Wilbur Mushin May Sensei offers this teaching on a great Zen Master
What has Hui Neng’s spirit to tell us today?
Grinding rice for eight months, going round and round in a circle.
He thought to himself: why should I go halfway, when I could go all the way?
How do we face the grinding experiences of our everyday lives?
Trying to escape, improve, avoid?
All futile tactics of the ego that lead nowhere. Look at Hui Neng – all the way!
Be intimate with what is in front of you. Just this. And go beyond. Going all the way with no-mind.
Dogen put it thus: between aspiration, practice, enlightenment and nirvana, not a moment’s gap.
This is the actualization of ongoing practice.
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