Sunday 16 July 2017

137. ZEN REMARKS

137. Eka tells Bodhidharma that he has no peace of mind. Then he begs Bodhidharma to pacify his mind. In responding to Eka, Bodhidharma directs him to do something himself. He says, 'Bring your mind here and I will pacify it for you'. In this way he diverts Eka's attention from his concern with peace of mind to the issue of mind itself. All the energy that Eka had been expending so desperately in trying to find this thing called 'peace of mind' is now channelled by Bodhidharma into a search for mind itself. In this way Eka is directed to look deeper into himself. Bodhidharma here anticipates the teaching of Rinzai, a much later Chinese Zen master. Rinzai would tell his disciples not to waste time in compulsively looking around their neighbourhood for help. He would tell them, 'There is just one parenthood for you, and outside of it what do you wish to acquire? Just look within yourselves'.

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