POLISH A BRICK – Han Shan

Steam some sand for your dinner

When you’re thirsty dig a well

Polish a brick with all you might

You still won’t make a mirror

The Buddha said we’re basically equal

We share the same true nature

Figure it out for yourself

Give up this useless struggle

Notes:

The Suwen ssuchi tiaoshen talun says: “Waiting for an illness before taking medicine is like waiting until you’re thirsty to dig a well.”

And according to Chuantenglu: 5, one day Master Huai-jang asked Ma-tsu, “Why are you practicing meditation?” And Ma-tsu answered, “I’m trying to become a Buddha.” Huai-jang picked up a brick next to Ma-tsu’s hut and started to grind it on a rock. When Ma-tsu asked what he was doing, Huai-jang replied “I am trying to make a mirror.” Ma-tsu said, “But how can you make a mirror by grinding a brick?.”Huai-jang answered, “And how can you become a Buddha by practicing meditation?”

As for chen-ju (truly real), in his Tacheng chihsinlun (Awakening of Faith in Mahayana): 3.1A, Ashvaghosha wrote, “Since all dharmas have always been indescribable, unnamable, inconceivable, and ultimately the same, changeless, irreducible, and indivisible, they are therefore called ‘truly real.’”

The last two lines of Lao-tzu’s Taoteching go: “the way of the sage / is to act without struggling.”