Toronto Zen Circle Group
39 Pinehurst Crescent M9A3A4 Toronto, ON, Canada

Primordial awareness ~ Dogen Zenji https://justdharma.com/s/edosc Primordial awareness is in essence perfect and pervades everywhere. How could it be dependent ...upon what anyone does to practice or realize it? The movement of reality does not need us to give it a push. Do I need to say that it is free from delusion? The vast expanse of reality can never be darkened by the dust of presumptions. Who then could believe that it needs to cleaned of such dust to be what it is? It is never separate from where you are, so why scramble around in search of it? Dogen Zenji source: http://wwzc.org/dharma-te/fukanzazengi-how-everyone-can-sit

Rishi Valley 1983 - School Discussion (Students) 3 - Where do I look to see what I am?

BASSUI’S FIRST LETTER TO THE ZEN PRIEST IGUCHI I have read your presentations at length, but it misses the point of the koan. The Sixth Patriarch said: 'The fl...ag doesn't move, the wind doesn't move, only your mind moves.' To realize this clearly is to perceive that the universe and yourself are of the same root, that you and every single thing are a unity. The gurgle of the stream and the sigh of the wind are the voices of the master. The green of pine, the white of snow, these are the colors of the master, the very one who lifts the hands, moves the legs, sees, hears. One who grasps this directly without recourse to reason or intellection can be said to have some degree of inner realization- But this is not yet full enlightenment. An ancient Zen master [Rinzai] said: "You should not cling to the idea that you are Pure-essence." And again: "Your physical body, composed of the four basic elements, can't hear or understand this preaching. The empty-space can't understand this preaching. Then what is it that hears and understands?" Meditate fully and directly on these words. Take hold of this koan as though wielding the jewel-sword of the Vajra king. Cut down whatever appears in the mind. When thoughts of mundane matters arise, cut them off. When notions of Buddhism arise, likewise lop them off. In short, destroy all ideas, whether of realization, of Buddhas, or of devils, and all day long pursue the question "What is it that hears this preaching?" When you have eradicated every conception until only emptiness remains, and then cut through even the emptiness, your mind will burst open and that which hears will manifest itself. Persevere, persevere-never quit halfway-until you reach the point where you feel as though you have risen from the dead. Only then will you be able to wholly resolve the momentous question "What is it that hears this preaching?" I am afraid it may be inconvenient for you to write me often, so I am writing you this [kind of detailed] letter. After you have read it drop it into the fire. - The Three Pillars of Zen - Entrance to Kogakuji, Bassui's monastery

"If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind. When t...he deep meaning of things is not understood the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail. Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things. Be serene in the oneness of things and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves. The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking and there is nothing you will not be able to know. To return to the root is to find the meaning, but to pursue appearances is to miss the source. The changes that appear to occur in the empty world we call real only because of our ignorance. Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions. When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way, nothing in the world can offend, and when a thing can no longer offend, it ceases to exist in the old way." ~Seng Tsan, Third Patriarch of Zen Hsin Hsin Ming Verses of Faith in Mind

"What is to be obtained, is impermanent and objective. That which is omnipresent is not to be obtained but realized through awareness. We ARE pure, free and ...aware. Awareness itself is is true Knowledge, or Self-Realization, formless without characteristics." - Tat Wale Baba