To a friend;
I have a friend who is not well.
My friend is dying.
I offer this Dharma;
I know that this Dharma is not from the Buddha.
It is from
Roshi Bassui Tokusho who was a true follower who understood the Dharma.
"... so you should realize that all the names of the bodhisattvas are just different names for the nature of mind.
As an expedient in the World-Honored-One's sermons, I defined things using certain names, and with these names I point to the truth.
Ordinary people, unaware of this truth, become attached to the names and, in the hope of attaining Buddhahood, seek the Buddha and Dharma outside their minds.
It's like cooking sand in the hopes of producing rice."
Roshi Bassui
wrote the following letter to one of his disciples who was about to die:
"The essence of your mind is not born,
so it will never die.
It is not an existence, which is perishable.
It is not an emptiness, which is a mere void.
It has neither colour nor form.
It enjoys no pleasures and suffers no pain."
"I know you are very ill. Like a good student,
you are facing that sickness squarely.
You may not know exactly who is suffering, but question yourself:
What is the essence of this mind?
Think only of this.
You will need no more. Covet nothing.
Your end which is endless is as a snowflake dissolving in pure air."
In 1387 (at the age of 61), as Roshi Bassui was sitting in meditation with his followers, he turned to them and shouted twice:
"Look straight ahead. What's there?
If you see it as it is
You will never err."
He then died.
I wish for my friend,
and you all, to be guarded and guided.
With Metta
Nathan
Sent from my iPhone and
http://www.dharmamaster.com
With love
