The True Practice Is To Awaken To The Mind

There are people nowadays who think that sentient beings in these degenerate times are unable to make progress through meditation. They believe that it is impossible to perceive one's original nature and realize Buddhahood.

Therefore, they maintain that one should simply recite the Buddha's name or study sutras with the hope to be reborn in a Pure Land. However, this is a foolish practice, because instead of seeking the Buddha within themselves, they continuously look for him elsewhere. But if they were to search for their own mind and awaken to it, they would realize that they themselves are intrinsically Buddhas. Upon awakening to the mind, they will immediately come to be endowed with the observance of the precepts, an understanding of the sutras, and the presence of a Pure Land. When one awakens, this world becomes a Pure Land. There is no Pure Land anywhere else. Therefore, the most effective and true practice is to awaken to the mind.

---Kusan Sunim, in The Way of Korean Zen---