Just do not give birth to a single thought: let go and become crystal clear. As soon as any notions of right and wrong and self and others and gain and loss are present, do not follow them off. Then you will be personally studying with your own true enlightened teacher.

If you do that, what worry is there that this work will not be accomplished? You must see for yourself!

Yuanwu

Uit: Zen Letters, Teachings of Yuanwu, translated by J.C. Cleary and Thomas Cleary, Shambala, Boston and London, 1994, p.50-51. 
Afbeelding: The teacher, Helene Schjerfbeck, 1933.

Over het boek: Zen Letters presents the teachings of the great Chinese master Yuanwu (1063–1135) in direct person-to-person lessons, intimately revealing the inner workings of the psychology of enlightenment. These teachings are drawn from letters written by Yuanwu to various fellow teachers, disciples, and lay students—to women as well as men, to people with families and worldly careers as well as monks and nuns, to advanced adepts as well as beginning students. A key figure of Zen history, Yuanwu is best known as the author of The Blue Cliff Record. His letters, here in English for the first time, are among the treasures of Zen literature. – shambala.com