I’d like to correct myself: the passage the Sixth Patriarch heard that day in the marketplace was from the Diamond Sutra, not the Lankavatara Sutra.
I’m told now that the passage was this:
Mind, having no fixed abode, should flow forth.
(Bassui)
Here’s what I can say about that: if I lose pitch, yaw, and roll where my mind is, my toss misses the garbage can, my food ends up in my lap, and I clank the pots and pans as I wash them.
I can look for pitch, yaw, and roll where my mind is, but if I restrain where my mind is, I lose the pitch, yaw, and roll. So I have to allow where my mind is (location) to flow forth. Ah but it’s really just being open to my mind flowing forth, for the most part, that keeps the dishes from clanking.
I remember Reb Anderson admonishing folks in the zendo not to clank their utensils and dishes as they cleaned them and put them away. He called for everyone to bring their presence of mind to the task at hand, but he left it for everyone to discover on their own how “mind, having no fixed abode, should flow forth” with regard to the dishes.