真心直說 1.31

1.31

Someone asked: "When the true mind appears before one, how does one know that the true mind has matured and is unobstructed?"
I answered: "When a practitioner of the Way has already attained the presence of the true mind, but his habit energies have not yet been eliminated, when encountering familiar circumstances he sometimes loses mindfulness. It is like herding an ox: although it has been trained to the point of following along when pulled and tugged, one still does not dare to drop the whip and rope; only when its mind is tamed, its steps are steady, and when driven into the standing grain it does not damage the grain, does one dare to let go of one's hands. Arriving at this stage, one no longer needs the cowherd's whip and rope, and naturally there is no damage to the standing grain. Similarly, after a person of the Way attains the true mind, he must first apply effort to maintain and nourish it; only when he has great power and function can he benefit sentient beings. When verifying this true mind, first bring the circumstances one has loved throughout one's life to mind, constantly imagining them before oneself; if hatred and love arise as before, the mind of the Way is not yet mature. If hatred and love do not arise, the mind of the Way is mature. Although it is mature in this way, it is still not yet a state where hatred and love naturally do not arise. One must test the mind again: when encountering circumstances of hatred and love, deliberately give rise to a mind of hatred and love to make it take hold of those circumstances of hatred and love; if the mind does not arise, this mind is unobstructed, like the white ox in the open field that does not damage the standing grain. In ancient times there were those who scolded the Buddhas and reviled the patriarchs; they were in accord with this mind. Today we see those who have just entered the patriarchal gate, unaware of how far or near the Way is, immediately imitating the scolding of Buddhas and reviling of patriarchs; this is calculated far too prematurely."