Selections from Instructions to the Assembly in Zhongfeng Extensive Record

Abstract Translation 1 consists of four instructions that Zhongfeng delivered to his assemblies. These instructions mark certain occasions, such as New Year’s Eve, the first day of summer retreat, a snowfall, and the Lantern Festival marking the end of the New Year. They contain discussions of such topics as the following: “If you want to know the meaning of buddha-nature, you should contemplate the passage of time and origination-by-dependence”; “the hundred phantasmal dharmas are all perfect”; the wisdom of sameness; the huatou that has no meaning or taste; how the buddha-nature water coagulates into ice; the huatou is like the true wisdom of the sun that melts the ice; and the vain nature of searching for something outside yourself.