual
training, all finally return to the practice of zazen. Even those who
have sat zazen only once will see all karma erased. Nowhere will
they find evil paths, and the Pure Land will not be far away. If we
listen even once with open heart to this truth, then praise it and
gladly embrace it, how much more so then, if on reflecting within
ourselves we directly realize Self-nature, giving proof to the truth
that Self-nature is no-nature. We will have gone far beyond idle
speculation. The gate of the oneness of cause and effect is thereby
opened, and not-two, not-three, straight ahead runs the Way.
Realizing the form of no-form as form, whether going or returning
we cannot be any place else. Realizing the thought of no-thought
as thought, whether singing or dancing, we are the voice of the
Dharma.
How vast and wide the unobstructed sky of samadhi! How bright
and clear the perfect moonlight of the Fourfold Wisdom! At this
moment what more need we seek? As the eternal tranquillity of
Truth reveals itself to us, this very place is the land of Lotuses
and this very body is the body of the Buddha.
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