Om svabhava suddha sarva dharma svabhava suddho’ham. [1]
Character is nothing, own-being is everything. Thus, such is the path of enlightenment that a being of good merit should choose not to foster character but unveil the clear light of their own-being to themselves.
Where the former is solely based on the interdependent origination of arising and cessating conditions, the latter is clear light. Where one is mere illusion of appearances, the other is a solid reality of imagelessness and lacks any trace of character in itself.
Where the former is based on an inner and outer world you may see through the distorting field of the skandhas and merely a configuration of your unconditioned own-being, the latter is the absolute reality of your true nature.
Where such reality TRULY IS AS SUCH, there is your true being. Where else would it be?
Deeming it good or bad in your own mind is to instantly transform it into something it is not. A most sad reality that always triggers new conditions of heavens and hells.
The clear light of the true flows naturally and abundantly in all ten directions from the core of your own-being. Look away, and the light is lost to you. Face it, and behold the source of right knowledge and right release.
Tozen
[1] Mantra meaning – “All is pure as it is. I am pure as i am.”