During a Chan Session, everyone should understand the rules.
Before the wooden fish is struck, no one should casually wander
around. If you don't abide by the rules and follow instructions,
then you are a transgressor of the rules. In the Chan Hall, the
rules of the Chan Hall should be observed. After the silent sit
is ended, the proctor should check and make sure everyone has
put on his shoes before he hits the bell. When everyone has
stood up, he should hit the wooden fish twice. Before the fish
is struck twice, even if people have already stood up, they
should not start walking yet. These are very simple rules which
all of you should know. If you hit the wooden fish immediately
after the sit is ended, before people have stood up, how can
they walk? If you wait for another three minutes, that's fine.
Some people's legs are numb from sitting, and they cannot even
stand up, so how could they walk? These things are common sense
in the Chan Hall, and everyone should know them.
I know that several people felt pain in
their legs as they sat, so they started crying. That's totally
useless. The more you cry, the more it hurts. The legs won't
say, "Since you cried, we'll stop hurting." People are generally
under the impression that sitting in Chan at our place is a very
good thing. Actually, when they come here, they have to suffer.
"Very good" means "very bitter." We get up a little after two
o'clock in the morning, rest for only one hour during the day,
and don't go to sleep until midnight. Getting only two to three
hours of sleep every day, you could say we're applying effort as
if our life depended on it. That's called "renouncing death and
getting life in return."
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If you cannot give up death, you
won't be able to exchange it for life. If you can't give up
the false, you won't be able to realize the truth.
If you can't endure suffering, you won't
get to enjoy blessings. If you want to attain true skill, you
must patiently endure toil and suffering--grit your teeth and
bear the pain in your legs. Actually, there doesn't have to be
any pain. But we want there to be pain, so we endure it when our
legs hurt. "Enduring what people cannot endure" is just enduring
this. If you cannot bear the pain, then you still can't pass the
test. You have to break through all the critical gates in your
body. "Critical gates" refers to the points of pain and
discomfort in your body that cause you a lot of affliction. At
that point, if you can endure it and not become afflicted, just
that is skill. If you cannot endure it, then you can't pass the
test. Some people who come here can't even take it for a day
before they want to run away. All of you have been here for so
many days--that's not easy.
Girls are especially afraid of pain, and
the fact that they've been taking so much suffering means they
will certainly plant deep good roots. In the future their Bodhi
seeds will sprout and bear the Bodhi fruit. As it's said, "no
work is done in vain." However much effort you put in here,
that's how much you'll get out, and you won't be wasting your
time at all.
In cultivating, you must have "patience with production"--that
is, you must be patient with what you cannot endure. "Patience
with dharmas" means you must be patient with the arising and
cessation of all dharmas. Even if you cannot endure, you have to
endure. Don't be afraid of pain, and don't be running about
everywhere, or you won't be able to attain samadhi. You must see
all dharmas as empty; see through them and put them down. From
patience with production and patience with dharmas, you can then
attain patience with non-production and the non-existence of
dharmas. As it's said, "Not seeing the slightest dharma arise,
and not seeing the slightest dharma cease," you can patiently
accept it in your mind.