“It is said, Master Gotama, ‘The Dhamma is directly visible.’ In what way, Master Gotama, is the Dhamma directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, worthy of application, to be personally experienced by the wise?”

“When, brahmin, a person is impassioned with lust (or desire for something – Rasika), overwhelmed and infatuated by lust, then he plans for his own harm, for the harm of others, and for the harm of both; and he experiences in his mind suffering and grief. He also behaves badly by body, speech and mind, and he does not understand, as it really is, his own good, or the good of others, or the good of both. But when lust has been abandoned, he neither plans for his own harm, nor for the harm of others, nor for the harm of both; and he does not experience in his mind suffering and grief. He will not behave badly by body, speech and mind, and he will understand, as it really is, his own good, the good of others, and the good of both. In this way, brahmin, the Dhamma is directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, worthy of application, to be personally experienced by the wise.

“When, brahmin, a person is depraved through hatred (or anger), overwhelmed and infatuated by hatred (as above). … When a person is bewildered through delusion (misguided thinking – Rasika), overwhelmed and infatuated by delusion, then he plans for his own harm, for the harm of others, for the harm of both; and he experiences in his mind suffering and grief. He also behaves badly by body, speech and mind, and he does not understand, as it really is, his own good, or the good of others, or the good of both. But when hatred and delusion have been abandoned, he neither plans for his own harm, nor for the harm of others, nor for the harm of both; and he does not experience in his mind suffering and grief. He will not behave badly by body, speech and mind, and he will understand, as it really is, his own good, the good of others, and the good of both. In this way, brahmin, the Dhamma is directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, worthy of application, to be personally experienced by the wise.”

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Personally, when I look back over the course of my life and I look at the suffering I have caused myself and caused others, I am not proud. Indeed I am humbled by it. I think a lot of time we ignore the suffering we are causing – both to ourselves and to others. Afterall, it is uncomfortable to think about it, especially when we like to think of ourselves as good people.

Looking at suffering is important because it points us to the causes of suffering:- desire, anger and delusion.

Our meditation practice is not just about entering a peaceful state of mind. More fundamentally it is about giving ourselves a head start to dealing with the causes of suffering. I say a head start because it still requires mindfulness and the development of compassion in our daily lives.

In meditation we put thoughts and seeking at bay. In doing so we give rise to bliss. A bliss that we learn to carry into our lives. Where does this bliss come from? Well, apparently it was always there. We just covered it up with longing and with thoughts.

But bliss is subtle and desires are habitual. So we need to recondition our minds to realising that we have been covering up bliss with desire and aversion. And we need to stay alive to the fact that desire leads to suffering. In other words we need to work on the delusion that desire leads to permanent happiness.

We also need to see that the happiness that comes from attachment to pleasure and aversion to pain actually is fleeting and see the real cause of the happiness when we get what we want is that we have momentarily stopped wanting. And well, that’s partly what our meditation practice is about.

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Our body is the Bodhi tree,
And our mind a mirror bright.
Carefully we wipe them hour by hour,
And let no dust alight.

It seems to me that from one point of view he was correct. Desire, anger, lust, greed, fear, delusion obscure that subtle ever present awareness. So various sutras instruct us to eliminate desire. This is what Shin Shau pointed to.

Yet other sutras point us to the emptiness of it all. From the perspective of the ever present (and words fail me here) it’s all empty anyway. So what of desire, anger, lust greed, fear and delusion. Vimalakirti pointed to the idea that desire ultimately derives from non-attachment. Hui Neng, who won the competition and became the next patriarch wrote.

There is no Bodhi-tree,
Nor stand of a mirror bright.
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight?

In some passages Bodhidharm agreed.

Regardless of what we do, our karma has no hold on us.
The Blood Stream Sutra, Bodhidharma

Yet, to paraphrase Bodhidharma, if we don’t realise our nature, we are bound in karma. And apparently those who don’t realise their own nature it’s because of their heavy karma.

I think we have a two pronged instruction here. One is to work on our karma. I can buy that. And the other is zen.

Through zen, it seems to me from my practise, that we become ever more aware of the effect of these things on our awareness. That was Shin Shau’s understanding. Yet from the awareness itself there is no effect. That was Hui Neng’s.