On Silent Illumination

Text

Sitting still in the great stillness, not seeking, not striving, not thinking. The ten thousand things return to the one— and the one opens into the ten thousand. This is the teaching of silent illumination: not dead emptiness but living clarity, not suppression but the natural cessation of agitation, not achievement but recognition.

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Changlu Qingliao

Lineage: Caodong

By Changlu Qingliao

• Instructions for Zazensermon

From Wudenghuiyuan

• The Way of the Patriarchs
• Instructions for Zazen
• Teaching the Japanese Monk
• The Gate of Jingshan
• Spring Comes, Grass Grows Naturally
• The Vast Empty Sky

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Wudenghuiyuan, Vol. 14, Changlu Qingliao chapter; Caodong silent-illumination lineage

  Wudenghuiyuan: On Silent Illumination