Linji Yixuan Quotes on Justice
Linji Yixuan, the Tang-dynasty founder of the Chan school that bears his name, did not teach a doctrine of justice in the social or legal sense, and the quotes gathered here present instead the fierce, liberating Chan teaching for which he is known. Linji's central exhortation is to self-reliance and immediate authenticity: be a master everywhere, and wherever you stand is your true place. He warned students against seeking enlightenment outside themselves, in scriptures, patriarchs, or even the Buddha, holding that outside of mind there is nothing and that the seeking itself is the obstacle. He urged each person to make the effort personally rather than chase words and concepts. Drawn from the Record of Linji, these passages present a teaching of radical inwardness, in which truth is found by ceasing to look elsewhere for it.
Quotes
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“Just make yourself master of every situation, and wherever you stand is the true [place]. (Trans: R.F. Sasaki, Ed. T. Kirchner, The Record of Linji ).”
Be a master everywhere and wherever you stand is your true place. (Translator unsourced.) -
“Worthy people, we must value the time. [You are wasting your chance] if you just intend to ‘study Zen’ and ‘study the Path’ as superficial adherents running busily back and forth, getting to recognize terms and phrases, seeking ‘buddhas,’ seeking ‘patriarchs,’ seeking ‘enlightened teachers’ [as you conceive of them]. You only have one father and mother: what else are you seeking? You should reflect back on yourself and see them.”
p. 18 -
“Outside of mind there is nothing, and what is within mind is also unattainable. What are you looking for? All of you people everywhere talk of having cultivation and having realization, but don’t make this mistake. Even if you gain something from cultivation, it is just the karma of birth and death.”
pp. 26-7 -
“Even the multi-part scriptural teachings of the three vehicles are just old paper for wiping away dirt. Buddha is an illusion, an apparition. The ancestral teachers were just old monks.”
The Recorded Sayings of Linji(臨濟語錄) | p. 29 -
“An ancient said that if you call it a thing, you miss the mark. Just look for yourself: what else is there? Talk could go on forever: each of you must personally make the effort.”
The Recorded Sayings of Linji(臨濟語錄) | p. 46 -
“Good people, the physical body composed of the four great elements is impermanent. [All the parts of your body], your spleen and stomach and liver and hair and nails and teeth, just reveal the emptiness of all things.”
The Recorded Sayings of Linji(臨濟語錄) | p. 34