I am reading "The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin" by Roy Melvyn. He talks about him as a historical figure, but I can find nothing outside of this writings that confirm that. I don't dispute that he lived. Just wish I could find more about him. the book consists of hundreds of short statements that are intended to be 'pointers'. They are unusually clear, for me. I read them as a sort of meditation--going slowly, and letting them sink in.
Melvyn has written other books, which are available on Amazon. However, I ordered on of the others for my Kindle, but I had to return it, as it was filled with various nonsensical text. Not sure what was up with that book.
At the end of the day, I'm not sure I need to know that much about Melvyn. Wu Hsin may have never even existed for all I know, either. I do know that these sayings are powerful pointers.
Highly recommend this book.
Victor, can you share any of those pointers you liked from Wu Hsin? My bet is that Wu is fictional. But that doesn't make Melvyn's project bad or anything. Many of his pointers are very familiar and modern, and sound like they could have been uttered here on this forum.
Prior to all form,
prior to all names,
there is something
which is no thing
that perceives all names and forms.
You are That.
The desire for salvation is the elixer of fools.
The only 'saving' one needs is to be saved
from one's imagination.
Seeking ends
when the fish understand the folly
of searching for the ocean.
In open vibrancy, the sight of
a flower is as marvelous as
a vision of a god.
Whatever one perceives is
not one's own.
It is merely an appearance in the
field of knowing that one is.
Before the body,
before the mind,
are you not there?
When one becomes water,
one's thirst is quenched.
Seeing through the haze of the personal,
one's actions are no longer reactions.
Clarity does not provide answers;
it dissolves questions.
Lacking labels,
lacking definitions,
one is boundless.
To reduce oneself
to the span of a lifetime
and the volume of a body
is the summit of ignorance.
Don't take life personally.
The sun has no care for what passes through
the sky.
A thought arises and it is perveived.
What makes it 'my thought'?
The bird sings and it is perceived.
Does one make it 'my song'?
Identity is an acquired idea.
One is what one was
prior to the acquisition.
Beyond the mind,
all distinctions cease.
Lucidity is the full knowing
of what one appears to be and what one truly is.
With the onset of imagination
space is filled with objects and
time is filled with events.
The absence of imagination
empties space and time so that
true peace may be perceived.
Having rejected acceptance
and having rejected rejection,
a clarity manifests which allows
the world to be as it is.
There are some who would
call this peace.
What is false need not be remedied.
It merely needs to be seen as false.
What one is, is this
Pristine awareness.
All that appears on it, in it,
is merely passing through.
Why give it importance?
Hearing with the
ears is
inferior to
listening with
the heart.
True loving
must be pure,
empty of all attributes.
It contains no I
and no other.
The entire world is merely a play
performed on your stage
while you are seated in
the front row.
