Not Mind, Not Buddha
Not mind, not buddha — neither one.
Have I turned even a good teaching into one more word to cling to, caged by it?
📝Reflection
Mazu once taught "this very mind is awakening." But when people clung to that phrase, he said the opposite: "not mind, not buddha." It looks like contradiction, yet runs deep. Even the finest words are only a finger, not the moon. Mistake the finger for the moon and cling to it, and you miss the moon itself. When we meet a good teaching, we memorize it like a charm and cling. But Mazu asks us to set down even that clinging. Truth is not grasped by words; it is lived through them. Even the best words, once you're caged in them, become a prison.
🌱Apply It Today
Recall one phrase you cling to like a creed, and check: am I merely "guarding" the words, or actually living them out?
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
