The Path of Enlightenment.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.

9. Meditation Is Living Right Now.

I. LIFE AND LOSS

We have lived in the world for a long time, but Buddha says everyone lives here without real life. Because we live and lose ourselves, we live and lose reality, so we lack the meaning of life. As we are sitting here listening to the dharma, but are we really here or where are we? Sometimes the body is sitting here but the mind is at home, or the mind is wandering in the street. It is called living and losing, living with the dead. So most of us are always looking for something to live, because we feel that we need to find it. The meditation house is called riding buffalo in search of buffaloes.

There is a story: Near the temple there is a tofu shop. The boss selling tofu is curious, not knowing what the teachers in the meditation hall do in it. So he begged the monk Huong to look after the meditation hall, putting him in it. He also meditated with his teacher, but he sat at a corner below to observe. Meditation time is a incense burner, about an hour. He crossed his legs and saw the unusually quiet scene at home, everyone sat silently without anyone looking back. He secretly opened his eyes, looking back and forth, everyone looked down, he also imitated sitting down and looking down. Normally, he lived outside, busy, busy in his daily activities, and now he was able to sit still in a quiet, solemn setting, his mind was still a little quiet. When the mind settles down, he sees the past things it emerges, For a long time, there was no time to remember and now sit still and remember it clearly. After returning home, meeting someone who also praised sitting meditation was very good, I practiced there was only one session but felt very clear. That day, I remembered that the old surname Wang had bought my tofu for a total of five dongs, which I had forgotten for a long time, now that he had not paid yet.

People normally hear it happy, but for meditation practitioners, he is meditating in the meditation hall, but his mind goes home selling tofu. So obviously live that lose yourself. Just as we sit here but there is no reality living here, only living with the shadow of the past or the illusion of the future. Living with the reality is that right now, we have to be awake right away, not wandering around, losing ourselves.

Zen Master Canh Thanh is sitting, asking the monk next to him:

- What is the sound outside?

At that time it was raining, so he increased his words:

- It's the sound of rain.

Zen master Canh Thanh said:

- They are crazy, they forget to follow things.

He asked:

- What about Venerable Master?

He replied:

- Still not forgetting me.

Most people are living like this, sitting here, listening to the sound of the rain, running out to the porch, the mind remembers the sound of the rain so forget what is listening, knowing. The Zen monk asked what the outside was, meaning to remind him to increase what he was hearing, knowing clearly, being present here, not what he was on the porch. But the monks accustomed to living with grace, the heart of the rain falling outside should only hear the rain falling. Therefore, Zen Master said: "We are crazy and forget to follow things", forgetting ourselves and running outside. The monk asked again: "What about the Venerable Master?", He replied, "Still not forgetting yourself." The Zen master also heard the sound of rain falling, knowing the sound of the rain falling but still not forgetting himself. Living like this is called not losing yourself, but sitting here and running in a way that is to forget yourself,

II. LIVE NOW, NOW

In a meditator always reminds people, to live back to the reality which is present and shining, that is true meditation. Meditation teaching practitioners is to live back to reality, now and here. The sun of the mind must always grow right here, always shining without cloudiness. Dharma Master Phap Loa, the second group of Truc Lam Yen Tu meditation, once Phap Loa asked to Truc Lam:

- How long will the cloud stop?

Truc Lam responded:

- Heavy rain.

Ask again:

- How about all the clouds covered up?

A:

- Full moon.

According to world psychology, I don't understand anything, talk paradoxically. The miles of clouds stopped, the sky was clear and there was no cloud stain, so he answered: "Rain is pouring". Also asked: "All miles of cloud cover" is rain, but he replied: "Bright moon". According to the world, it seems paradoxical, but in the meditation house, it is awakening for the living practitioner to return immediately to the bright reality, to live "right now". Miles of clouds stopped, ie clear sky, heaven in the morning there are two ideas: Zen Master has just borrowed a clear image of heaven, but also wants to say that the sky of his mind is clear without clouds, but he also asks for mindfulness, mindfulness is pouring rain clouds. The second question asked: "What about a cloud of cover?" If you say your mind is hidden, there is no place to poke your head. So who knows how to ask, I didn't know how to ask, so the Nephew responded: "The moon is bright". Does the mind still exist and is not enlightened? We see Zen Master responding, it sounds like paradox, but understanding is very logical.

Indeed, his meditation mind is always bright, never absent. The moment his question was answered, his mind was still bright, so he responded directly. The truth of meditation is very simple and close to nothing. Real life here. Right where we sit here, knowing to return to life is meditation. But because people are accustomed to add and get used to imagining, they become complicated and confusing. If we let go of imagination, meditation is very simple.

Like the story of Zhaozhou tea. Some monks came to Zen Master Zhaozhou. Mr. Zhao Chau immediately asked:

- Did you ever come here?

