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Followers of the Way, o ne who is a renouncer of home

must indeed study the Way. Take me fo r example. In

bygone days I devoted myself to the vinaya (precepts)

and also delved into the sutras (written teaching) and

sastras (commentaries on sutras). Later, when

I realized that they were medicines for salvation

and displays of doctrines in written words, I once and

for all threw them away and, searching for the way,

I practiced meditation. Still later I met great Teachers.

Then it was, with my Dharma eye becoming clear, that

I co uld discern all the old teachers under heaven and

tell the false ones from the true. It is not that I

understood from the moment I was born of my

mother, but that, after exhaustive investigation and

grinding discipline, in an instant I knew of myself.

Virtuous monks, don’t use your minds mistakenly.

The great sea does not need dead bodies. But all

you do is rush about the world carrying them on your

shoulders. You yourselves raise the obstructions that

impede your minds. When the sun above has no

clouds, the bright heavens shine everywhere.

When there is no cataract on the eye, there are

no imaginary flowers in the sky.

Followers of the Way, if you wish to be Dharma as is,

just have no doubt. Spread out, It fills the entire

Dharmadhatu; gathered in, the smallest hair cannot

stand upon It. Distinctly and radiantly standing alone,

It has never lacked anything. No eye can see It, no ear

can hear It—then by what name can It be called?

The man of old said, “To speak about a thing is

to miss the mark.”

Just see for yourselves: What is there? I can keep on

talking forever. Each of you must strive for yourself.

Take care of yourselves.