sermon

No Distinction Between Ordinary and Holy

Chuanxin Fayao

Tang

Historically verified

Text

All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the universal mind, wherein nothing stirs. This mind, having no beginning, was never born and will never perish. Without form, without appearance, it transcends all categories. It cannot be perceived, it cannot be attained, and it is neither new nor old. It is neither long nor short, large nor small. It cannot be measured, named, traced, or compared. Is there anything you can add to it? Is there anything you can take away? Ordinary people and Buddhas—between them there is not a hair's breadth of distinction.

tr. John Blofeld

license: public_domain

Attribution

Lineage: Linji

By Huangbo Xiyun

From Chuanxin Fayao

Sources