The rising position:

- Have ever been.

Zhaozhou immediately said:

- Then drink tea!

Another monk came, Master asked:

- Did you ever come here?

The rising position:

- Never been.

He also said:

- Drink tea.

The host found it questioning and asked:

- Every time I told you to drink tea, I have never come to say that I should drink tea, so what?

Mr. Zhao Chau immediately called:

- Home institute.

The host responded:

- Yes.

He also said:

- Drink tea!

It just sounds like a prank teacher, but it is a wake-up call for the learner to return to the present reality, without initiating any other concept. He used to come here and ask what else he is, drink tea and finish. The monk said he had never been, never before, who was standing here? Standing here, it is already here, but never saying that he is remembering the past yesterday, the other day. Currently standing here, you are here, so please drink tea, that's it. The abbot is the same as me, the coming or not coming is the work of people, not related to him at all. Calling, he knew that, right away, he didn't have to ask for more stories from people, and he also drank tea.

We see the very real Zen masters here who are here, thinking that the other thing is to forget the reality that exists, called the loss of self, that the sun is clouded, it is necessary to wake up. Once, Zen master Xuan Sa was sitting only a white spot on the ground, he asked him to increase next:

- Do you see it?

The rising position:

- See.

He insisted again:

- Do you really see it?

The monk said:

- See.

He asked for a third time again:

- Do you feel real?

The monk said:

- See.

Mr. Huyen Sa just said:

- You see too, we see. Why say it doesn't?

As now, flower vases here, everyone can see that if there are people who have enlightenment, who is not enlightened? The two co-workers saw a clear white spot, but the Zen master was enlightened and the monk did not realize it, because the monk saw it but ran after it so he forgot himself. We are here too, seeing the vase and assimilating ourselves to the vase so we forget the reality. Studying meditation is very simple, practical right in life, right here in the real place. But we cannot see it because of the mind that we know far away from imagining.

Once a scholar came to study with the Viet Khe Zen master, Japanese. He earnestly asked about Zen:

- White teacher! I have studied Buddhism and Confucianism for over twenty years. These things I understand a lot, but there is an unknown point that I know is meditation. Please explain to me about meditation.

At that moment, Viet Khe Zen master slapped for a slap. He exasperated, went to see the lord in the temple. The prime minister saw his annoyance, knew that there was a problem, so he gently said:

- What is wrong? People who study meditation need to be calm and have something to be upset about, just sit here and have a cup of tea.

He heard it a little open, sat down and drank tea with him. While sitting and drinking tea, he immediately poured out frustrating words about Zen master Viet Khe, and asked if he was asked to direct his religion, he was not slapped. Suddenly, the lord also hit his hand, the teacup fell to the ground.

The new keeper said:

- Recently, he said that he understands the Buddhist studies, Confucian studies only have a little meditation is not understood. Now that I have given meditation to him, do you know what meditation is?

At that time he was ignorant. He thought that Zen Buddhism was not beaten, the cup of tea fell to the ground. So what is it?

The keeper asked again, he did not know either. The new keeper said:

- It is unworthy for you to see our Zen meditation.

The keeper then bent down to pick up the fragments of the teacup, took the rag and dried the tea in the ground. Then say:

- In addition to these things, is there any more meditation?

Right away he awoke. He stayed in meditation with Zen master Viet Khe.

So where is meditation? Most people who go to study meditation think that meditation is a supreme thing in heaven and clouds. Meanwhile the Zen Master is very simple, right here in his daily work, like a cup of tea falling, picking up and drying the water. Every gesture we do in mindfulness and insight is meditation. Living right in the present reality is the bright money that is meditation. As we are working as a kitchen cook, doing it in that conscious mind is meditation.

III. BUDDHA

Because the human mind goes on chasing the outside, remembering the memory of the object, the mind is always clinging to forget the reality. Now it is smart to let go of the places of mind and mind, then live back to reality. Surangama Sutra, Buddha taught: "Those who practice cannot attain the Supreme Bodhi, until Thanh van, Duyen sense or the family of ghosts, are all due to not knowing the two basic things, so wrong study.

The first is the basis of birth and death from beginningless time until now, that is, they and sentient beings use the mind to make love. The second is that the pure bodhisattva Bodhisattva is available from beginningless time, is the pure consciousness, or produces conditions that are missed by predestined relationships. Because sentient beings miss out on the wisdom that is available, they don't practice self-awareness all day long.

The intact, bright (awakening consciousness) or birth of conditions means that it knows this, knows that, knows everything. But when he knows which one, he only remembers that, forgetting that it is called predestined relationships. Just as it knows the flower vase, it only remembers the vase and forgets itself, which is missed by the charm. So, practice all day without enlightenment. Now we are smart to just switch back, it knows this, knows the other, knows everything, but does not miss itself. We learn meditation, just cleverly let go of those affinities, always remembering ourselves to get back to the "knowing root". Thus, we also see hearing, understanding, knowing clearly but always shining, which is called returning to the source, living with reality. On the contrary, we live and lose ourselves called life but like death, living without a master.

