Li Wenhui's comments

Li Wen-hui says, “‘Thus’ is another word for our nature. Outside of our nature, nothing else is real.”

Li Wen-hui says, “To truly listen means to understand. The Buddha wants Subhuti to understand that the sensation of sound is not real and that he should not chase words.”

Li Wen-hui says, “If a person makes an offering of the seven jewels while attached to form in the hopes of attaining merit, this is delusion. Moreover, the merit thereby attained cannot be considered great. It does not compare to the merit of purity, detachment and non-attainment, which is like space and without boundaries.” 

Li Wen-hui says, “His mind is pure. Whether speaking or silent, he is always truthful. When conditions arise, he acts. When conditions end, he rests.”

Li Wen-hui says, “Pai Chu-yi once asked Zen Master K’uan, ‘If we cultivate nothing and realize nothing, how are we different from ordinary people?’ Master K’uan said, ‘Ordinary people are deluded. And followers of the Two Vehicles are attached. To be free of these two defects is true cultivation. Those who truly cultivate are not over-zealous, nor are they remiss. To be over-zealous is to approach those who are attached. To be remiss is to fall in with those who are deluded.’”

Li Wen-hui says, “Our mind originally does not dwell anywhere. But because it comes into contact with various realms, the mind gives birth to thoughts, unaware that such contact and such realms are empty. It considers the things of the world as real and focuses on these realms. It is like a monkey trying to grab the moon or like eyes with cataracts that see flowers. All things are produced by the mind. To realize one’s true nature is not to be attached to anything. The mind not attached to anything is prajna.”

Li Wen-hui says, “Since all dharmas are basically empty, what dharma can we talk about? But followers of the Two Vehicles (the shravakas and pratyeka buddhas of the Hinayana) are attached to the existence of beings and dharmas and think there is something that is proclaimed. Meanwhile, bodhisattvas understand that beings and dharmas are empty and that there is nothing proclaimed. Thus, the sutras say, ‘If someone says there is a dharma proclaimed by the Tathagata, that person maligns the Buddha.’”

Li Wen-hui says, “You should realize that such beings are not attached to either side, nor do they dwell in the middle. They abide nowhere. These are called buddhas. First comes the emptiness of people, next comes the emptiness of dharmas, and last comes the emptiness of emptiness. The tathagatas of the past, present, and future all realize this truth. Hence, they are called buddhas.”

Li Wen-hui says, “Who has a self is a foolish person. Who has no self is the master of wherever they are and acts without limits. Thus is it said foolish people are the cause of buddhas, and buddhas are the result of foolish people.”

Li Wen-hui says, “If someone has not yet understood the four perceptions of self, being, life, and soul, their mind is subject to birth and death. Birth and death is the meaning of the turning wheel, while the king refers to the mind. Although a person cultivates the thirty-two pure practices, as long as their rising and falling mind keeps turning, they will never understand their perfect original mind. Thus, we cannot use the thirty-two attributes to see the Tathagata.”