Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng-ts'an, third zen patriarch, Terebess Asia Online (TAO)

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Hsin Hsin Ming
by Chien-chih Seng-ts'an
Third Zen Patriarch [d. 606 A.D.]
http://www.spiritwalk.org/sengtsan.htm

Hsin Hsin Ming:
Inscribed on the Believing Mind
by Sengtsan, third Chinese patriarch
R. H. Blyth Translation
http://www.mendosa.com/way2.htm

There is nothing difficult about the Great Way,
But, avoid choosing!
Only when you neither love nor hate,
Does it appear in all clarity.

A hair's breadth of deviation from it,
And deep gulf is set between heaven and earth.
If you want to get hold of what it looks like,
Do not be anti- or pro- anything.

The conflict of longing and loathing, --
This is the disease of the mind.
Not knowing the profound meaning of things,
We disturb our peace of mind to no purpose.

Perfect like a Great Space,
The Way has nothing lacking, nothing in excess.
Truly, because of our accepting and rejecting,
We have not the suchness of things.

Neither follow after,
Nor dwell with the Doctrine of the Void.
If the mind is at peace,
Those wrong views disappear of themselves.

When activity is stopped and passivity obtains,
This passivity is again the state of activity.
Remaining in movement or quiescence, --
How shall we know the One?

Not thoroughly understanding the unity of the Way,
Both (activity and quiescence) are failures.
If you get rid of phenomena, all things are lost.
If you follow after the Void,
you turn your back on the selflessness of things.

The more talking and thinking,
The farther from truth.
Cutting off all speech, all thought,
There is nowhere that you cannot go.

Returning to the root, we get the essence;
Following after appearances, we loose the spirit.
If for only a moment we see within,
We have surpassed the emptiness of things.

Changes that go on in this emptiness
All arise because of our ignorance.
Do not seek for the Truth;

Religiously avoid following it.
If there is the slightest trace of this and that,
The Mind is lost in a maze of complexity.

Duality arises from Unity, --
But do not be attached to this Unity.
When the mind is one, and nothing happens,
Everything in the world is unblameable.

If things are unblamed, they cease to exist;
If nothing happens there is no mind.
When things cease to exist, the mind follows them;
When the mind vanishes, things also follow it.

Things are things because of the Mind;
The Mind is the Mind because of things.
If you wish to know what these two are,
They are originally one Emptiness.

In this Void both (Mind and things) are one,
All the myriad phenomena contained in both.
If you do not distinguish refined and coarse,
How can you be for this or against that?

The activity of the Great Way is vast;
It is neither easy nor difficult.
Small views are full of foxy fears;
The faster, the slower.

When we attach ourselves (to the idea of enlightenment) we lose our balance;
We infallibly enter the Crooked Way.
When we are not attached to anything, all things are as they are;
With Activity there is no going or staying.

Obeying our nature, we are in accord with the Way,
Wandering freely, without annoyance.
When our thinking is tied, it turns out from the truth;
It is dark, submerged, wrong.

It is foolish to irritate your mind;
Why shun this and be friend of that?
If you wish to travel in the True Vehicle,
Do not dislike the Six Dusts.

Indeed, not hating the Six Dusts
Is identical with Real Enlightenment.
The wise man does nothing;
The fool shackles himself.

The Truth has no distinctions;
These come from our foolish clinging to this and that
Seeking the Mind with the mind, --
Is not this the greatest of all mistakes?

Illusion produces rest and motion;
Illumination destroys liking and disliking.
All these pairs of opposites
Are created by our own folly.

Dreams, delusions, flowers of air, --
Why are we so anxious to have them in our grasp?
Profit and loss, right and wrong, --
Away with them once for all!

If the eye does not sleep,
All dreaming ceases naturally.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
All things are as they are.

In the deep mystery of this "Things as they are",
We are released from our relations to them.
When all things are seen "with equal mind",
They return to their nature.

No description by analogy is possible
Of this state where all relations have ceased.
When we stop movement, there is no-movement
When we stop resting, there is no-rest.
When both cease to be,
How can the Unity subsist?

Things are ultimately, in their finality,
Subject to no law.
For the accordant mind in its unity,
(Individual) activity ceases.
All doubts are cleared up,
True faith is confirmed.

Nothing remains behind;
There is not anything we must remember.
Empty, lucid, self-illuminated,
With no over-exertion of the power of the mind.
This is where thought is useless,
This is what knowledge cannot fathom.

