Thoughts Don't Originally Exist

Jay Rinsen Weik gives a talk and leads discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on September 24, 2008."A Layman asked: 'I'm grateful for your teaching of the unborn, but I find that thoughts easily come up as a result of my ingrained bad habits, and when I'm distracted by them, I can't wholeheartedly realize the unborn. How can I put my faith totally in the unborn Buddha Mind?' "The Master said: 'When you try to stop your rising thoughts, you create a duality between the mind that does the stopping and the mind that's being stopped, so you'll never have peace of mind.  Just have faith that thoughts don't originally exist, but only arise and cease temporarily in response to what you see and hear without any actual substance of their own.'" - From Master Bankei's Hogo Instructions: Duality.For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org.