O viajante e o estalajadeiro

In the Surangama Sutra, Arya Ajnatakaundinya asks, "What is the difference between settled and transient?" He answers by giving the example of a traveler who stops at an inn. The traveler dines and sleeps and then continues on his way. He doesn't stop and settle there at the inn, he just pays his bill and departs, resuming his journey. But what about the innkeeper? He doesn't go anywhere. He continues to reside at the inn because that is where he lives.

"I say, therefore, that the transient is the guest and the innkeeper is the host," says Arya Ajnatakaundinya.

And so we identify the ego's myriad thoughts which rise and fall in the stream of consciousness as transients, travelers who come and go and who should not be detained with discursive examinations. Our Buddha Self is the host who lets the travelers pass without hindrance. A good host does not detain his guests with idle chatter when they are ready to depart.

Therefore, just as the host does not pack up and leave with his guests, we should not follow our transient thoughts. We should simply let them pass, unobstructed.

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