From: nick@ccr-p.ida.org (Nick Patterson)
To: zendo@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Zen Warnings
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 92 09:43:32 EST



Marc Wachowitz (mw@ki.fht-mannheim.de)
suggested that I post the following:

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Mumon's Twelve Zen Warnings.
1. 
To observe rules and regulations is to tie oneself without a rope.
2.  
To act freely and without restraint is to behave like a devil or a demon.
3.
To recognize mind and purify it is the false zen of silent sitting.
4.
To allow oneself freedom and to ignore interrelating conditions is
to fall into the pit.
5.
To always be alert and clear is to wear chains and an iron yoke.
6.
To think of good and evil is to be in heaven and hell.
7.
To have a Buddha view and a Dharma view is to be confined in two
iron mountains.
8.
To realize a thought as soon as it arises is to exhaust one's energy.
9.
To sit blankly in quietism is the zen of a corpse.
10.
If you advance you will deviate from the principle.
11.
If you retreat you will be against the truth.
12.
If you neither advance nor retreat you are a dead man breathing. 

Now tell me.  What will you do?
Work hard to attain enlightenment in this life or 
you will have eternal regrets.


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