So, in this section, the Sixth Patriarch, in a “tricky” way, attempts to show that his idea is basically the same as that of Shen-hsiu. Samadhi, wisdom, precepts, and practice of meditation were the basic teaching of all Buddhists, so Shen-hsiu was just following traditional teaching. When the Sixth Patriarch said, … my views are different, he was not talking about Shen-hsiu, but, rather, the whole tradition. His ways of practice were new, showing a deeper understanding. Bodhidharma also expressed a direct pointing at mind. However, Shen-hsiu taught that discipline and precepts meant not to do any evil; wisdom, to practice all good deeds; and calmness, to purify one’s own mind. Thus he was looking at the external and visible world, which is phenomenal and mundane, concerned with ethical stages of understanding. This implies that one who sits has a tainted mind. But the Sixth Patriarch was reviving Bodhidharma’s teaching when he said, When the mind is free from evil, that is the discipline of one’s own nature. If we think we are not perfect without discipline, we start looking for perfection, so we sit. More important is to ask, “What is the more complete way?” turning our eyes inward. Life is peace, even when there is struggle and fighting. There is no person who doesn’t struggle. In Japanese, the struggle is expressed as ivy vines, many views pulling you in different directions. But there is a difference between knowledge of the mountain, and being at the mountain. When you are on the mountain and see the city lights below, when you are without food and shelter, city lights look wonderful! Even if you go to the mountain, there is struggle. To actualize peace, you go alone. The 15th of this month is Buddha’s Parinirvana day. Everyone knows he died centuries ago. The concern is whether that day was centuries ago, or yesterday. So when this moment appears, it tells us everything. The near past cannot be past. Not in the world of understanding, but in the world of feeling, it is eternally now. One realizes oneself, now. When you feel nirvana, you cannot separate yourself from nirvana. Every moment is the parinirvana of yourself. To be turned around is to put the scripture in the center, and go around it. This happens if your mind is deluded.