Delusion and awareness

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Using the mind to look for reality is delusion. 
Not using the mind to look for reality is awareness. 
Freeing oneself from words is liberation. 
Remaining unblemished by the dust of sensation is guarding the Dharma. 
Transcending life and death is leaving home. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

No Mind

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Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen. To know that the mind is empty is to see the Buddha. The Buddhas of the ten directions" have no mind. To see no mind is to see the Buddha. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Don’t See the Dharma

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A Buddha is an idle person. He doesn’t run around after fortune and fame. What good are such things in the end? 

People who don’t see their nature and think reading sutras, invoking Buddhas’, studying long and hard, practicing morning and night, never lying down, or acquiring knowledge is the Dharma, blaspheme the Dharma. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Don’t Understand

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But fanatics don’t understand what the Buddha meant. And the harder they try, the farther they get from the Sage’s meaning. All day long they invoke Buddhas and read sutras. But they remain blind to their own divine nature, and they don’t escape the Wheel. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Hold On to Nothing

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If you really want to find the Way, don’t hold on to anything. Once you put an end to karma and nurture your awareness, any attachments that remain will come to an end. Understanding comes naturally. You don’t have to make any effort. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

The Way is Wordless

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Doctrines are only for pointing to the mind. Once you see your mind, why pay attention to doctrines? 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Everything Comes From The Mind

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And by mistakenly clinging to the appearance of things they lose the Way. 
If you know that everything comes from the mind, don’t become attached. 
Once attached, you’re unaware. 
But once you see your own nature, the entire Canon becomes so much prose. 
Its thousands of sutras and shastras only amount to a clear mind. 
Understanding comes in midsentence. 
What good are doctrines? 
The ultimate Truth is beyond words. 
Doctrines are words. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

The Way is The Way

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The Way is basically perfect. It doesn’t require perfecting. 
The Way has no form or sound. It’s subtle and hard to perceive. 
It’s like when you drink water: you know how hot or cold it is, but you can’t tell others. 
Of that which only a Tathagata knows men and gods remain unaware.
The awareness of mortals falls short. 
As long as ,they’re attached to appearances, they’re unaware that their minds are empty. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Of what use are scriptures?

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Even if you can explain thousands of sutras and shastras, unless you see your own nature yours is the teaching of a mortal, not a Buddha. 

The true Way is sublime. It can’t be expressed in language. 

Of what use are scriptures? 

But someone who sees his own nature finds the Way, even if he can’t read a word. Someone who sees his nature is a Buddha. 

And since a Buddha’s body is intrinsically pure and unsullied, and everything he says is an expression of his mind, being basically empty, a buddha can’t be found in words or anywhere in the Twelvefold Canon. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Miraculously aware

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Buddha is Sanskrit for what you call aware, miraculously aware. Responding, arching your brows blinking your eyes, moving your hands and feet, its all your miraculously aware nature. And this nature is the mind. And the mind is the Buddha. And the Buddha is the path. And the path is Zen. But the word Zen is one that remains a puzzle to both mortals and sages. Seeing your nature is Zen. Unless you see your nature, it’s not Zen. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Don’t misdirect your worship

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Student: But why shouldn’t we worship Buddhas and bodhisattvas? 

Bodhidharma: Devils and demons possess the power of manifestation. They can create the appearance of bodhisattvas in all sorts of guises. But they’re false. None of them are Buddhas. The Buddha is your own mind. Don’t misdirect your worship. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Beyond This Mind There Is No Buddha

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Our nature is the mind. And the mind is our nature. This nature is the same as the mind of all Buddhas. Buddhas of the past and future only transmit this mind. Beyond this mind there’s no Buddha anywhere. But deluded people don’t realize that their own mind is the Buddha. They keep searching outside. They never stop invoking Buddhas or worshipping Buddhas and wondering Where is the buddha? Don’t indulge in such illusions. Just know your mind. Beyond your mind there’s no other Buddha. The sutras say, "Everything that has form is an illusion." They also say, "Wherever you are, there’s a Buddha." Your mind is the Buddha. Don’t use a Buddha to worship a Buddha. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

The Buddha is our nature

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Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha; whoever doesn’t is a mortal. But if you can find your buddha-nature apart from your mortal nature, where is it? Our mortal nature is our Buddha nature. Beyond this nature there’s no Buddha. The Buddha is our nature. There’s no Buddha besides this nature. And there’s no nature besides the Buddha. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Find Your Teacher

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If you don’t find a teacher soon, you’ll live this life in vain. It’s true, you have the buddha-nature. But the help of a teacher you’ll never know it. Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher’s help. If, though, by the conjunction of conditions, someone understands what the Buddha meant, that person doesn’t need a teacher. Such a person has a natural awareness superior to anything taught. But unless you’re so blessed, study hard, and by means of instruction you’ll understand. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Everything is like a dream

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There’s no advantage in deceiving yourself. Even if you have mountains of jewels and as many servants as there are grains of sand along the Ganges, you see them when your eyes are open. But what about when your eyes are shut? You should realize then that everything you see is like a dream or illusion. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

If you don’t understand by yourself ...

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Invoking Buddhas results in good karma, reciting sutras results in a good memory; keeping precepts results in a good rebirth, and making offerings results in future blessings-but no buddha. If you don’t understand by yourself, you’ll have to find a teacher to get to the bottom of life and death. But unless he sees his nature, such a person isn’t a teacher. Even if he can recite the Twelvefold Canon he can’t escape the Wheel of Birth and Death. He suffers in the three realms without hope of release. Long ago, the monk Good Star 21 was able to recite the entire Canon. But he didn’t escape the Wheel, because he didn’t see his nature. If this was the case with Good Star, then people nowadays who recite a few sutras or shastras and think it’s the Dharma are fools. Unless you see your mind, reciting so much prose is useless.

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)
 

To find a Buddha

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To find a Buddha, you have to see your nature.Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha. If you don’t see your nature, invoking Buddhas, reciting sutras, making offerings, and keeping precepts are all useless. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Our own mind is the Buddha

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People, though, are deluded. They’re unaware that their own mind is the Buddha. Otherwise they wouldn’t look for a Buddha outside the mind. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

Why look for a Buddha beyond this mind?

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Trying to find a Buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space. 

Space has a name but no form. 

It’s not something you can pick up or put down. 

And you certainly can’t grab if. 

Beyond mind you’ll never see a Buddha. 

The Buddha is a product of the mind. 

Why look for a Buddha beyond this mind? 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)

This mind is the buddha

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This mind is the buddha. Beyond this mind you’ll never find another Buddha. To search for enlightenment or nirvana beyond this mind is impossible. 

The reality of your own self-nature the absence of cause and effect, is what’s meant by mind. Your mind is nirvana. You might think you can find a Buddha or enlightenment somewhere beyond the mind’, but such a place doesn’t exist. 

("The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma", Red Pine, 1987)