~ Seng T’san~
The
Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and
hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the
smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. The struggle
of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind.
When
the deep meaning of things is not understood the mind’s essential peace is
disturbed to no avail. The way is perfect like vast space where nothing is
lacking and nothing is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept
or reject that we do not see the true nature of things. Live neither in the
entanglements of outer things, nor in inner feelings of emptiness. Be serene
without striving activity in the oneness of things and such erroneous views
will disappear by themselves. When you try to stop activity to achieve
passivity your very effort fills you with activity. As long as you remain in
one extreme or the other you will never know Oneness. Those who do not live in
the single Way fail in both activity and passivity, assertion and denial.
To
deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness of
things is to miss their reality. The more you talk and think about it, the
further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking and there
is nothing you will not be able to know.
To
return to the root is to find the meaning, but to pursue appearances is to miss
the source. At the moment of inner enlightenment there is a going beyond
appearance and emptiness. The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance. Do not search for the truth; only
cease to hold opinions. Do not remain in the dualistic state; avoid such
pursuits carefully. If there is a trace of this and that, the right and wrong,
the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion. Although all dualities come from
the One, do not be attached even to this One. When mind exists undisturbed in
the Way, nothing in the world can offend, and when a thing can no longer offend
it ceases to exist in the old way. When no discriminating thoughts arise, the
old mind ceases to exist.
When
thought objects vanish, the thinking-subject vanishes, as when the mind
vanishes, objects vanish. Things are objects because of the subject; the mind
is such because of things. Understand the relativity of these two and the basic
reality: the unity of emptiness. In this Emptiness the two are
indistinguishable and each contains in itself the whole world. If you do not
discriminate between coarse and fine you will not be tempted to prejudice and
opinion.
To
live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult, but those with limited
views are fearful and irresolute: the faster they hurry, the slower they go,
and clinging cannot be limited: even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray. Just let things be in their own way and there will be neither
coming nor going. Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will
walk freely and undisturbed. When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden,
for everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness. What benefit can be derived from distinctions
and separations? If you wish to move in the One Way do not dislike even the
world of senses and ideas. Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with true
Enlightenment. The wise man strives for no goals but the foolish man fetters
himself. There is one Dharma, truth, law, not many; distinctions arise from the
clinging needs of the ignorant. To seek Mind with the discriminating mind is
the greatest of all mistakes.
Rest
and unrest derive from illusion; with enlightenment there is no liking and
disliking. All dualities come from ignorant inference. They are like dreams or
flowers in the air; foolish try to grasp them. Gain and loss, right and wrong:
such thoughts must finally be abolished at once. If the eye never sleeps, all
dreams will naturally cease. If the mind makes no discriminations, the ten
thousand things are as they are, of single essence. To understand the mystery
of this One-essence is to be released from all entanglements. When all things
are seen equally the timeless Self-essence is reached. No comparisons or
analogies are possible in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider
movement stationary and the stationary in motion, and both the state of
movement and the state of rest disappear. When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist. To this ultimate finality no law or description
applies. For the unified mind in accord with the Way all self-centered striving
ceases. Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we
hold nothing. All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the
mind’s power. Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no
value.
In
this world of Suchness there is neither self nor other-than-self. To come
directly into harmony with this reality just simply say when doubts arise, “Not
two.” In this “not two” nothing is separate, nothing is excluded. No matter
when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth. And this truth is
beyond extension or diminution in time or space; in it a single thought is then
thousand years.
Emptiness
here, Emptiness there, but the infinite universe stands always before our eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small; no difference, for definitions have
vanished and no boundaries are seen. So too with Being and non-Being. Don’t
waste time in doubts and arguments that have nothing to do with this. One
thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in
this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection. To live in this
faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with the trusting
mind.
Words!
The Way is beyond
language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.
Verses
on the faith mind of Sengstan (Sosan) 3rd Zen Patriarch, translated from the
original Chinese by Richard B. Clarke, Zen teacher at the Living Dharma
Centers, Amherst, Massachussets and Coventry, Connecticut.
Thank you for sharing this Ralph:)
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