Before Thinking Arises

Text

Xingyang said: "Before a single thought arises, where is the distinction between sacred and profane? In that gap, the whole great earth is the gate of liberation. But the moment you try to dwell there, you have already missed it."

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Xingyang Qingpou

Lineage: Guiyang

From Traditional Zen Sayings

• A Special Transmission Outside the Scriptures
• Thirty Blows
• A Day Without Work Is a Day Without Eating
• Mountains Are Mountains
• Cease and Desist
• Die While Alive
• The Whole Universe Is the Eye
• The Directness of Realization
• The Barrier of Words
• The Great Doubt Block

Sources

• contentWikisource — English-language free library

  Jingde Chuandeng Lu, Xingyang Qingpou chapter

  Traditional Zen Sayings: Before Thinking Arises