Dream of the madman

Author: Lao Cun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This is a stone monkey at the head of my hometown village. When I was a child, I often played on it. The elders say, no one knows how many centuries it has been, and it has been dreaming all along. Last year, when I returned home, I saw it still dreaming. When I picked up the pen to write something, I often felt pain. An indescribable sense of embarrassment overcame me: because you suddenly realize that you are no longer the kind of carefree youth who can pour your heart out onto paper and pour out your emotions without restraint! What is on paper is just like ripples on the surface of the water, never truly the deep undercurrents of your heart. That undercurrent is the only thing that is real, essential, and powerful, and is closely intertwined with your life. At three in the night, after finishing meditation, I read the Platform Sutra, and in just three or five sentences, I felt the presence of my loved ones. To stand in life, one only needs three feet of earth—why seek more? To seek too much leads to madness and chaos, to petty-mindedness, and to falling into great delusion and error.