Doing It Just Right is the Middle Way (From The Venerable Master Hua's Talks on Dharma, Volume 1,

published by the Buddhist Text Translation Society )

Too tight, and it'll break. Too slack, and it'll be loose. Neither tight nor slack, and it will turn out right.

But neither tense nor slack is the Middle Way. Walking, standing, sitting and lying down, don't be apart from this. Once you

leave this, you have missed it. What is this? It's the ultimate meaning of the Middle Way.

In investigating Chan, you must be impartial, not leaning to one side. Don't go too far, and don't fail to go far enough. If you

go too far, or not far enough, it's not the Middle Way. If you don't fall into the two extremes of emptiness and existence, then

that's the Middle Way. It's said, `The Middle Way is neither emptiness nor existence.' It is True Emptiness and Wonderful

Existence. Do not be attached to true emptiness, and do not be obstructed by wonderful existence, for true emptiness and

wonderful existence cannot be grasped or renounced. You cannot take hold of them or let go of them. That's the true

emptiness and wonderful existence.

When you are applying effort, you should finish what you start; only then will you accomplish anything. As it's said, "Carry it

through from beginning to end." You shouldn't "put it in the sun for one day and freeze it for ten," retreat in the face of

difficulty, or give up halfway - that's the behavior of people without backbone. The ancients said,

In cultivation, don't be afraid to go slowly. Just be afraid of standing still.

In your daily investigation of Chan, be mindful of your own meditation topic, and slash through all your idle thoughts with

your Vajra-jewelled sword of wisdom. When idle thinking is severed, wisdom will arise. With the light of wisdom, you can

smash through the gloom of ignorance. Once ignorance is smashed, you can transcend the Three Realms, escape birth and

death, and crash your way out of the wheel of life (i.e. the twelve links of conditioned co- production).

Those who apply effort in cultivating the Way must have patience. No matter how hard it is, you must patiently bear it. With

patience you can reach the other shore. So in joining this Chan Session, you all should not be afraid of hardship. It's said,

"When bitterness ends, sweetness comes." If you don't start at the very bottom, you can't reach the top. Remember that a ten

thousand foot skyscraper is built from the ground up. It isn't built in mid-air. Therefore, Chan cultivators must start with the

basics, which are to get rid of idle thinking. If you can stop your idle thoughts, then at that point,

The moon appears in the waters of a pure heart; There are no clouds in the sky of a calm mind.

When the heart is at peace, all problems go away. When the mind is still, the myriad things are in harmony. As it is said:

True wealth is stopping the mind and cutting off thought: True fields of blessings are devoid of all selfish desires.

One investigates Chan just to get rid of the false and keep the true. It is also to pan for gold, to look for gold dust in the sand,

which is a difficult task. But if you want to find gold, you have to look in the sand, and be patient. Do you want to understand

your inherent Buddha-nature? Do you want to understand your mind and see your nature? Then you must patiently cultivate,

study and investigate, and when enough time has passed, you will suddenly penetrate and enlighten to the fact that it is

originally this way!





