From Anthology on the Cultivation of Realization

THINKING
The human mind should be mortified, while its potential should be vivified. Mortification means causing its desirous thoughts to die out; vivification means enlivening its reason. Thinking is the living potential of the mind. Freedom from error is the overall principle; the nine thoughts are the specific principles—thinking how to see clearly, thinking how to hear keenly, thinking how to make a warm impression, thinking how to be respectful in demeanor, thinking how to be truthful in speech, thinking how to be serious in work, thinking how to pose questions when in doubt, thinking what trouble may occur when angry, and thinking about justice when seeing profit to be made.

Thinking about the Way is correct; thinking about things is error. The Way is inherent in us; when you think about the Way inherent within us, thinking itself is the Way. When thought reaches the realm of subtlety, the comprehending mind, clear and clean, is buoyant and joyful. Only this can be called self-realization; if your mental energy is exhausted in spite of the depth of your thinking, even if you have some perception it is not self-realization.

Those who attain realization without thinking are sages; those who attain realization by thinking are the wise. Not cogitating or striving is called truthfulness, referring to the innate knowledge that infants have without study or reflection. Choosing the good simply means choosing this noncogitative nonstriving.

The human heart has seven openings, most of them stopped by blood channels. If you want to open them up, you cannot do so without learning and thinking. Thinking has the sense of penetrating, learning has the function of confirming. When thinking and learning are both employed, what path cannot be attained?

When you have not yet penetrated a principle, it is like facing a wall. Thinking is like boring holes in the wall. For each hole you bore all the way through, you get that much light. Starting out small, you enlarge, until eventually the whole wall itself is gone, and there is openness, free access, and no further obstruction.

The Book of Manners says, "Think in a dignified way." That it is dignified means it is not forced, that it is done in this way means it is not labored. When it is not forced or labored, it can be called good thinking.

"The thinking of a cultivated man does not go beyond his position." This is called thinking. Whenever it is out of place, it is called thoughts. Thinking is a door of entry into the Way, whereas thoughts are roots of obstruction of the Way.

THOUGHTS
Simply because of unawareness, thoughts suddenly arise; this is called ignorance. Because of the arising of ignorance, it seems mind becomes thoughts. Mind really does not move; when you reach this point in observing mind, those thoughts cease of themselves.

Stopping thoughts is not hard—if you can turn back to before a single thought has arisen, then the preceding thought will naturally not continue.

Before arousal, we are merged with the infinite. But if you want to understand the nonoccurrence of a single thought right now, you must examine where thought comes from.

The past is based on the present, the future is based on the past; if you have no mind in the present, the past is naturally over.

Views of person and self are certainly thoughts, but so are views of attachment to religion, and these must be eliminated too. If you consciously try to stop errant thoughts, errant thoughts will instead seem to increase. Try observing what the thoughts are and those thoughts will spontaneously vanish.

To cultivate realization it is essential to stop thoughts. To stop thoughts it is essential to observe mind. When you observe mind, mind does not exist; when mind is nonexistent, objects are empty of themselves. Since mind and objects are thus, there is no stopping; so how can observing be?

Guifeng said, "Consciously examine very closely, observe perceptively very intently. If habit energies arise, they will cease on the spot; do not follow them and you will avoid falling into the emotional indulgences of ordinary human beings. Do not destroy them either and you will avoid falling into quietism. The all-at-once teaching of the school of completeness is after all like this; just accord with original nature and conscious cognition will be uninterrupted."

Triplex Unity says, "The ears, eyes, and mouth are three treasures; shut them and do not allow passage. Let go of willfulness and return to empty nothingness; freedom from thoughts is normalcy."

Those who attain mindlessness in mind itself discern without annihilating the characteristics of mind. Those who are free from thoughts after having had thoughts occur to them realize that thoughts have no essence of their own—being conditionally originated, they are therefore empty.