dharma transmission

The monk Bodhidharma took the Lankavatara Sutra from India to China in the seventh century. In China, it took root as a foundational text of Chan Buddhism. And in Japan – four centuries later – of Zen Buddhism


“… things are not as they are seen, nor are they otherwise.” —Lankavatara Sutra*

things are not as they seem; and yet they are – in the mind

people are not as they seem; and yet they are – in the mind

nothing is only as it is thought to be

no one is only as they are thought to be

nothing depends on nothing, and nothing doesn’t change

no one depends on no one, and no one doesn’t change

nothing is other than what is

no one is


*a link – see a note on notes and links as well as notes and links below

!g Dawid Zawiła site:unsplash.com / credit for image “shallow focus photography of dandelion” (!unsplash)

!? “It is in fact a cardinal trait of Buddhism that its teachings are in negative terms.” (Jacob Needleman)

“… things are not as they are seen, nor are they otherwise.” —Lankavatara Sutra (!tw)
 
“nothing depends on nothing, and nothing doesn’t change” (!?)

“nothing is other” … “no one is” (!?) 

to see stories as stories is to see what is as what is,
and to see what is as what is, to see stories as stories
/ a reflection on the two truths, relative and absolute*

the relative is seen in words, the absolute in silence,
silence in answer to the question: Who am I? (Nan Yar)* 

the answer is to question*
… and to ask in silence:
“Who is observing this?”
“I am.”
“Who am I?”

!? the observer and the observed

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