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Thursday, 9 January 2020

Dazhu Huihai [W-G: Tai-chu Hui-hai / J: Daiju Ekai]

                One day an expert in the Vinaya (the rules governing the conduct of the members of the sangha) asked Dazhu Huihai, “When one seeks to follow the Dao, is there a particular manner in which he should behave?”
                “There is,” Dazhu said. 
                “Please tell me about it,” the other requested.
                “When one is hungry, one eats; when one is tired, one sleeps.”
                “But everyone does that,” the Vinaya master complained.  “Your behavior isn’t different from that of commoners.”
                “They’re not the same at all,” Dazhu said.
                “In what way are they different?”
                “When most people eat, they don’t just eat; their minds are preoccupied with a thousand different fantasies.  When they sleep, they don’t just sleep; their minds are filled with any number of idle thoughts.”

[Dazhu Huihai – Zen Masters of China: 142-43]

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