In the World of Reality,
There is no self, no other-than-self.
Should you desire immediate correspondence (with this Reality)
All that can be said is "No Duality!"

When there is no duality, all things are one,
There is nothing that is not included.
The Enlightened of all times and places
Have entered into this Truth.

Truth cannot be increased or decreased;
An (instantaneous) thought lasts a myriad years.
There is no here, no there;
Infinity is before our eyes.

The infinitely small is as large as infinitely great;
For limits are non-existent things.
The infinitely large is as small as the infinitely minute;
No eye can see their boundaries.

What is, is not,
What is not, is.
Until you have grasped this fact,
Your position is simply untenable.

One thing is all things;
All things are one thing.
If this is so for you,
There is no need to worry about perfect knowledge.

The believing mind is not dual;
What is dual is not the believing mind.
Beyond all language,
For it there is no past, no present, no future.

Verses on the Faith Mind
by Chien-chih Seng-ts'an
Third Zen Patriarch [606AD]
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia - Southern Summer 1997

If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
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.
Be serene 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 cherish opinions.

When the 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,
and when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.

Things are objects because there is a subject or mind;
and the mind is a subject because there are objects.
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.

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
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden,
for everything is murky and unclear.
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 to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many;
distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with 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 of flowers in air:
foolish to 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 motion in stillness
and stillness in motion;
both movement and stillness 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 to 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 doubt arises, "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 ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, Emptiness there,
but the infinite universe stands always before your eyes.

Infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Waste no 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 nonperfection.
To live in this faith is the road to nonduality,
because the nondual is one with the trusting mind.

Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is

no yesterday

no tomorrow

no today.

Inscription on Faith in Mind
One is All
Translation of the Hsin-hsin ming
Dusan Pajin

Journal of Chinese Philosophy
Vol. 19, 1992. Pp. 81-108
Copyright@1992 by Dialogue Publishing Company, Honolulu, U.S.A.
http://dekart.f.bg.ac.yu/~dpajin/text/hsin1.htm
http://home.att.net/~paul.dowling/archive/zen/pajin.htm

1) The best way in not difficult
It only excudes picking and choosing.
Once you stop loving and hating
It will enlighten itself.

2) Depart for a hairbreadth
And heaven and earth are set apart,
If you want it to appear
Do not be for or against.

3) To set longing against loathing
Makes the mind sick.
Not knowing the deep meaning (of the way)
It is useless to quiet thoughts.

4) Complete it is like great vacuity
With nothing lacking, nothing in excess.
When you grasp and reject
There is no suchness.

II.

5) Do not follow conditions,
Do not dwell in emptiness.
Cherishing oneness in the herth,
Everything will stop by itself.

6) Rest to stop motion,
And rest will move you again.
If you are merely in either,
How will you know oneness?

7) Now understanding oneness
You will miss in two ways.
Expelling beung you will without it.
Following empiness you are always behind it.

8) The more words and thoughts
The more you will go astray.
Stop speaking, stop thinking
And there is nothing you cannot understand.

9) Return to the roof and obtain the purport.
Following the outcome you lose the source.
For a moment turn inward,
And surpass the emptiness of things.
Changes that go on in emptiness,
All have their cause in ignorance.

III.

10) Do not seek the true,
Only abstain from views.
Do not dwell in dual views,
Be careful not to pursue them.

11) The slightest trace of right and wrong
And mind is lost in confusion.
One being is the source of the two
However, do not even maintain the one.

12) With one mind there is no arising,
Then everything is without blame.
No blame, no things.
No arisin, no mind.

13) The subject follows when the object ceases,
The objects is expelled when the subject sinks.
The object is related to the subject
The subject is related to the object.

14) If you want to know these two
Their origin is one emptiness.
In one emptiness both are equal
Evenly containinf innumerable forms.

IV.

15) Do not differentiabte coarse and fine
And you will not be for or against.
The great way is all-embracing
Neither easy nor difficult.

16) Small views are irresolute, full of doubt,
Now in haste, then too late.
Grasp beyond measure
And you will go astray.

17) Letting go leads to spontaneity.
Essence neither goes nor abides.
Accord your nature with the way
And go free of troubles.

18) Fettered thinking strays from the real,
It darkens, sinks and spoils.
To weary the spirit is not good.
Of what use are strange and familiar?

19) In following the 0ne vehicle
Do not dislike the six sense-objects.
Not disliking the six sense-objects
Turns out equal to perfect awakenness.

20) The wise performs through non-action.
The fool ties himself.
Things are not different,
Ignorance leads to preference.

