Life and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain.
BODHIDHARMALife and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain.
BODHIDHARMAOnce you see your nature, sex is basically immaterial.
BODHIDHARMAAs long as you’re enthralled by a lifeless form, you’re not free.
BODHIDHARMAWhoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of anything real knows that his own mind neither exists nor doesn’t exist.
BODHIDHARMAIf 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?
BODHIDHARMABut this mind isn’t somewhere outside the material body of the four elements. Without this mind we can’t move. The body has no awareness. Like a plant or a stone, the body has no nature. So how does it move? It’s the mind that moves.
BODHIDHARMAThe awareness of mortals falls short. As long as they’re attached to appearances, they’re unaware that their minds are empty. And by mistakenly clinging to the appearance of things they lose the Way.
BODHIDHARMATo find a Buddha all you have to do is see your nature.
BODHIDHARMAWithout the mind there is no Buddha. Without the Buddha there’s no mind.
BODHIDHARMAOur nature is the mind. And the mind is our nature.
BODHIDHARMANot creating delusions is enlightenment.
BODHIDHARMAThe Way is basically perfect. It doesn’t require perfecting.
BODHIDHARMAOne clings to life although there is nothing to be called life; another clings to death although there is nothing to be called death. In reality, there is nothing to be born; consequently, there is nothing to perish.
BODHIDHARMANot thinking about anything is zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is zen. To know that the mind is empty is to see the buddha…. Using the mind to reality is delusion. Not using the mind to look for reality is awareness. Freeing oneself from words is liberation.
BODHIDHARMAI do not need any writing, since I transmit teaching beyond words and ideas.
BODHIDHARMAPeople who don’t see their own nature and imagine they can practice thoughtlessness all the time are liars and fools.
BODHIDHARMA