Tao Te Ching
Yòngjiā Xuānjué 永嘉玄覺
(Yung-chia Ta-shih; Yōka Genkaku; "The Overnight Guest")
665 – 713 CE
Called “the Overnight Guest" because of proving his realization to Huineng in just one night, Yongjia is best remembered because of his writings, especially the Song of Enlightenment or Song of Freedom (Shodoka 證道歌) still popular in contemporary Western Zen circles and memorized by students in Asia. It emphasizes practice over study and the contrast between dharma nature and buddha nature. Yongjia is famous for not having a teacher but realizing enlightenment from only reading and contemplating the Sutras.
Eras
Chinese
Tang Dynasty 唐朝 (618 – 907 CE)Sources
Quotes by Yòngjiā Xuānjué (9 quotes)
“The one Moon reflects itself wherever there is a sheet of water,
And all the moons in the waters are embraced within the one Moon.”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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“The Inner Light is beyond praise and blame;
Like space it knows no boundaries,
It is only when you hunt for it that you lose it;
You remain silent and it speaks; you speak, and it is dumb.”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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“Zen is the complete realization of mind,
The complete cutting off of delusion,
The power of wise vision penetrating directly to the unborn.”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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“People hear the Buddha's doctrine of immediacy and if they accept it, the demons will be crushed as easily as a roofing tile. But if they cannot accept, what a pity!”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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“If we hold exclusively to Emptiness, we deny the entire causal world;
All is then attributed to chance, with no ruling principle, inviting evil to prevail.
The same error occurs when one holds exclusively to the manifested, denying the Emptiness;
That would be like throwing oneself into the flames in order to avoid being drowned in the water.”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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“When you truly awaken, you have no formal merit. In the multiplicity of the relative world, you cannot find such freedom.”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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“To live in nothingness is to ignore cause and effect; this chaos leads only to disaster.”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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“Don't belittle the sky by looking through a pipe. The great elephant does not loiter on the rabbit's path. Great enlightenment is not concerned with details.”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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“They mistake the pointing finger for the moon. They are idle dreamers lost in form and sensation.”
from Song of Enlightenment 证道歌
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