Who do we live every day? I live, but I don't know what I ask, it's called living without soul. There was a Tibetan teacher, when he came to the West to see that there were graves built for the dead in the cemetery, very spacious and nice. The Tibetan teacher told those who followed him: "Here people build very nice houses for corpses. Then they also build very luxurious houses for living corpses." Here the Tibetan teacher wants to tell us what? In addition to graveyards are corpses, these are living corpses. That is, those who live without the soul are like corpses, the walking body, standing, moving, coming back but lacking the soul should be called a corpse. So if we were right there, we would be ashamed to hear that. Because we live like bodies moving, back and forth but lacking in soul. So we have to live so as to truly be called souls, otherwise we are living beings. We live with the owner, the new life is full of meaning.

There are people who criticize Buddhism as being bored with their life saying that everything is impermanent and false. It is because the researcher has not come yet, only seeing in theory Buddha says everything is fake but not seeing the truth that Buddha wants to show to people. Living with that truth can see that our life is valuable, otherwise life will be very tasteless. Practitioners who understand the true meaning of Dharma are very happy and bright. Images of Bodhisattvas like Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, Bodhisattva Manjushri, Bodhisattva Samantabhadra are not sad. Their rituals are very solemn, and those who look at them also want to give their hearts to follow. Therefore, we cultivate the Buddha to know the value of the Buddha-dharma, to teach the people to live and return to the true meaning, not to look far away.

The Linyi proclaimed to the students as follows: "Where does the current learner not receive it, is it a disease? The disease is not confident in the place. If you are confident that you can not keep up, immediately follow all the transitions, It is not free to be controlled by other scenes, but if you stop thinking about your thoughts, you will be with Buddha. " Are we always looking for the mind? If it is my mind, why do I go looking? So who is looking? That is called bringing the mind to the mind. As Act-elegant-reach-multi hugged my head and shouted, I lost my head, like a madman. So do we do this? If not crazy, don't go looking. Sometimes we see people doing things like crazy, but I don't think I'm crazy either. Our mind is so long ago that we forget, now we bring our mind to the mind. When I regained consciousness, I saw that we were all fully old.

Mr. Lam Te added: "You want to know the Buddha, just the person who is listening to the dharma in front of him. The learner will not be able to immediately go out and search, even if the search is a enemy. the victory of the letter, is not meant by the living Group ". Lam Te reminds us that we want to know the truth with the Buddha, which is "the person who is listening to the dharma". That is the truth. The enlightened Buddha Buddha is also enlightened right there, nowhere else. Because believers do not keep up, looking out to run, looking for Buddha, learning Bodhisattva, finding Buddha, Bo-slaps etc ... but learning what it is Buddha, Bo-slapped what? Buddha, Bodhisattva in classics, in books; study Buddha in Kim Cang, Sutra Sutra. And Buddha, Bo-slapped is sitting listening here. We can explain Buddha, Bo-slaps like this is also the enemy of the writers. As Buddha is enlightened, enlightenment consists of self-awareness, self-awareness, enlightenment and fullness. Bo-slaps are organic, just feeling for themselves and sensory love, is for people. Very good explanation but ask Buddha, Bo-slapped anywhere, do not know.

Once, Quoc Su Hue Trung talked to a Tang dynasty magician, the Palace of Phung Tu Lan.

The monk asked:

- What does Buddha mean?

He explained:

- Buddha means feeling.

He asked again:

- So did Buddha ever fall in love?

He replied:

- Never loved.

National monk Hue Trung recalls:

- So what is the use of senses to do?

He answered no.

Thus, the shaman only understands on writing, so he has not seen Buddha. It is to remind those who study Buddhism, to learn how to comprehend the meaning of Buddha's life, not just learning on the letter. Buddha never loved, so what is the use of senses to do? If the skillful person also has the answer: because the sentient beings should be used to enlightenment to enlighten beings. We learn Buddha is to learn the so-called living Dharma, not just learning in literary and literary terms.

IV. SUMMARY

Meditation is living right in reality, returning to the present bright mindfulness, nothing else. Many people hear that meditation is not far away, so listening to meditation and being afraid to catch it does not come. But understanding thoroughly, meditation is not far away, even where we sit in reality here. Once Ma To walked out in the garden with Mr. Hoai Hai, seeing the flock of ducks passing by, Ma To asked:

- What's that?

Hoai Hai said:

- Sky ducks.

Code to ask:

- Where to fly?

Huai Hai responded:

- Fly over.

Ma To grabbed the nostalgic nostril hole and forcefully pulled one. Huai Hai hurt so badly. Security Code:

- Why don't you say fly over!

