Now we are having a Chan session. Concentration is of vital importance in a Chan session. Your body, mind, and thoughts must be concentrated. Here, your body must walk when it’s time to walk, sit when it’s time to sit, and lie down when it’s time to lie down. Walking, sitting, and reclining, you must follow the rules. Your mind must not give rise to false thinking; then the mind can be concentrated. When the mind is concentrated, the thoughts will be concentrated. Your thoughts should be devoid of greed, devoid of hatred, and devoid of stupidity. Single-mindedly investigate “Who is mindful of the Buddha?” Investigating is like using a drill to drill a hole. You drill and drill until you drill through the piece of wood. Once you drill through, you can see through to the other side. You’ve penetrated through. That’s what becoming enlightened is like. Prior to penetrating, we are only doing the daily work of drilling. Prior to becoming enlightened, we investigate “Who is mindful of the Buddha?” We are only putting in the work that it takes to become enlightened. Now we are in the period of doing the work. During the period of working, you don’t want to say, “Oh! This drill won’t penetrate and make a hole.” Then you don’t want to drill any more. But if you don’t drill, no hole will be made. You must drill the hole today, drill it tomorrow, and drill it the next day—drilling and drilling until your work is realized. After a time, you will penetrate. That penetration is enlightenment. That means what you weren’t clear about before, you will be clear about. What you didn’t understand, you will understand.

What is this skill like? It’s like a cat poised to catch a mouse. The cat waits beside the mouse hole. If the mouse comes out, the cat catches it with one swipe of its claws. Your investigation of “Who is mindful of the Buddha” is like a cat stalking a mouse. What is the mouse? Your false thinking is the mouse. What is the cat? “Who is mindful of the Buddha” is the cat. The cat is waiting to catch the mouse—that’s what this analogy means.

It’s like a dragon guarding its pearl. Investigation is also like a dragon who protects his pearl. A dragon is always protecting his dragon pearl. He is always attentive to that. He never strays from his gem.

Again, investigation is like a hen brooding over her eggs. The hen is always concerned about her chicks. She is always thinking about that. About what? She thinks, “My little chicks are going to hatch soon.” She keeps brooding, “Ah! Hurry up! Hurry up! Little chicks, hurry up and hatch!” Every day she’s there thinking about her chicks until they finally hatch. She thinks and thinks—egg-born come from thought. Oh? The thinking wins out and the chicks hatch. Once the chicks are hatched, the hen has succeeded. Our investigation of Chan is also like that. It’s like an old mother hen incubating her chicks. While the mother hen is brooding on the eggs, she is extremely hot—so hot she pants. And yet she can’t bear to leave the nest. She has to brood until the chicks hatch—that’s all there is to it! The same principle applies when we investigate Chan. Sometimes it is extremely hot and sometimes it is extremely cold. Regardless of how it is, we have to keep investigating Chan. You can investigate during the day and investigate at night. At all times, investigate until you awaken to “Who is mindful of the Buddha?”

There are many different meditation topics that can be applied to the Dharma door of investigating Chan. Some people investigate “Who was I before my mother bore me?” You investigate who you were before. Others may investigate the word “Nothing.” “Nothing” means there isn’t anything at all. Everything is nonexistent. Or does everything exist? They investigate “nothing” and “existence.” They investigate how things cease to exist. Everything in the world is subject to coming into being, dwelling, decaying, and becoming empty. What is there that is not subject to coming into being, dwelling, decaying, and becoming empty? That’s what they investigate. Some investigate “Does a dog have the Buddha nature?” Whether or not a dog has the Buddha nature can be a topic too. Others investigate “dried turd.” Do you understand what that means? It means dried-up excrement. You laugh when you hear that, but when you investigate it, there’s a lot of flavor in it! Not smelly, though, so you don’t need to laugh. Since it’s dry it doesn’t smell. There are many different meditation topics. Whichever topic you respond to best is the one for you.

From the Qing dynasty on, most people have investigated “Who is mindful of the Buddha?” Investigating the word “Who” is the most important part. Who? As long as you don’t know, then it’s still “who.” If you know, then that’s enlightenment. You want to find out who it is who’s mindful of the Buddha. If you say, “Oh! I am mindful of the Buddha!” You? If it’s you who is mindful of the Buddha, then suppose you die and are cremated so that you no longer exist—then where have you gone? If it’s you who are mindful of the Buddha, then you shouldn’t die; but you will die, get cremated, and be gone. That’s just impermanence. And so we investigate “Who is mindful of the Buddha?” That’s the skill we apply in investigating Chan. This skill goes from shallow to deep. A person who first begins to investigate Chan doesn’t have any skill; he hasn’t found the way; he doesn’t know how to investigate Chan, and so he doesn’t feel like anything is happening. But if you investigate until the mountains end and the waters are gone—until there isn’t any more water and there aren’t any more mountains—then amidst the dark willows and bright flowers, another village appears.

