磨mó磚zhuān作zuò鏡jìng

What does 磨磚作鏡 (mó zhuān zuò jìng) mean?

磨磚作鏡 (mó zhuān zuò jìng) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "Polishing a brick to make a mirror." In use it means: Just as polishing a brick can never produce a mirror, merely sitting in meditation posture without understanding cannot produce enlightenment. The method must match the goal. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Earth note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Dog.

Literally: "Polishing a brick to make a mirror."

The reading

When Mazu sat in meditation day after day, his teacher Huairang sat beside him and began grinding a brick against a stone. Mazu asked what he was doing. Making a mirror, Huairang replied. Mazu protested that no amount of polishing could turn a brick into a mirror. And you cannot become a Buddha by sitting in meditation alone, came the answer. The story warns against mistaking the container for the content. A practice performed mechanically, without inquiry or aliveness, becomes its own kind of sleep.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeyànyǔ 諺語
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element土 Earth
• Zodiac tie狗 Year of the Dog

Source Nanyue Huairang (南嶽懷讓) teaching Mazu Daoyi (馬祖道一), Tang Dynasty

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Wisdom & Learning, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.