Ordinary Buddha

... Master Linji invented the term the "businessless person," the person who has nothing to do and nowhere to go. This was his ideal example of what a person could be. In Theravada Buddhism, the ideal person was the arhat, someone who practiced to attain enlightenment. In Mahayana Buddhism, the ideal person was the bodhisattva, a compassionate being who, on the path of enlightenment, helped others.

According to Master Linji, the businessless person is someone who doesn't run after enlightenment or grasp at anything, even if that thing is the Buddha. This person has simply stopped. She is no longer caught by anything, even theories or teachings. The businessless person is the true person inside each one of us. This is the essential teaching of Master Linji.

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Insight can't be found in sutras, commentaries, or dharma talks. Liberation and awakened understanding can't be found by devoting ourselves to the study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like hoping to find fresh water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using our clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch with liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the Buddha and all his disciples as living realities right in this moment.

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The person who has nothing to do is sovereign over herself. She doesn't need to put on airs or leave any trace behind. The true person is an active participant, engaged in her environment while remaining unoppressed by it. Although all phenomena are going through the various appearances of birth, abiding, changing, and dying, the true person doesn't become a victim of sadness, happiness, love, or hate. She lives in awareness as an ordinary person, whether standing, walking, lying down, or sitting. She doesn't act a part, even the part of a great Zen master. This is what Master Linji means by "Be sovereign wherever you are and use that place as your seat of awakening."

 

We may wonder, "If a person has no direction, isn't yearning to realize an ideal, and doesn't have an aim in life, then who will help living beings be liberated? Who will rescue those who are drowning in the ocean of suffering?" A buddha is a person who has no more business to do and isn't lookin for anything. In doing nothing, in simply stopping, we can live freely and true to ourselves and our liberation will contribute to the liberation of all beings.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Ur artikeln Ordinary Buddha i Buddhadharma winter 2007, byggd på boken Nothing to do, nowhere to go