Inter- Faiths Dialogue

The Ways > Know yourself

37 quote(s) | Page 2 / 2

W e must always be in a state of preparation. Preparation is the art of staying awake. If you are awake, then one day you may see into the real world. You cannot expect to come into that world if you walk around like a sleepwalker in a dream. You cannot wake up by reading books that tell you you are asleep. You may not even wake up just because a teacher tells you that you are asleep. You can only wake up if you want to, and so begin to work on yourself to cut away all the rubbish in order to come upon the nature of who and what you are.

quote 3001 | Others Sufis Teaching
Reshad Field, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.154

Y ou ought to know yourself as you really are, so that you may understand of what nature you are, from where you have come to this world, for what purpose you were created, and in what your happiness and misery consist. For within you are combined the qualities of the animals and the wild beasts and also the qualities of the angels, but the spirit is your real essence, and all beside it is, in fact, foreign to you.
Strive for knowledge of your origin, so that you may know how to attain to the Divine Presence and the contemplation of the Divine Majesty and Beauty.

quote 2957 | Attar
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.247

G uard your heart from heedlessness, protect your lower self from desires, guard your intellect from ignorance, and you will be admitted into the company of the vigilant. It is a duty for everyone to seek knowledge; that is, knowledge of yourself.

quote 2907 | Abou Bakr As-Siddiq
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.84

A li asked the Prophet, "What action can I take that is not totally lost and worthless?"
The Prophet answered, "Seek truth. You will find it in yourself, therefore, know yourself.

quote 2905 | Ibn 'Arabi
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.84

I f your leaders say to you,
"Look, the kingdom is in the sky,"
then the birds of the sky will precede you.
If they say to you,
“It is in the sea,”
then the fish will precede you.

Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.

When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father.

But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty, and it is you who are that poverty.

quote 2725 | Jesus Christ
Logion 3, Gospel of Thomas, adapted from translations of the Gospel of Thomas by Anthony Duncan in Jesus: Essential Reading (Crucible Press, 1986).

E ven the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

quote 2720 | Jesus Christ
John 14:15-21,25-27 (AV), taken from the 1611 King James Version of the Bible

G ood and learned friends, when I was at Priest Hung-jen's place, I understood immediately as soon as I heard him, and suddenly realized the original nature of True Thusness. For this reason I propagate this doctrine so that it will prevail among later generations and seekers of the Way will be able to achieve perfect wisdom through sudden enlightenment, each to see his own mind, and to become suddenly enlightened through his own original nature. If they are not able to enlighten themselves, they should seek good and learned friends of high standing to show them the way to see their nature.

quote 2314 | Hui Neng
Hui-neng, in the “Plateform scripture” (liu-tsu t’an-ching), in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 26, 31

W hy not seek in one's own mind the sudden realization of the original nature of True Thusness? The P'u-sa chieh ching says, 'We are originally pure in our self-nature. If we understand our minds and see our nature, we shall achieve Buddhahood ourselves. [And the Wei-mo-chieh (so-shua) ching says] 'Immediately we become completely clear and recover our original mind’.

quote 2313 | Hui Neng
Hui-neng, in the “Plateform scripture” (liu-tsu t’an-ching), in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 26, 30

G ood and learned friends, you must all go through the experience yourselves and receive the discipline that frees you from the attachment to differentiated characters. Follow me at the same time and repeat my slogans. They will enable you, good and learned friends, to see that the Three Bodies (1) of the Buddha are within you: 'We take refuge in the pure Law-body of the Buddha with our own physical bodies. We take refuge in the Myriad Transformation-body with our own physical bodies. We take refuge in the Perfect Reward-body with our own physical bodies.' The physical body is like an inn and cannot be spoken of as a refuge. It has always been the case that the Three Bodies lie in one's own nature. Everyone has them, yet because they are deluded they do not see, and they seek the Three [Bodies] of the Tathagata (Thus-come Buddha) externally, without realizing that the Three Bodies are inherent in one's own physical body. Good and learned friends, listen to your good friend. If you, good and learned friends, now see in your own physical bodies the self-nature that involved the Three Bodies of the Buddha. These Three Bodies will arise from your nature.

quote 2309 | Hui Neng
Hui-neng, in the “Plateform scripture” (liu-tsu t’an-ching), in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 26, 20

The doctrine of "becoming a Buddha in this very body" is a far cry from the original Indian idea that the body is a hindrance to freedom. One cannot help recalling that the Confucianists have always regarded the body as a gift from parents and as such it is a sacred trust and therefore to be well taken care of, and that for centuries the Taoists religion had tried in many ways, including medicine, diets, exercise, sex technique, and breath control, to make the body suitable for everlasting life on earth. These are some of the roots that make Zen essentially Chinese.

T he Wei-mochieh [so-shuo] ching says, 'Immediately we become completely clear and recover our original mind. The P'u-sa chieh ching (Scripture of Disciplines for Bodhisattvahood) says, 'We are originally pure in our self-nature. (1) Good and learned friends, realize that your self-nature is naturally pure. Cultivate and achieve for yourselves the Law-body of your self-nature. Follow the Way of the Buddha yourselves. Act and achieve Buddhahood for yourselves.

quote 2308 | Hui Neng
Hui-neng, in the “Plateform scripture” (liu-tsu t’an-ching), in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 26, 19

(1) Buddhism conceives a Buddha to have a threefold body, namely, the Lawbody or spiritual body (Dharmakaya), the Reward-body or Enjoyment-body (Sambhogakaya), and the Transformation-body or body of incarnation (Nirmanakaya). The Law-body is the Buddha-body in its self-nature, the body of the Dharma or truth, the body of reality, the body of principle. This "body" has no body existence. It is identical with truth. In various schools it is identical with the Realm of Dharma (Dharmadhatu), Buddha-nature, or the Storehouse of the “Thus-come" (Tathagatagarbha). The Reward-body is the person embodied with real insight, enjoying his own enlightenment or that of others. The Transformation body is a body variously appearing to save people. The three bodies are three in one, are possessed of all Buddhas, and are potential to all men.

M aster Hui-neng declared, "Good and learned friends, perfect wisdom is inherent in all people. It is only because they are deluded in their minds that they cannot attain enlightenment by themselves. They must seek the help of good and learned friends of high standing to show them the way to see [their own] nature. Good and learned friends, as soon as one is enlightened, he attains wisdom

quote 2303 | Hui Neng
Hui-neng, in the “Plateform scripture” (liu-tsu t’an-ching), in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 26, 12

H e who knows others is wise;
He who knows himself is enlightened.
He who conquers others has physical strength.
He who conquers himself is strong.
He who is contented is rich.
He who acts with vigor has will.
He who does not lose his place (with Tao) will endure.
He who dies but does not really perish enjoys long life.

quote 2194 | Lao Tzu
Laozi 33, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 7.

What is it that dies but does not perish? Wang Pi said it was Tao on which human life depended, and Wu Ch'eng said it was the human mind. Other commentators have given different answers. Most of them, however, believe that Lao Tzu meant the immortality of virtue. Thus the Taoists conformed top the traditional belief which had already been expressed in the Tso chuan (Tso’s Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals), namely, immortality of virtue, achievement, and words and which has continued to be the typical Chinese idea of immortality. (1) It is to be noted that unlike Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu showed no tendency believe in earthly immortals (hsien, a fairy), although his exaltation of everlasting life undoubtedly contributed to the development of the belief.

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