True Prayer

While everyone prays without rest,
Standing or sitting, it's always together.
If you don't believe this; watch it carefully!
What is talking now all this time?

How do we uphold true prayer to the Buddha Statue?

One who bows to the Buddha-Statue must correctly understand whence that Buddha-Statue comes.

Whence comes the Buddha Statue?

From the radiant twinkle of your own luminous eye-ball. Buddha- Statue becomes my mind; my mind be-comes Buddha-Statue; and is no longer divided.

How do we correctly bow to the Buddha Statue?

While you bend your body, bowing to the Statue, you should mobilize a great sincerity, not to the Statue, which is the twinkle of radiance from your luminous eye-ball, but directly to the mind.

To what do bow?

You should know to what to bow since the Buddha-Statue is no other them my mind. Bowing to the Statue is bowing to the mind. But how is this possible, the mind has no from, size or trace?

Holy Object does not ex-ist and is not the mind. Therefore, the Statue is no longer an object of prayer. Thus remains the formless mind-itself-as-it-is.

How do we uphold prayer to the mind?

A student should bow while within the living doubt of the Hwa-du, "What is this?" This is bowing now to the Statue. Here the mind is totally revealing itself and can be called true prayer to the mind. Neither this corpse nor the mind can bow; you can name nothing in the world that can bow. We do net know what bows; therefore, we must ask "What is this?"

By asking this, you obviously do not worship a physical from of worshipping the true Buddha. How? Because true worship is beyond the physical eye. If you make contact with outer form, then you do not truly worship . As Bodhidharma warned us, you will thus sow evil seeds and, not only fall into True Hell, but lose your own life.

It is the same when chanting the names of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. While keeping in mind the thought, What is this which is chanting? --whether Amitabha Buddha, Avalokita, or Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva-- it is same. this is true chanting to the mind. In the living doubt, "What is this?" the chanter becomes more sincere, able to see the form of the word mind or of the Buddha Statue. In this way of praying and chanting, and of reading the holy books, the Hwa-du will also naturally be studied at the same time to accomplish the Great Tao.

What is This?

Mud-ox from bottom of the ocean running away, holding the moon in his mouth;
Stone-tiger in front of boulder is sleeping holding a baby in his arm;
Iron-snake is passing though the Diamond-ball;
Mount-Sumeru riding on elephant's back, being pulled by the sparrow.