The Seer

To find a Buddha, all you have to do is see your nature. Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha. If you don’t see your nature and run around all day looking somewhere else, you’ll never find a Buddha. The truth is, there’s nothing to find. You (already) have the Buddha-nature. Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha; whoever doesn’t is a mortal.

To attain enlightenment you have to see your nature. To attain enlightenment without seeing your nature is impossible. Someone who sees his own nature finds the Way, even if he can’t read a word. Seeing your nature is Zen. Unless you see your nature, it’s not Zen. If you see your nature, you don’t need to read sutras or invoke Buddhas. Unless they see their nature, people who shave their head are simply fanatics.

Once you see your nature, you’re a Buddha even if you work as a butcher. Buddhas of the past and future only talk about seeing your nature. It’s only because people don’t see their nature that they end up in hell. If you don’t see your own miraculously aware nature, you’ll never find a Buddha even if you break your body into atoms.

But people today don’t understand what this means. Instead of looking inside they insist on looking outside. Seeing through the mundane and witnessing the sublime is less than an eye-blink away. Realization is NOW.

The most essential method, which includes all other methods, is beholding the mind.

~ by Bodhidharma: the first patriarch of Zen (translation by Red Pine).

Or, to put it another way …

To find the Christ that Jesus knew, all you have to do is see your essential nature.

Whoever sees her true nature is one with Christ. If you don’t recognize your essential nature and run around all day looking somewhere else, you’ll never experience the Christ as Jesus did.

The truth is, there’s actually nothing to find. You already have the Christ-nature. Whoever sees her infinite and eternal nature is one with Christ; whoever doesn’t suffers as a mortal.

To attain enlightenment you have to see your Christ nature. To attain enlightenment without seeing your Christ nature is impossible. Someone who sees her own essential nature finds the Way, even if she can’t read a word.

Seeing your true nature is to encounter the truth that makes you free.

Unless you see your Christ nature, you’re not experiencing the truth Jesus lived and taught. If you see your infinite and eternal nature, you don’t need to read scriptures or invoke the saints.

Unless they see their Christ nature, people who deny themselves adequate food or sleep in the name of religion are simply fanatics.

Once you see your essential nature, you’re one with Christ even if you work as a rat catcher.

True teachers of the past and future only talk about seeing your Christ nature. It’s only because people don’t see their Christ nature that they end up in a mind-made hell.

If you don’t see your own miraculously aware nature, you’ll never know the Christ even if you break your body into atoms in sacrificial devotion.

But people today don’t understand what this means. Instead of looking for the Kingdom of Heaven inside they insist on looking outside as if they were looking for some thing.

Seeing through the mundane and witnessing the sublime is less than an eye-blink away. Self-realization is NOW.

The most essential method, which includes all other methods, is simply noticing one’s thoughts and feelings etc. from the alive awareness that is our Christ nature.