Teachings of Zen Master Man Gong (Part 2)

What Am I? The Necessity of Finding Your True Self

11. Everything is true nature (big ‘I’). If you apply effort to anything else other than finding it, even the smallest effort, is a waste.

12. Everyone has three bodies: a physical body, a karma body and a dharma body. For a true human being, these three bodies are not separate but function as one.

13. All action originates from the dharma body. Since the dharma body is not separate from the physical body or the karma body, all phenomena are also beyond life and death.

14. The place beyond life and death includes both the sentient and the non-sentient. Therefore, all the weapons of the universe cannot destroy the true nature of even one blade of grass.

15. In our world, there is a lot of teaching about how to find and understand our true nature. These are all just the understanding of the small ‘I’ from the point of view of our karma. Our true nature is inconceivable and beyond imagination.

16. True nature is an indestructible diamond body that cannot die. Beyond time, it has endless life. Each life and death of the form body is just like changing clothes; the true person is able to take off and wear the clothes of life and death freely.

17. The knowledge you get through seeing and listening will not lead to the attainment of your true nature. Thinking about true nature is already not true nature.

18. True nature can be only found ‘before thinking’ because the ‘before thinking’ world contains all existence and is already complete.

19. If a person attains final enlightenment while having the Buddha as a goal then one will find that they themselves are the Buddha. This means that you must find true nature within yourself.

From the book, The Teachings of Zen Master Man Gong.