Show Some Love for Zen Masters

The [sixth] patriarch said,

“The 'not born and not passing away' preached by outsiders means

using extinction to stop production, using birth to show annihilation.

Even annihilation is not extinguished; birth explains nonproduction.

The 'not born and not passing away' that I teach means

there is fundamentally no origination of itself, and presently no annihilation.

Therefore it is not the same as outsiders.

If you want to know the essence of mind,

just do not think of any good or bad,

and you will naturally gain entry into the pure essence of mind.

It is calm, always quiet, with countless wondrous functions."

---

While reading this it appeared to me that teachers of zen really struggled to get to the point.

They tried to "dive deeper" just to realize that the ground is still far away...

They tried really hard to "say the last word" knowing that it's impossible to actually "say the last word".

there is fundamentally no origination of itself, and presently no annihilation.

Although there is a teaching in this, the ends are loose.

Zen masters and their students were stuck in drift sand.

They were sinking inevitably, when not moving. And sinking even faster, when moving.

Only the helping hand of the other stopped the sinking...

Nevertheless the masters were the ones who decided to go to hell to meet their inquirers there.

Why? Out of compassion? To follow Buddha's example?

just do not think of any good or bad,

Still, he decided to do some good...

Buddha wanted to be left alone, to enter Nirvana, but decided to speak!

Imperfection does not spare the masters.

Show some compassion...