Buddha Speaks - Mind at Ease

As I study Buddhism in its several faces, I am constantly in wonder at how simple the concepts are and how difficult it is to embrace the concept and put it to full practice in one’s life.

This simple story will explain what I mean.  It is called “Mind At Ease”, and talks about how we can put our heart at ease.  Does this seem contrary to the title?  Well, Buddhism is a series of koans.  A koan is a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution; used in Zen Buddhism to show the inadequacy of logical reasoning.  This definition comes from wordnetweb.princeton.edu. So, here is the story!

                                                  

Sometimes, trying to understand a koan is like trying to catch the Sun! Picture from Microsoft Clip Art

 

 

 

Mind At Ease

It was a dark, snowy and windy night. Hui Ko, the Second Patriarch of Zen Sect in China, went to see Master Bodhidharma.

Hui Ko asked, "Could you please teach me the supreme Buddhist Dharma?"

The Master said, "You can't learn the Dharma from others."

Hui Ko said, "I have trying to search for Dharma myself, but in vain. My heart is unsettled. My mind is ill-at-ease. Master, please pacify my heart for me."

The Master replied, "Give me your heart and I'll try to calm it down for you."

After pondering for a long time, Hui Ko said, "I have been searching for my heart, but I cannot find it."

Bodhidharma said instantly, "Now, I have comforted your heart already."

Hui Ko was enlightened all of a sudden. It is impossible to show the heart as its existence is only an illusion. The whole process of the creation and cessation of the heart, or the mind, is also an illusion.

When we are void of the illusion, the 'heart' is not there at all. Without any attachment, the pure Buddha's nature is revealed. The mind is finally at ease.

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What do you learn from this story?  Is is something that you can share with all of us?  Send your story to Judy@angelsandancestors.com and she will publish it on the blog with other comments to this article.

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