The Mind of Wood and Stone

Bodhidharma [the patriarch of Zen Buddhism] said, “Each mind is like wood and stone.” Mind here spoken of is the suchness of mind (or the mind of objective reality), it is the mind of the whole earth; therefore it is the mind of self and other. Each mind, of all the people on earth, as well as the enlightened ones in all worlds, and the celestials and dragons and so on, is wood and stone. There is no other mind outside of this.

 

This wood and stone is of itself untrammeled by the realms of existence, nonexistence, emptiness, form, and so on. With this wood and stone mind one aspires , practices, and realizes. This is because it is mind wood and mind stone. By the power of this mind wood and mind stone, the present thinking of what is not thinking has become manifest. Having seen and heard the wind and sound of the mind wood and mind stone, for the first time one gets beyond the types of aberrant paths. Before that, it is not the path of enlightenment.

 

Dogen Zenji

from Rational Zen