21) To use the mind to hold the mind
Is it not a great mistake?
Out of confusion arise rest and disturbance.
Awakening negates liking and disliking.

22) All opposite sides
Lead to absurd consideration.
Dreams, illusionl, flowers in the air
Why strive to grasp them?

23) Profit and loss, right and wrong
Away with this once for all.
If the eyes are not closed
All dreams stop by themselves.

VI.

24) If the mind does not discriminate
All things are of one suchness.
In the deep essence of one suchness
Resolutely neglect conditions.

25) When all things are beheld as even
You return again to spontaneity.
Put an end to the cause
And nothing can be compared.

26) Cease movement and no movement arises.
Set rest in motion and there is no resting.
When both do not make a whole
How will one be for you?

27) Investigate to the end
And there is no principle or rule retained.
Accord the mind with impartiality
Which stops every action.

VII.

28) All doubts are cleared
True faith is firm and harmonized.
Nothing is detained,
Nothing to remember.

29) Vacuous,enlightened, self-illumined,
Power of the mind is not exerted.
Thought is useless here,
Sense or feeling cannot fathom this.

30) In the real suchness of the thing-realm
There is neither other nor self.
Swiftly to accord with that,
Only express non-duality.

31) In non- duality all is equal,
Nothing is left out.
The wise from all directions
All belong to this teaching.

32) This teaching is not urgent or extensive,
Beyond a moment, or an aeon,
Not here,not there,
Everywhere in front of the eyes.

VIII.

33) Very small and large are equal.
When boundaries are forgotten,
Very large and small are equal,
The limits cannot be seen.

34) With being there is non-being.
With non-being there is being.
If not so -
Do not hold on to it.

35) One is all,
All is one -
Merely with such ability
Worry not for finality.

36) Faith in mind is non-dual.
Non-duality is faith in mind.
Discourse here stops -
With no past, present, future.

HAVE FAITH IN YOUR MIND
- a gatha by the 3rd Patriarch of China
Copyright ©1983 - 2000 Shih Shen Lung ~ Dragon Flower Ch'an Temples, Inc.
http://maxpages.com/drfu1/Faith_in_Mind

It is not hard to realize your Mind, which should not be an object of your choice.
When you throw like and not like away, you'll be clear about it.
A slight deviation from it creates a gulf as deep as that which lies between heaven and earth.
If you want Mind to manifest itself, be neither for nor against a thing, for this is contention, a disease that afflicts the Mind.
If you ignore its profundity, you can never practice stillness.
Like the great void, it is Perfect and lacks nothing, nor has any excess.
If you discriminate, you will miss its suchness.
Cling not to external causes, nor stay in the void.
Differentiation ceases if you can be impartial.
Stillness comes when all disturbances are stopped, cling to stillness is also a mistake.
If you cling to opposites, how will you know the One?
If you do not recognize One Mind, two opposites will lead you nowhere.
To avoid what IS means to cling yet to what IS NOT, to cling to what IS NOT means to fall back on what IS.
The more you talk and think, the further you are from it.
When you halt all speech and thought, you will find it everywhere.
If you believe success comes with returning all things to their source, you will still be clinging to its function.
The instant that you look within, you surpass your contemplation of the void, which is always changing because of your discrimination of views.
Seek not the real, but lay your false views down. Avoid both he real and the false, and never search for either. Once you begin to choose between right and wrong, you will become confused and lose your Mind.
All opposites arise from the One Mind which must not be cling to.
If the One Mind is not disturbed, all things will then be harmless.
When all things are harmless, then they will cease to be; Mind that does not stir does not exist.
Subjects that are separated from their objects vanish.
Objects are caused by subjects and depend on their existence.
If you would understand dualities, know that they spring from Absolute Voidness.
The absolute and all dualities are the same, and from the same do all things originate.
When you do not choose between the course and the fine, all prejudices die.
Since the Great Mind embraces all, it is neither difficult nor easy to realize it.
In their distrust the ignorant waver between hesitation and eagerness.
If you grasp at it, you will be wrong and will have fallen in the way of heretics.
If you lay it down, it will neither stay nor go.
Unite your nature with the Way, and you will be free of troubles.
Clinging leads to separation from the real and leads to confusion is useless and only wearies the mind.
If you want to know the One, do not reject the data of the six senses.
If they are not rejected they are the same as Enlightenment.
The wise man is non-active, the ignorant bind themselves.
Clinging comes from delusion but all things are the same at heart.
If you use the mind to seek itself, this is a grave mistake. Delusion brings stillness and disturbance; Enlightenment is beyond all good and all evil.
All pairs of opposites come from discrimination.
Dreams, illusions and flowers in the sky are not worth attachment.
Gain and loss, right and wrong; these should be laid down at once.
If you do not close your eyes in sleep, all dreams disappear.
If you do not discriminate, you will see all things as they are.
Profound is this state of suchness, it is lofty and beyond illusions.
If things are not thought different, they will return to their nature.
When they disappear, the Mind is beyond comparison.
When it stops moving there is not more disturbance; when all motion stops, stillness also disappears.
When opposites disappear, where then can the One Mind be?
When you search for the Ultimate, you find that it is beyond patterns.
In this impartial mind, duality has vanished.
When distrust ceases, your faith will be complete.
When all is thrown away, there is nothing to remember.
The Mind that is now pure radiates and is not tired.
Since it is beyond discrimination, it cannot be understood by that which knows and feels.
Such is the absolute state, free from self and others.
If you would be one with it, avoid all duality.
Neither inside nor outside is the non-dual and it is the same throughout.
Sages everywhere have laid claim to this teaching which is beyond time, long or short, for a thought last for ten thousand years!
It neither IS nor IS NOT, for everywhere is here.
The smallest equals the largest, for it is not confined by space.
The largest equals the smallest, for it is not within nor without.
IS and IS NOT are the same, for what IS NOT equals IS.
If you cannot awaken to this, then you should change your ways.
Now One is ALL and All is One.
If you can awaken to this, why worry if you have not yet found it?
Just believe that the Mind is non-dual, for your Faith in it is not divided.
In it there is no room for words and speech; is has no past, no present or no future.