When the mountains end, the waters are gone, and you wonder if there’s any more road,
There amidst the dark willows and bright flowers another village appears!

There aren’t any mountains, the waters have disappeared, and you doubt that the road goes on at all. Just at that point, another universe unfolds. Another state manifests. That’s when you arrive at the state of light ease. What is more, when you apply maximum effort in investigating Chan, you will feel exceptionally comfortable in body and mind. Your body and mind will be cool and clear; your body and mind will experience bliss. Ah! There’s nothing like that bliss! You think drinking alcohol is blissful? This is more blissful than drinking. You think eating good food is blissful? This is more blissful than eating. This kind of bliss is incomparable. Now our Bhikshu Meng has experienced a bit of this state. However, one must continue on with this state; one can’t let it be cut off. Nor can one try to make it grow faster. Nor should one not allow it to grow. Don’t forget about it, and don’t try to aid it.

I have often brought up this analogy to you. You don’t want to be like the man from the state of Song during the Warring States Period. What was he like? He was a farmer, and he felt that the crops in his fields were not growing fast enough. He said with great distress, “Others’ crops grow so fast, why are the crops that I planted growing so slowly?” Then he began to think. During the day he thought and at night he thought. “How can I help my sprouts grow faster?” He thought and thought until he came up with an idea. “Aha! There’s no other way, the only thing to do is for me to help the sprouts grow.” How did he help the sprouts grow? For instance, if the sprouts were three inches high, he went and pulled the sprout up two more inches. Then they were five inches high, counting the root! Or perhaps he pulled on the three-inch sprouts until they grew to four inches. He did this with all the sprouts: he helped them grow, grow, grow. He spent the entire day helping them grow, until all the sprouts had grown an inch or two. Then he went home.

When he got home he said, “Today I really worked hard! I’m exhausted. I have helped the sprouts grow. I’m so tired I even need help getting up on the bed.” Because he didn’t have the strength to climb up on the bed himself, he took hold of the cat’s tail as it jumped up on the bed and in that way followed the cat up onto the bed. So we have the expression “holding the cat’s tail, he pulled himself up on the bed.”

When his son heard him talk about how hard he had worked, the son was delighted. “My father is so talented! I wonder where he learned such a scientific method for helping the sprouts grow—it must be some kind of machine.” And so his son hurried out to take a look. He raced out to the field to see what had happened. What scientific method had his father used to make the sprouts grow? When he got there and looked, he saw that the sprouts were dried up. Not only had they not grown, they had died. That’s how smart the man from Song was. He used a scientific method, but it failed. Our cultivation of the Way is also like that. You shouldn’t be like that farmer—the “wise” man from Song. We can call him a “wise” man and not refer to him as stupid.

The wonder lies in not aiding the process. You shouldn’t forget about it, but on the other hand, don’t try to help it along. There’s another saying: “Don’t seek speed. If you seek speed, then you’ll never get there.” Don’t think about going too fast. Don’t be like Guo Yi who, after two years, says, “It’s been two years and I still haven’t become a Buddha. What use is all this?” She hasn’t become enlightened after two years—she hasn’t become a Buddha. She says she hasn’t gotten any advantages at all. Well, you were a lay person for more than twenty years, what kind of advantages did you get from that? Huh? What enlightenment did you attain? That’s why it’s said, “Don’t seek speed.” If you want to hurry, then you’ll never get there. If you try to go too fast, you’ll end up not being able to reach your goal. “Don’t look for small bargains. If you look for small bargains, then you’ll never succeed in big matters.” Don’t be greedy for slight advantages. Someone hands you a piece of bean curd, saying, “I’m giving you this piece of bean curd.” Ha! You bow and scrape and say, “Oh! Thank you very much! Thank you very much!” Actually, he was going to give you a piece of gold, but he sees how overwhelmingly grateful you are for the piece of bean curd that he’s sure you wouldn’t be able to handle the piece of gold, so he doesn’t give it to you. “Don’t look for small bargains. If you look for small bargains, then you’ll never succeed in big matters.”