Section 32: If I am blind and touch something, some feeling comes to me. That is an…

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You will remember that when discussing “quick enlightenment, sudden enlightenment, gradual enlightenment,” my understanding is that "gradual" means "never," and "quick" means “forever.” So it appears, in this paragraph, the Sixth Patriarch is not insisting on some certain way of gaining enlightenment, rather, he is saying that if you don’t see truth, you will never see truth. This silently is not like an absence of ideas or words. Seeing a disciple, some people see the teacher of that disciple. This is the very big merit of the Dharmakaya, the law-body. You can feel the kind of master they have. That is how you see the law-body. The Dharma is transmitted to each of us. "Patriarch" is a word for each of us. Law-body has form and no form. If I am blind and touch something, some feeling comes to me. That is an expression of Dharma body. When you start to discriminate, some different thing from Dharma body is happening. You create karma, making a shadow of yourself and saying, "That’s me." You don’t make Buddha nature, true self, an objective. It’s like keeping lots of food in your refrigerator, then you go shopping and come back with more food. Where shall you put it? Everything is within you so you cannot search for it around you. That is like a little dog trying to catch his tail. In another word, “self-understanding” is like the little foam on the ocean knows himself, without knowing how huge a world he is in. He says, "I am enlightened, I am the universe," yet he is foam. Awareness of foam and ocean is like my Dharma body is not separated from yourself. There is nothing new to say. This is one of the most important parts of this text.

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