Before Thinking Arises

Text

Tianhuang Daowu said: "Before a single thought arises—that is your original face. After a thought arises, you are looking at its reflection. Practice is not the creation of an original face. It is the relinquishment of the habit of mistaking reflections for reality."

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Tianhuang Daowu

Lineage: Qingyuan line

By Tianhuang Daowu

• Tianhuang's Bowl Washingdialogue

From Jingde Chuandenglu

• On Gradual Cultivation
• Watch the Mind
• On Sudden Enlightenment
• The Debate at Huatai
• The One Who Has No Rank
• The Arrow on High
• Meeting the Poet Li Ji
• Just This Is It
• Cold Ashes, Dead Tree
• The Encounter with Linji

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Jingde Chuandenglu, Vol. 14, Tianhuang Daowu chapter

  Jingde Chuandenglu: Before Thinking Arises