The Four Great Chan Maladies

The four great Chan maladies: stopping, creating, letting-be, and extinguishing. Stopping: the Chan of the tathāgatagarbha is not something that exists only when you stop deluded thoughts and does not exist when you do not; the tathāgatagarbha exists inherently, regardless of whether your mind is stilled or not. Creating: the Chan of the tathāgatagarbha is not cultivated into being through practice; it is inherently present. No matter how your conscious mind tosses and turns, the tathāgatagarbha naturally exists. Letting-be: the tathāgatagarbha is not something you can find or seek out by letting your conscious mind run free and easy, going along with conditions at ease, without cultivating generosity, meditative concentration, the six perfections, and so forth; although the tathāgatagarbha is not produced through cultivation, without cultivation it also cannot be realized. Extinguishing: the tathāgatagarbha exists inherently, manifesting at every moment and functioning at every moment; it is not the case that the tathāgatagarbha can only manifest and appear after you still and extinguish your conscious mind.