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Life and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain.

Bodhidharma

Whoever realizes that the six senses aren’t real, that the five aggregates are fictions, that no such things can be located anywhere in the body, understands the language of Buddhas.
BODHIDHARMA

Aggregate Anywhere Body Fiction Five Locate Realize Sense Such Thing
In order to see a fish you must watch the water
BODHIDHARMA

Fish Nothing Order See Seek
As long as you’re enthralled by a lifeless form, you’re not free.
BODHIDHARMA

Enthrailed Free Lifeless Long
Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher’s help.
BODHIDHARMA

Enlight Million One Only Person Teacher
Those who worship don’t know, and those who know don’t worship.
BODHIDHARMA

Know Worship
And as long as you’re subject to birth and death, you’ll never attain enlightenment.
BODHIDHARMA

Attain Birth Death Enlightenment Long never Subject
Still others commit all sorts of evil deeds, claiming karma doesn’t exist. They erroneously maintain that since everything is empty, committing evil isn’t wrong. Such persons fall into a hell of endless darkness with no hope of release. Those who are wise hold no such conception.
BODHIDHARMA

Claim Commit Deed Evil Exist Karma Other Sort
Regardless of what we do, our karma has no hold on us.
BODHIDHARMA

Hold Karma Regard Us
Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom.
BODHIDHARMA

Engage Ignorance Wisdom
All Buddhas preach emptiness. Why? Because they wish to crush the concrete ideas of the students. If a student even clings to an idea of emptiness, he betrays all Buddhas.
BODHIDHARMA

Buddha Cling Concrete Crush Emptiness Idea Preach Student
But deluded people don’t realize that their own mind is the Buddha. They keep searching outside.
BODHIDHARMA

Buddha Develop Keep Mind Own People Realize Search
At every moment where language can’t go, that’s your mind.
BODHIDHARMA

Every Moment Language Mind
If you see your nature, you don’t need to read sutras or invoke buddhas. Erudition and knowledge are not only useless but also cloud your awareness. Doctrines are only for pointing to the mind. Once you see your mind, why pay attention to doctrines?
BODHIDHARMA

Buddha Nature Need See Sutras
Worship means reverence and humility. It means revering your real self and humbling delusions. If you can wipe out evil desires and harbor good thoughts, even if nothing shows, it’s worship. Such form is its real form.
BODHIDHARMA

Delusion Humanity Humbling Mean Real Reverence Self Worship
I never lost or fail, not yet conquered. If I fall seven times, I get up eight
BODHIDHARMA

Conquered Eight Fall never
Leaving behind the false, return to the true: make no discriminations between self and others. In contemplation, one’s mind should be stable and unmoving, like a wall.
BODHIDHARMA

Behind Discrimination False Leave Make Other Return Self True

Life and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain.

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Life and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain.

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