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Someone asked: “What are enlightenment and delusion?”
Linji said: “A moment when your mind is in doubt is delusion. If you can comprehend that the myriad phenomena are unborn, that [deluded] mind is like an illusory transformation, so that you are everywhere pure, this is enlightenment. So enlightenment and delusion are the two objects, defilement and purity.”

— Linji Yixuan

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More quotes by Linji Yixuan

There is no Buddha that can be sought, no Path that can be achieved, no Dharma that can be attamed.

Even if they are there, they are all objects and scenes dependent on transformation [for their temporary being].

In my view, there are no buddhas and no sentient beings, no ancient and no modern.

Students do not understand because they cling to names and sayings. They are obstructed by the names ‘ordinary’ and ‘holy.’

All phenomena worldly and world-transcending are without a real fixed identity of their own, they have no inherent nature. There are just empty names, and names are empty too.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Linji Yixuan (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.