Few are those who are calm and serious, rare are those who are sincere and
unified.
Radiant light is the function of mind, empty silence is the substance of
mind; If there is empty silence without radiant light, the silence is not true
silence, the emptiness is not true emptiness—it is just a ghost cave.
The breathing that passes through the nose is external breathing, which is a
phenomenon of the physical body. Only when mind and breathing rest on
each other is this the true breath. The venerable Prajnatara [considered the
twenty-seventh Indian ancestor of Chan Buddhism] said, "Breathing out, I
do not follow myriad objects; breathing in, I do not dwell on the elements
of body or mind.” Is this the nose?
When it comes to watching the breathing, or listening to the breathing, these
are still connected with the physical body. These are used to concentrate the
mind and are not the real lifeline. The real lifeline is to be sought from
within the real. Looking and listening are one thing.
The three realms are none other than your mind; your mind is not the three
realms, yet it contains the three realms.
Whenever there is dependence, that is temporal; where there is no
dependence, that is primal.
