Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron and Tin

金银铜铁锡

Doing the alternate sits and walks in the Chan Hall is the best training for your body and your mind. The Chan Hall is also called the Great Furnace. No matter what you are, be it gold, silver, bronze, iron or tin, once you are in the furnace, you will be smelted. It is also like a chemical laboratory where no matter which grade or type of metal you may be, you will be put to test and the true and false will be determined.

That is why when people who put up a false front or appearance are in the Chan Hall, they can last only five minutes before they cannot stand it anymore and want to leave. They cannot pass the test. Thus the Chan Hall is a testing place for our earnestness and sincerity. If one is earnest and sincere, one will bear the hardships; but if one is not sincere, one will not be able to forebear. We always have seven-day Chan sessions and it is here that we are panning for gold. Meditation is analogous to sieving the gold from the sand; the gold will remain, and the water will wash the sand away.

在禅堂里跑跑坐坐，坐坐跑跑，这是锻炼身心最好的方法。禅堂也叫大冶洪炉，你是金银铜铁锡，到这儿都要被化了；这也是一个化学的试验所，无论你是金银铜铁锡，都要经过一番化验，真假就能判断出来，所以装模做样的修行人到禅堂，就只坐五分钟，他也受不了想要跑，这就是经不起化验。禅堂是试验我们每一个人的真心，你要有真心，就是再苦也不会跑的；你要没有真心，就觉得受不了了想要跑了。我们常常打禅七，也就是在这儿淘金，所谓沙里澄金，是金子就会留下来，沙子就会被水冲走了。