Well, perhaps sometimes they do, but not always.
Sometimes they use dreams in order to advise you. This is because when you are
asleep you are freed from a lot of your ordinary false thinking so they can
reach to your one true heart and you'll be able to listen to them. They will
just slip in a state to teach you something. THE VENERABLE TSO HSI SAID,
"AH! DOESN'T THIS JUST MEAN YOU SHOULD TAKE THESE TWO DHARMAS OF STOPPING
AND CONTEMPLATING AND HELP LIVING BEINGS ACROSS THE SEA OF BIRTH AND DEATH BY
MEANS OF THEM?" Don't you think that's what it means? AFTER THAT HE
TRANSMITTED THE WAY OF TEACHING CONTEMPLATION.
AT THIRTY-EIGHT HE HAD HIS
HEAD SHAVED AND RECEIVED THE PRECEPTS. THEN HE PROPAGATED THE WONDERFUL DHARMA
AND WAS ABLE TO INCLUDE MYRIAD KINDS OF PRACTICE WITHIN IT. HE EXPLAINED ALL
THE TEACHINGS OF THE PATRIARCHS AND WAS AUTHOR OF A RECORD AND TEXT, WHICH WERE
WIDELY CIRCULATED. HE USED THE SUDDEN PERFECT TEACHING OF THE ONE
SPECIALIZATION. The one specialization refers to the T'ien T'ai school. THOSE
WITH UNDERSTANDING SAID, "IF VENERABLE CHING HSI HAD NOT BEEN BORN, THE
PERFECT PRINCIPLE I COULD HAVE DIED OUT. The sudden perfect teaching would
have been lost forever. IN THE T'IEN PAU REIGN PERIOD of the T'ang Dynasty, HE
WAS SUMMONED THREE TIMES BY THE EMPEROR. THRICE, HE PLEADED ILLNESS AND REFUSED
THE INVITATIONS. IN HIS LATTER YEARS HE WENT BACK TO FWO LUNG AND AFTER SIGNS
OF SLIGHT ILLNESS ONE DAY HE FINISHED THE DHARMA LECTURE, LAY DOWN ON A
PLATFORM AND DEPARTED. THE VENERABLE PERFECT PENETRATION WAS HIS POSTHUMUS
TITLE.
A VERSE IN HIS PRAISE READS:
THE TEACHINGS OF THE T'IEN
T'AI SCHOOL HAP NOT ALL BEEN TAUGHT; ITS PATH HAD NOT BEEN BROADENED.
BUT ONCE THE MASTER
RECEIVED THESE DHARMAS THE FUTURE LOOKED VERY BRIGHT.
HE HIMSELF CARRIED TWO
WHEELS AND ROAMED ABOUT EVERYWHERE.
UNDERSTANDING ALL WHICH WAS
ESOTERIC, WITH GREAT ELOQUENCE,
HE FIRMLY PLANTED THE MOST
SUPREME BANNER.
ANOTHER VERSE IN HIS PRAISE SAYS:
THE VENERABLE CHAN JAN WAS
CALLED CHING HSI.
ORIGINALLY HIS HOUSEHOLD
WAS CONFUCIAN.
AT SEVENTEEN HE SOUGHT THE
WAY WITH VIGOROUS CULTIVATION.
AT THIRTY-SEVEN HE SHAVED
HIS HEAD AND CULTIVATED FOR BODHI.
HE HAD A VAST UNDERSTANDING
OF THE PERFECT TEACHING.
IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE SUDDEN SCHOOL HE
WAS THOROUGHLY VERSED.
HE AWAKENED TO THE PRINCIPLES THEN TAUGHT
THOSE WHO WERE READY.
HE WOULDN'T RESPOND TO THE ROYAL REQUEST.
HE WAS A TRUE SANGHA JEWEL.
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