The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po: On the Transmission of Mind

... Key readings one could gain insight with on the path to self realization. Other legendary sages with brilliant text include nisargadata maharaj, ramana maharshi and longchen rabjam to name a few. I feel this listing important as they had been pointed to by others for my benefit.

Nutshell review - (Review taken from the 1994 Grove Press edition) - There are many excellent reviews and deserved high ratings for this work and so this review will attempt a different approach. If the following passage appeals to you then read this classic Zen text. If an ordinary man, when he is about to die, could only see the five elements of consciousness as void; the four physical elements as not constituting an 'I'; the real Mind as formless and neither coming nor going; his nature as something neither commencing at his birth nor perishing at his death, but as whole and motionless in its very depths; his Mind and environmental objects as one - if he could really accomplish this, he would receive Enlightenment in a flash.

If you want Chan (Zen) teachings, this book is what you need. I read it several times, then supplemented it with Bodhidharma's teachings as one reviewer suggested. However, upon reading Red Pine's Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma I immediately returned it and bought another copy of Huang Po as a backup. I did not have a problem with Bodhidharma's teachings as much as I simply felt that Huang Po explained the One Mind in a way that resonated clearer with me. Both Bodhidharma and Huang Po taught naught but the One Mind, so neither will lead you astray. I gave away all of my other Zen books when I read Huang Po. Reading a dozen Zen books will not bring me any closer to "attaining" enlightenment, just as boiling the ocean is not necessary in order to make a cup of tea. My only complaint is that this book is not available in hardcover.

There seems to be unanimous agreement that this deceptively compact text repays careful digestion, a mine of wisdom compressed within its pages -for those prepared to dig it out. Huang Po's discourses (and the Wan Ling record) remain some the most lucid expositions of Zen. They were delivered when the Zen tradition was still fresh. Huang po's 'sermons' were addressed to practising Buddhists. They presuppose that you are 'looking' into the meaning hinted at - the 'MIND' - which is neither 'yours' nor 'mine' - and in that sense 'VOID' - yet embraces everything in the phenomenal universe. Zen is sometimes regarded as an 'obscure' doctrine, but Huang P'o sermons have a refreshing sense of focus. Skirting the boundaries of what is virtually indescribable, he necessarily ends up uttering paradoxes - sometimes paradox -within-paradox, within paradox - and yet, in such a way that it actually brings focus, 'jiggling' the mind out of its habitual tendency to cling to dualities and contraries. In short, it resumes its inherent condition. We don't 'do' it - 'IT' does itself. All we have to do - is to get out of the way. Thus, Huang P'o's 'direct pointing to the Mind.'This is Zen as it was originally taught, before all the wrangling about 'fixed koans' and answers - or getting stuck with 'just sitting.'Huang P'o speaks with unshakeable conviction that we can AWAKEN RIGHT NOW - if we look into what he is saying. He doesn't want to tie anyone up. It has to be 'your own thing' - nobody else can do it for you. This is squeaky clean Dharma! P.S Besides the Huang-Po material, Blofeld also translated Hui-hai's 'Treatise on Entering the Gate to Sudden Enlightenment.' Between them, these two Zen 'sermons' represent some of most lucid expositions of Zen - ever set down in writing. They posess astonishing focus and compression, without a wasted word.

The teachings of Huang Po bear re-reading many, many times. So compressed and dense is this work that it is impossible to absorb the full import of Huang Po's insights at first pass. I've read it at least a dozen times and continue to discover new insights. This is one of three books I'd want on a desert island.Don't be put off by its compression.This book was translated by John Blofield in the 1950s and appears to remain the only English translation. I'd love to know what happened to Blofield, who apparently was living in Thailand at the time he translated the work.

Huang Po (d. 850) is perhaps one of Zen Buddhism's most brilliant Zen masters. This translation by John Blofeld of Huang Po's dialogues brings to light Zen Buddhism's most esoteric theme which concerns Buddha Mind. Different than the Western concept of Mind, Huang Po reveals the transcendent nature of Buddha Mind which traditional Zen Buddhists believe is the source of all things. This book is a must for anyone wishing to put their foot into the waters of Zen Buddhism. It is a classic in every since of the word. It always seems to say more than print is capable of expressing