seeking the buddha's teaching
May 25, 2009 05:12 AM
by Bill Meredith
When Hui-hai came to Zen Master Ma-tsu, Ma-tsu asked him,
"What have you come here for?"
Hu-hai said, "I have come seeking the Buddha's teaching."
"What a fool you are!" Ma-tsu said. "You have the greatest
treasure in the world inside you, and yet you go around asking
other people for help. What good is this? I have nothing to
give you."
Hu-hai bowed and said, "Please, tell me what this treasure
is."
Ma-tsu said, "Where is your question coming from? This is
your treasure. It is precisely what is asking the question at this
very moment, Everything is stored in this precious treasure-
house of yours. It is there at your disposal, you can use it as
you wish, nothing is lacking. You are the master of everything.
Why then are you running away from yourself and seeking for
things outside?"
Upon hearing these words, Hui-hai realized his own mind.
Once, the great Ma-tsu said to me, "Your own treasure-
house already contains everything you need. Why don't you
use it freely, instead of chasing after something outside your-
self?" From that day on, I stopped looking elsewhere. Just make
use of your own treasure-house according to your needs, and
you will be happy men. There isn't a single thing that can be
grasped or rejected.
When you stop thinking that things have a past or future,
and that they come or go, then in the whole universe there
won't be a single atom that is not your own treasure. All you
have to do is look into your own mind; then the marvelous
reality will manifest itself at all times.
--Hui-hai, quoted in THE ESSENCE OF WISDOM,
edited by Stephen Mitchell, Broadway Books, 1998, p26-27
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