Our heart is originally the true form
without form, but it starts springing into action and taking
on forms in following the whims of outside things and human
emotions. Reacting to the happenings and things in the phenomenal
world it starts producing a discriminating consciousness and
creates attachments. This causes us to roam through Samsara--
the cycle of life and death--with thoughts that constantly go
all over the place, without any rest.
How can we let our heart return to the place of silence,
return to the place of no sound, return to the place where
there is nothing at all? How can we return and get habituated
to that place of the true form which is no form, return to
our true nature, in which originally there is not even a single
thing? It takes time to slowly bring our heart back to that
place of no form whatsoever. What it takes is the constant
purification of thoughts until our consciousness no longer
follows after, nor gets lost in the constant changes of the
phenomenal world.
Listening is the function of our ears – and all we need to
do is listen. What should we listen to? Listen to silence,
listen to nothing there at all, listen to the nature of your
heart in which originally there is not even a single thing.
Why are we not able to let our light shine continually? It
is because we have so many misleading thoughts and attachments.
The practice of Chan is like seeing the sun after the clouds
have dispersed. It is a method to break free from the grip
of the egoic self, the “I.” How do we break free from the
grip of this “I”? Ask yourself: What is this “I”? What form
does this take? As soon as there is any form, there is birth
and death, Samsara. As soon as there is an “I, there is grasping
and attachment.
Our heart originally is without any grasping, without any
obstacle. Chan Meditation gradually clears out the misleading
thoughts and attachments that cover up our heart. And as we
get rid of those thoughts and attachments which are like dark
clouds, our heart will become happier and happier, just as
we are happy when the sun comes out. Let us practice the Dharma
Door of listening to silence, of listening to no sound, of
listening to nothing there at all, until we reach the insight
of non-dual wisdom (Prajna), until we reach the true form,
the heart of Nirvana, until we come home to the origin of
our heart.
Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)
找回心的光明
我們的心本來就是實相無相，但是卻常常隨著事物、人情事故起伏飄動，隨著現象變化產生分別執著，所以，每天我們都在流浪生死，每一時一刻我們的心念都在流浪！
如何讓心回到寂靜、回到無聲、回到「沒有?的地方，回到原來實相無相的慣性，回到本來無一物的心性上？就要靠時間慢慢的拉回這顆心，拉回到無相，直到淨念相續，讓我們的覺知沒有流失到現象的變化裡。
聽是耳朵的功能，所以我們只要聽就可以了，聽什麼呢？聽寂靜、聽沒有、聽本來無一物的心性。心性不是我們創造的，這個東西本來就在那裡，開天闢地以來，生命的最原始，它就在那裡，你如果沒有發現它，那就會灰頭土臉；如果撥雲見日，就是光明燦爛。
為什麼我們不能光明永續？因為我們有妄念執著！禪修，就是撥雲見日，就是破我執的方法，我執怎麼破？我到底是什麼？什麼相才是我呢？其實，只要有相就是生滅，只要有我就是執著。
我們的心性本來就是無執、無礙，所以，透過禪修打坐慢慢的撥開了覆蓋著心的妄念與執著，這如烏雲般的妄念執著除去了，就會慢慢的開心起來，太陽出來了我們就開心了。用耳根法門聽寂靜、聽無聲、聽沒有，達到般若觀照的效果，而達到涅槃實相，回到心的原點。
─── 心道法師
