The Hsin-Hsin Ming
Verses
on the Faith-Mind
By Seng-ts'an,
Third Chinese Patriarch
Translated by Richard B. Clarke
The
Great Way is not difficult
for
those not attached to preferences.
When
neither love nor hate arises,
all
is clear and undisguised.
Separate
by the smallest amount, however,
and
you are as far from it as heaven is from earth.
If
you wish to know the truth,
then
hold to no opinions for or against anything.
To
set up what you like against what you dislike
is
the disease of the mind.
When
the fundamental nature of things is not recognized
the
mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The
Way is perfect as vast space is perfect,
where
nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed,
it is due to our grasping and rejecting
that
we do not know the true nature of things.
Live
neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor
in ideas or feelings of emptiness.
Be
serene and at one with things
and
erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When
you try to stop activity to achieve quietude,
your
very effort fills you with activity.
As
long as you remain attached to one extreme or another
you
will never know Oneness.
Those
who do not live in the Single Way
cannot
be free in either activity or quietude, in assertion
or
denial.
Deny
the reality of things
and
you miss their reality;
assert
the emptiness of things
and
you miss their reality.
The
more you talk and think about it
the
further you wander from the truth.
So
cease attachment to talking and thinking,
and
there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To
return to the root is to find the essence,
but
to pursue appearances or "enlightenment" is to miss
the
source.
To
awaken even for a moment
is
to go beyond appearance and emptiness.
Changes
that seem to occur in the empty world
we
make real only because of our ignorance.
Do
not seek for the truth;
Only
cease to cherish opinions.
Do
not remain in a dualistic state;
avoid
such easy habits carefully.
If
you attach even to a trace
of
this and that, of right and wrong,
the
Mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although
all dualities arise from the One,
do
not be attached even to ideas of this One.
When
the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
there
is no objection to anything in the world;
and
when there is no objection to anything,
things
cease to be— in the old way.
When
no discriminating attachment arises,
the
old mind ceases to exist.
Let
go of things as separate existences
and
mind too vanishes.
Likewise
when the thinking subject vanishes
so
too do the objects created by mind.
The
arising of other gives rise to self;
giving
rise to self generates others.
Know
these seeming two as facets
of
the One Fundamental Reality.
In
this Emptiness, these two are really one—
and
each contains all phenomena.
If
not comparing, nor attached to "refined" and "vulgar"—
you
will not fall into judgment and opinion.
The
Great
Way is embracing and spacious—
to
live in it is neither easy nor difficult.
Those
who rely on limited views are fearful and irresolute:
The
faster they hurry, the slower they go.
To
have a narrow mind,
and
to be attached to getting enlightenment
is
to lose one's center and go astray.
When
one is free from attachment,
all
things are as they are,
and
there is neither coming nor going.
When
in harmony with the nature of things, your own
fundamental
nature,
and
you will walk freely and undisturbed.
However,
when mind is in bondage, the truth is hidden,
and
everything is murky and unclear,
and
the burdensome practice of judging
brings
annoyance and weariness.
What
benefit can be derived
from
attachment to distinctions and separations?
If
you wish to move in the One Way,
do
not dislike the worlds of senses and ideas.
Indeed,
to embrace them fully
is
identical with true Enlightenment.
The
wise person attaches to no goals
but
the foolish person fetters himself or herself.
There
is one Dharma, without differentiation.
Distinctions
arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To
seek Mind with the discriminating mind
is
the greatest of mistakes.
Rest
and unrest derive from illusion;
with
enlightenment, attachment to liking and disliking
ceases.
All
dualities come from ignorant inference.
They
are like dreams, phantoms, hallucinations—
it
is foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain
and loss, right and wrong; finally abandon all such
thoughts
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
realize the mystery of this One-essence
is
to be released from all entanglements.
When
all things are seen without differentiation,
the
One Self-essence is everywhere revealed.
No
comparisons or analogies are possible
in
this causeless, relationless state of just this One.
When
movement stops, there is no movement—
and
when no movement, there is no stopping.
When
such dualities cease to exist
Oneness
itself cannot exist.
To
this ultimate state
no
law or description applies.
For
the Realized mind at one with the Way
all
self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts
and irresolutions vanish
and
the Truth is confirmed in you.
With
a single stroke you are freed from bondage;
nothing
clings to you and you hold to nothing.
All
is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with
no need to exert the mind.
Here,
thinking, feeling, understanding, and imagination
are
of no value.
In
this world "as it really is"
there
is neither self nor other-than-self.
To
know this Reality directly
is
possible only through practicing non-duality.
When
you live this non-separation,
all
things manifest the One, and nothing is excluded.
Whoever
comes to enlightenment, no matter when or
where,
Realizes
personally this fundamental Source.
This
Dharma-truth has nothing to do with big or small,
with
time and space.
Here
a single thought is as ten thousand years.
Not
here, not there—
but
everywhere always right before your eyes.
Infinitely
large and infinitely small: no difference,
for
definitions are irrelevant
and
no boundaries can be discerned.
So
likewise with "existence" and "non-existence."
Don't
waste your time in arguments and discussion
attempting
to grasp the ungraspable.
Each
thing reveals the One,
the
One manifests as all things.
To
live in this Realization
is
not to worry about perfection or non-perfection.
To
put your trust in the Heart-Mind is to live without separation,
and
in this non-duality you are one with your Life-Source.
Words!
Words!
The
Way is beyond language,
for
in it there is no yesterday,
no
tomorrow
no
today.
Reprinted by permission of the translator, Richard B.
Clarke, director and resident teacher at the Living
Dharma Center (P.O. Box 304, Amherst, MA 01004)
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