"Those who have fulfilled the ten stages of bodhisattva practice are no better than hired field hands; those who have attained the enlightenment of the fifty-first and fifty-second stages are prisoners shackled and bound; arhats and pratyekabuddhas are so much filth in the latrine; bodhi and nirvana are hitching posts for donkeys."
- Línjì Yìxuán (Died c. 866): Founder of what was later to become the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism
What Linji is doing in this passage is deconstructing the held belief system of his Buddhist monks. Realizing the fundamental nature of what we are requires us to give up our attachment to our most treasured beliefs. There are dragons at the gate.
Posted by: Ed Fladung | Monday, January 23, 2012 at 11:27 AM