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dhar ma TALK photo by Suzanne Anderson Taking Refuge in Your In-Breath Commentary on the Teachings of Master Linji by Thich Nhat Hanh 4 Summer 2004
dhar ma TALK In the fall and winter of 2003–2004, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) taught from the Records of Master Linji, a Buddhist monk from ninth-century China. Our lineage descends from Master Linji, so we can consider ourselves his spiritual grandchildren. He is well-known for his use of the stick to wake up students who were ripe enough for such liberation. The stick was used to skillfully remove the notions and ideas the person was carrying with him or her, or anything else that was an obstacle to living a simple, free life. The teachings are often given in the form of interactions between Master Linji and those who came to learn from him. The moment of human relationship is thus the moment of waking up, of realizing our blindness and also our capacity to live with freedom and joy. In these interactions there is a fierceness, the punch, and also a tenderness, the willingness to engage, to commit oneself to another for the sake of liberation, for the sake of becoming a real human being. The original language of Master Linji’s teachings can be confusing, but Thay explains their essence in a way that makes them accessible and meaningful. Thay shows us how to bring them down to earth with the concrete practices of mindful breathing and walking. The ideal person, our ancestral teacher Linji tell us, is a free person, who lives a simple, authentic life. This person is free from pretention, free from busyness or business—a businessless person. His teachings were medicine for people of his times and they are medicine for us too. Like good medicine, these teachings kill the disease, yet leave the person whole. What is your business You may describe your business as trying to transform yourself, trying to reach enlightenment, trying to save human beings. Throw it away. Good morning, dear Sangha, today is October the 12th in the year 2003 and we are in the Loving Kindness Temple of the New Hamlet during our autumn retreat. There is a sutra that was translated into Chinese around the second century. It is called the Sutra of the Forty-Two Chapters. Each chapter is very short and as a novice I had the opportunity to learn the sutra during my first year of studying classical Chinese. In that sutra there is one sentence that says: “My practice is the practice of non-practice.” It reads like this: “My practice is to practice the action of non-action, to practice the practice of no practice and to attain the attainment of no attainment.” When we hear the teachings of our patriarch Linji we hear the same thing. We should be an ordinary person, we should not try to be a saint. If you are seeking for holiness you lose it. Holiness is right there before you but when you begin to seek it you lose it. You begin to run and run and run and you can never catch it. What we learn from the patriarch Linji is not a set of ideas. That is what he hates the the Mindfulness Bell 5
Page 1: Summer 2004 A Journal of the Art of
Page 4 and 5: ISSUE NO. 36 - SUMMER 2004 Contents
Page 8 and 9: dhar ma TALK most—a set of ideas,
Page 10 and 11: dhar ma TALK was not kind to you an
Page 12 and 13: fr uits of the WINTER RETREAT Fruit
Page 14 and 15: fr uits of the WINTER RETREAT Deer
Page 16 and 17: fr uits of the WINTER RETREAT The O
Page 18 and 19: fr uits of the WINTER RETREAT Mindf
Page 20 and 21: fr uits of the WINTER RETREAT Dixon
Page 22 and 23: dhar ma TALK The Path of the Bodhis
Page 24 and 25: dhar ma TALK Our practice is to wat
Page 26 and 27: dhar ma TALK Mindfulness trainings,
Page 28 and 29: dhar ma TALK Bodhisattvas in the Su
Page 30 and 31: going to war. We had just finished
Page 32 and 33: anger, and violence in you. The way
Page 34 and 35: young people’s PRACTICE Welcoming
Page 36 and 37: young people’s PRACTICE Teens, Yo
Page 38 and 39: lue SKY Cultivating Our Blue Sky Na
Page 40 and 41: lue SKY the moment. For some, tears
Page 42 and 43: sangha PRACTICE The Sound of the Be
Page 44 and 45: sangha PRACTICE Mentoring Reflectio
Page 46 and 47: sangha PRACTICE Our Father’s Day
Page 48 and 49: • We need skilled and unskilled l
Page 50 and 51: mindfulness BELL 48 Summer 2004

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