Not creating delusions is enlightenment.
BodhidharmaRead
Whoever realizes that the six senses aren't real, that the five aggregates are fictions, that no such things can be located anywhere in the body, understands the language of Buddhas.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that true understanding comes from recognizing the illusory nature of our senses and concepts of self.
Bodhidharma's quote emphasizes the importance of seeing beyond the physical and transient aspects of our existence. It invites individuals to question the reality of their perceptions and the constructs of identity that arise from the five aggregates—form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. By realizing that these are not absolute truths but rather illusions, one can attain a deeper understanding akin to that of enlightened beings, or Buddhas.
In practice
In a meditation workshop, discussing the nature of perception.
Not creating delusions is enlightenment.
The Way is basically perfect. It doesn't require perfecting.
Buddhas move freely through birth and death, appearing and disappearing at will.
If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, it's the fruit of a seed planted by us in the past.
Freeing oneself from words is liberation.
The Dharma is the truth that all natures are pure.
I have watched them all day and they are the same men that we are. I believe that I could walk up to the mill and knock on the door and I would be welcome except that they have orders to challenge all travelers and ask to see their papers. It is only orders that come between us. Those men are not fascists. I call them so, but they are not. They are poor men as we are. They should never be fighting against us and I do not like to think of the killing.
What is it about fire that's so lovely? No matter what age we are, what draws us to it?...The thing man wanted to invent, but never did...If you let it go on, it'd burn our lifetimes out. What is fire? It is a mystery. Scientists give us gobbledygook about friction and molecules. But they don't really know. Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences.
There are some people, who place enormous value on their home and feel that it defines them, that a stain on the carpet is a personal defilement. There are others, and I think I am one of them, who are entirely indifferent to where they live.
There would be more sense in insisting on man's limitations because he cannot be a mother than on a woman's because she can be.
It is our very search, our lust for the miraculous and magical, that hides from us the truth that simply to be, simply to know I am, is already the miracle that we seek. Everything, as it is, is perfect, but you must stop seeing it as if in a mirror, as if in a dream.
I have no influence with the rising generation. All my arguments have failed to induce them to set bounds to their wants.
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