Baso Döitsu

Zen Master Baso Döitsu (709-88) was from Shifang in Hanzhou, about 25 miles north of the modern-day city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province. His surname was Ma and people called him Master Ma (Ma-tsu or Mazu in Chinese). He is said to have strode like an ox and glared like a tiger, and his appearance was most unusual: extended, his tongue could cover his nose, and the veins on the soles of his feet formed two circles.

A high official of the time learned of his reputation and personally came to receive instruction from him. Because of this, students from the four quarters soon gathered like clouds beneath Baso's seat. One day he addressed the congregation, saying,

"All of you here! Believe that your own mind is Buddha. This very mind is buddha-mind.

When Bodhidharma came to China from India, he brought the text of the Lankavatara Sutra with him, allowing people like us to attain awakening. He feared that our views would be inverted, and we wouldn't believe the teaching of this mind that each and every one of us possesses. The Lankavatara Sutra records the Buddha's own words stating that mind is the essence and that there is no gate by which to enter Dharma.

Those seeking the truth should seek nothing. Outside of mind there is no buddha; outside of buddha there is no mind. Do not cling to good nor reject what is bad. Lean neither toward purity nor pollution. Understand the empty nature of desire, that nothing is gained through continuous thoughts, and that because there is no self-nature, the three worlds are only mind. But mind is not independently existent - it is co-dependent with form. The myriad forms of the entire universe are the seal of the single Dharma. Whatever forms are seen are but the perception of mind.

You should speak only of those things that you encounter, for each matter you encounter constitutes your existence, and your actions in each matter are without hindrance. The fruit of the bodhisattva way is just thus, born of mind, taking names to be forms. Because of the knowledge of the emptiness of forms, birth is non-birth. Comprehending this, one acts in the fashion of one's time, dressing, eating food, upholding the practices of a bodhisattva, and passing time according to circumstances. If one practices in this manner, what more needs to be done?

To receive my teaching, listen to this verse:

The field of mind responds to conditions,

Bodhi is only peace.

When there is no obstruction in worldly affairs or principles,

Then birth is non-birth."

Later, when pressed by a monk to explain "Mind here and now is Buddha," Baso said, "Not mind, not Buddha."