Teachings From Ancient Vietnamese Zen Masters – 46
17 Existence and Emptiness
Existence – there you see all things existing.
Emptiness – there you see all things empty.
Existence and emptiness are just like the moon underwater.
Cling to neither existence nor emptiness.
DAO HANH (? – 1115)
(COMMENT: How can we say this mountain or that river is emptiness?
Just think this: They are impermanent, so they are somehow both
existence and emptiness, and so there are no words adequate to
describe them. You can experience that in another way: gently listen,
deeply listen, don’t try to listen to a specific sound, just listen with your
mind vacant. You will feel that all the sounds come and go just like
echoes, just like illusions, just like a dream last night. And if you cling to
existence or emptiness, you are shackled to this world.)
