May 23, 2026

Just sitting with open awareness, the ten thousand things are at rest." — Hongzhi Zhengjue, Cultivating the Empty Field

Hongzhi was a 12th-century Chinese Chan master who led the Tiantong monastery during a period of intense sectarian debate about the right way to practice. He wrote this in defense of silent illumination — the practice of sitting still without chasing insight or pushing away distraction. For Hongzhi, equanimity was not emotional flatness but a kind of steady attention that did not need circumstances to change before it could settle. That is worth sitting with on any ordinary morning.