禅Hongzhi Zhengjue

proverb

Empty Field

Cultivating the Empty Field

Song

Traditionally attributed

Text

Cultivate the empty field. Do not till it; do not seed it; do not weed it. Yet from the empty field, every grain of rice we eat at this monastery has come.

tr. Zen Lineage editorial

license: cc_by

Attribution

Lineage: Caodong

By Hongzhi Zhengjue

From Cultivating the Empty Field

Sources

  • contentCultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi

    Taigen Dan Leighton (trans.)

No per-field confidence has been recorded for this teaching yet. Treat individual claims with the caution appropriate to the source list below.

Attribution status: traditional — see editorial policy for what this means.

1 supporting citation on record (see Sources above).

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