A Lotus in flaming fire

Sitting with Eyes Open in the Flames of the World

516. Dharma Hall Discourse
The ancestral teacher N›g›rjuna said, “Zazen is exactly the Dharma of all
buddhas, and yet, those outside the way also have zazen. However, those
outside the way make the error of attaching to its taste and to the thorns
of false views. Therefore it is not the same as the zazen of buddhas and
bodhisattvas. The two vehicles of Ÿr›vakas [and pratyekabuddhas] also
have zazen. However, those two vehicles [seek to] control their own
minds, and have the tendency of seeking after nirv›˚a. Therefore, this is
different from the zazen of buddhas and bodhisattvas.”96
The teacher Dßgen said: The ancestral teacher N›g›rjuna spoke like this.
We should know that although the name of zazen (sitting meditation) is
used by those of the two vehicles and those outside the way, it is not the
same as the sitting transmitted by buddha ancestors. These days in the
mountains and temples of Song dynasty China, many careless, lazy eld￾ers do not understand this point. This is undoubtedly the degeneration of�
the Buddha Dharma. Brothers, you should know that only the ancestral
teacher [Bodhidharma] transmitted the true vein of Buddha Dharma,
doing zazen facing the wall. Since the Eihei era of the Later Han dynasty,
although there was sitting based on interpretations of writings, this was
completely outside the correct manner, which was only transmitted by the
ancestral teacher.97 Was this not truly the intimate transmission of the
Buddha Dharma? The buddha ancestors transmit zazen facing the wall,
which is not the same as the meditation of the two vehicles or those out￾side the way. The eye that sees before anything happens can open before
anything happens, just like the lotus blossom in flames in the twelfth
month.98

98 A lotus in flames implies practice in the midst of worldly desires, unlike those in the two
vehicles seeking the cessation of nirv›˚a. Its blossoming in the twelfth month is yet another
image of something rare and precious, like the transmission of the true practice.

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