What is valued is only that your eye be correct; nothing is said of your conduct.

沩山问仰山：“涅槃经四十卷，多少是佛说，多少是魔说？”仰曰：“总是魔说。”沩曰：“以后无人奈子何。”仰曰：“慧寂即一期之事，行履在什么处？”沩曰：“只贵子眼正，不说子行履。”

Chan Master Yangshan's reply to his master's question was very strange. Yangshan said that all forty volumes of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra were spoken by Māra, not by the Buddha. Why were they not spoken by the Buddha? Because the true Buddha has no mouth and does not preach the Dharma; the one who preaches the Dharma with the mouth accompanies the true Buddha—it is a conjured illusion, not the true Buddha, merely a false Buddha. Hearing this, his master Chan Master Guishan greatly praised him, saying: "From now on, no one will be able to deal with you; your wisdom is outstanding." Yangshan said: "My seeing and knowledge are now complete, but where should my true bodhisattva conduct manifest?" Guishan said: "I only value the correctness of your eye; I do not speak of your conduct."

Yangshan had already awakened to his true mind and seen his nature, and his prajñā wisdom was complete. Yet he wished to quickly attain the bodhisattva's practice, to perfect his own bodily, verbal, and mental actions, to conform to all the standards of a bodhisattva, and he resolved to quickly become a true bodhisattva in name and in fact. Guishan, however, believed that once one has genuinely awakened to the true mind and seen one's nature, one's practice will gradually transform; one's former bodily, verbal, and mental actions will gradually become purified, the elimination of afflictions will happen quite naturally, and the bodhisattva's mental conduct of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity will gradually become complete. Guishan's view is entirely correct. But as for the correctness of the eye, one must also look at what kind of eye is correct. If only the eye of the conscious mind is correct while the eye of the manas is still crooked, the bodhisattva's conduct cannot be set right. Only when the eye of the manas is correct will the bodily, verbal, and mental actions naturally walk on the right path; then there is no worry that ignorance and afflictions cannot be eliminated, nor that the bodhisattva's mental conduct of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity cannot be fulfilled. And the facts prove it: Chan Master Yangshan later passed the three checkpoints of the Chan school, entered the first bhūmi, and in his dreams went to Maitreya's inner court, where he preached the Dharma before Bodhisattva Maitreya.

People of the past cultivated with genuine practice and real realization; their awakening to the true mind and seeing of their nature were genuine awakenings, without the slightest ambiguity or adulteration. After awakening to the true mind, not only did their wisdom flow forth abundantly, their conduct also became increasingly pure, conforming to the standards of a bodhisattva, becoming a place of refuge for sentient beings. Today, however, it is different: false bodhisattvas fly everywhere, their bodily, verbal, and mental actions are reviled by others and inspire loathing—they are more ordinary than worldly ordinary people, and compared with true bodhisattvas, the difference is as great as heaven and earth. So false bodhisattvas with false awakenings to the true mind should not even speak of conduct.