One action is better than all sutras

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Silence is better than holiness, so one action is better than all sutras. If you are attached to words and speech, you won't understand a melon's taste; you will only understand its outside form. If you want to understand a melon's taste, then cut a piece and put it in your mouth. A melon ripens and grows by itself, it never explains to human beings its situation and condition. If you are attached to the sutras, you only understand Buddha's speech. If you want to attain Buddha's mind, then from moment to moment put down your opinion, condition and situation. Only help all beings. Then Buddha appears in front of you. This is enlightenment and freedom from life and death.

Excerpted from Zen Master Seung Sahn's "The Whole World is a Single Flower: 365 Kong-ans for Everyday Life" (Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland VT, 1992).

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