Even then Hoai Hai immediately awoke.

Usually we see the flock of ducks, just remember the swarms of ducks, so it flies over me and it misses it. So what is "knowing" and "seeing" existing? So Ma To immediately pinched the hole of Mr. Hoai Hai's nose. Painful, Huai screamed. Ma To said: "Why don't you say fly over!". The flock of ducks flew over, but what is hurting, yelling here, it doesn't fly? Even then Hoai Hai immediately awoke. That is what exists in me, it does not fly away.

Just as we listen to the dharma, what is listening? We listen attentively to the teacher, and then only remember the teacher and forget ourselves. So learning to meditate is to learn again, not to listen to this and that voice and forget about yourself. This is to be smart to return to reality that always exists. But because people have a habit of imagining, too much thinking of the city sees strange meditation. The Venerable Master also said: "Zen Buddhism is practically unexpected", which is unexpectedly close to us. We are sitting here, so what else should we find? The truth is, but because "too real", we think it is strange. Now knowing the truth, always returning to ourselves to live with that truth is no longer mistaken.

This is the end of the meditation story: The Headless Zen Master gives the disciple the name of an ungodly person a meditative koan as follows:

In the past, there was a person standing on a high hill. Below there were three tourists passing by the street looking up to see the other person standing on the hill. The three people who went under the table just talked to each other.

One person said:

- He must have lost something dear, so he stood there looking.

Another person said:

- According to me, he must be waiting for a close friend.

Someone said:

- I saw his appearance as if he was enjoying the cool air in the air.

The three people who argued didn't come out, just went to the top of the hill to see him immediately.

The first person asks:

- Hey man, are you losing something precious?

The other replied:

- No, I didn't lose anything.

The second person asked:

- So you're waiting for some close friend, right?

He says:

- No, I didn't wait for anyone.

The third person asked:

- So are you standing here, cool?

He says:

- Not always.

Three new people asked:

- So why are you guys standing here, but we ask what you said, not all?

He said:

- I stand here just standing here!

Very simple, stand here just stand here. These people are representing us sitting here. Because there is always a problem in our heads, so people think there must be a problem, called abdomen. So living and forgetting the reality, the truth that the person is standing there is standing there, but according to the habit we think standing there must be a problem, so discuss the problems that we deduce. This is a meditation project, to remind the awakening for all learners of meditation to see clearly in their thoughts that they are used to thinking, having problems, living and losing themselves.

Now, we practice living back to reality, "right here and now" here. The enlightened door is open to me. We hear that enlightenment is not far away, thinking that it is something for Buddha, and I probably don't have a part. But Buddha was born to feel for sentient beings, the Dharma of the Buddha said: "The nostalgic version of Buddha was born, to declare for all of them to enter into the Buddha's knowledge." The nostalgic version of the buddhas is born to awaken sentient beings to the enlightened truth that exists in them. Even where the mind is Buddha, Buddha is also from the mind that he is enlightened, we are also enlightened from our hearts. Enlightenment in the mind, not elsewhere. So, not to find enlightenment in this sutra, the other sutras. Many people find enlightenment in the Dharma States, Kim Cang, Kinh Nghiem, Nibbana, etc., but forget the real enlightenment is right in your mind.

So anyone here has no mind? Everyone has a mind that means awareness. The Patriarch sees that truth, so compassionately sentient beings find every way to remind and wake up all the enlightened ones, light up their own truths. Mr. Lin said, "The current learner is not able to receive it, is a disease where there is a lack of confidence". It is to bring a power to sentient beings, every person has a mind, there are enlightened truths available in him. Our roots are enlightened rather than sentient beings. Beings are temporary names that are still in love, when we feel we are Buddhas. We have enough faith to rise up, not to feel guilty about being heavy and hard to enlighten. Buddha pointed out that all have Buddha nature, there is awareness. In the Vajra Sutra, Buddha emphasized: "Beings are not sentient beings, they are called beings."

As such, I am a wise Buddha, so I have to rise and advance. Learning to meditate is to return to the shining reality, returning to the "right here, now". There are worldly philosophies discussing this reality in reality, but still discussing the reality, there is no reality. If you see it, there is nothing to discuss. Controversy is still thinking so far away from reality. For example, there are two people talking about Mr. A, who said that Mr. A is tall and white. He said that Mr. A is also slightly dwarf, soaked in skin. And then arguing with each other is not good, because at that time Mr. A was not there. If indeed Mr. A is present, just point at him and say, "This is it!" It's done, no need to argue. Also, those who have seen the reality right now do not have to argue, but arguing about reality is not seeing reality.

In fact, "meditation is right here, now". May all receive this truth, live with living meditation, not live with dead meditation, to forget the reality that is bright right here! END=NAM MO SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES).VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST  NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.17/6/2019.