Keep Thinking About It

A student asked Hakuin, "What can I do to become awakened to my own mind?"

Hakuin answered with a series of questions: "What is it that asks the questions? Is it your mind? Is it your original nature? Is it some kind of spirit or demon? Is it inside you? Outside you? Is it somewhere in between? Is it blue, yellow, red, or white?".

Hakuin advises to keep thinking about "it" with single-minded devotion no matter what you are doing.

Never Make Your Mind Into A Mirror

A Zen student was trying very hard to make his mind clear like a mirror. He sat quietly and tried to think of nothing. But thoughts inevitably kept distracting him. Feeling in despair he asked his master, "No matter how hard I try, I cannot clear my mind! What should I do?"

The master picked up a tile that was on the ground and began polishing it with his robe. Confused, the student asked, "Master, what are you doing?"

"I am polishing this tile to make it into a mirror."

"That's impposible! You cannot make a tile into a mirror," said the student.

The master smiled. "Nor can you make your mind into a mirror!"

Empty Your Cup

The master continued preparing the tea without a word. The scholar said, "I wanted to ask you about the idea of emptiness. How does it relate to the philosophical concept of being and nonbeing?"

The master silently handed him a cup and began to pour.

The student continued on with his many thoughts about philosophy: "I have thought a lot about theories of being and nonbeing. I have read Aristotle, Plato, and the existentialists. Sartre had an interesting theory, and of course Camus dealt with it. I think..."

The master kept pouring and pouring until the tea began spilling out.

Startled, the student said, "Master! My cup is overflowing!"

The master smiled and said simply, "As is your mind. How can I show you Zen if you don't first empty your cup?"

The Mind Ground

The teaching of the mind ground

Is the basis of Zen study.

The mind ground is the 

Great awareness of being as is.

~Fayan~

Emptiness Is The Fasting of The Mind

Make your will one! Don't listen with your ears, listen with your mind. No, don't listen with your mind, but listen with your spirit. Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but spirit is empty and waits on all things. The Way gathers in emptiness alone. Emptiness is the fasting of the mind.

~The Taoist sage, Chuang-tzu in Watson 1968~