"Words are illusions"
About this Quote
Bodhidharma, the early Chan master credited with bringing Zen to China, treats language as a shimmering mirage. Words point, they evoke, they organize experience, yet they do not coincide with the thing itself. Names and concepts are like labels pasted on a living world; the label is not the life. In Buddhist terms, clinging to words turns the mind toward appearances and away from the direct seeing of reality, which is empty of fixed essence. The more tightly one holds a description, the more one mistakes a mental construct for what is actually present.
This stance fits the Chan motto often attributed to his lineage: a special transmission outside the scriptures, not relying on words and letters; pointing directly to the mind to see one’s nature and become Buddha. Bodhidharma famously told Emperor Wu that there was no merit in his pious building projects, then said all he saw was vast emptiness, nothing holy. The shock was meant to crack reliance on conventional piety and verbal righteousness. Koans, shouts, a raised finger, even silence serve the same function: to jolt perception free of the spell woven by language and habit.
Calling words illusions does not reject speech altogether. Buddhism treats teachings as skillful means: useful rafts to cross a river, not possessions to display or burdens to carry. Language can guide, warn, and inspire, but when mistaken for the destination it becomes a veil. There is also a deliberate irony here: the assertion itself is made of words. That self-undercutting quality directs attention away from the statement and back to the act of seeing.
The lesson is practical. Sit, breathe, look. Notice the difference between a thought about pain and the sensation itself, between the story of the self and the shifting stream of experience. When the grip on words loosens, the world does not vanish; it becomes clear, immediate, and intimate.
This stance fits the Chan motto often attributed to his lineage: a special transmission outside the scriptures, not relying on words and letters; pointing directly to the mind to see one’s nature and become Buddha. Bodhidharma famously told Emperor Wu that there was no merit in his pious building projects, then said all he saw was vast emptiness, nothing holy. The shock was meant to crack reliance on conventional piety and verbal righteousness. Koans, shouts, a raised finger, even silence serve the same function: to jolt perception free of the spell woven by language and habit.
Calling words illusions does not reject speech altogether. Buddhism treats teachings as skillful means: useful rafts to cross a river, not possessions to display or burdens to carry. Language can guide, warn, and inspire, but when mistaken for the destination it becomes a veil. There is also a deliberate irony here: the assertion itself is made of words. That self-undercutting quality directs attention away from the statement and back to the act of seeing.
The lesson is practical. Sit, breathe, look. Notice the difference between a thought about pain and the sensation itself, between the story of the self and the shifting stream of experience. When the grip on words loosens, the world does not vanish; it becomes clear, immediate, and intimate.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|
More Quotes by Bodhidharma
Add to List