The Mind of Absolute Trust

from a literal translation
by Robert F. Olson
http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmSengTsan.htm

The Great Way isn’t difficult
for those who are unattached to their preferences.
Let go of longing and aversion,
and everything will be perfectly clear.
When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction, heaven and earth are set apart.
If you want to realize the truth,
don’t be for or against.
The struggle between good and evil
is the primal disease of the mind.
Not grasping the deeper meaning,
you just trouble your mind’s serenity.
As vast as infinite space,
it is perfect and lacks nothing.
But because you select and reject,
you can’t perceive its true nature.
Don’t get entangled in the world;
don’t lose yourself in emptiness.
Be at peace in the oneness of things,
and all errors will disappear by themselves.

If you don’t live the Tao,
you fall into assertion or denial.
Asserting that the world is real,
you are blind to its deeper reality;
denying that the world is real,
you are blind to the selflessness of all things.
The more you think about these matters,
the farther you are from the truth.
Step aside from all thinking,
and there is nowhere you can’t go.
Returning to the root, you find the meaning; chasing appearances, you lose their source.
At the moment of profound insight,
you transcend both appearance and emptiness.
Don’t keep searching for the truth;
just let go of your opinions.
For the mind in harmony with the Tao,
all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt,
you can trust the universe completely.
All at once you are free,
with nothing left to hold on to.
All is empty, brilliant,
perfect in its own being.
In the world of things as they are,
there is no self, no non-self.
If you want to describe its essence,
the best you can say is "Not-two."

For the mind in harmony with the Tao,
all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt,
you can trust the universe completely.

In this "Not-two" nothing is separate,
and nothing in the world is excluded.
The enlightened of all times and places
have entered into this truth.
In it there is no gain or loss;
one instant is ten thousand years.
There is no here, no there;
infinity is right before your eyes.
The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small as the tiny,
when you don’t have external limits.
Being is an aspect of non-being;
non-being is no different from being.
Until you understand this truth,
you won’t see anything clearly.
One is all; all are one. When
you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom?
The mind of absolute trust
is beyond all thought, all striving,
is perfectly at peace; for in it
there is no yesterday,
no tomorrow,
no today.

Trusting In Mind

A New Translation of the Hsin Hsin Ming,
the classic poem by the Third Patriarch of Zen, Seng T'san
Zen Master Hae Kwang
http://www.kwanumzen.com/primarypoint/v16n1-1998-winter-GMZM-TrustingInMind.html

The Great Way is not difficult,
Just don't pick and choose.
If you cut off all likes or dislikes
Everything is clear like space.

Make the slightest distinction
And heaven and earth are set apart.
If you wish to see the truth,
Don't think for or against.

Likes and dislikes
Are the mind's disease.
Without understanding the deep meaning
You cannot still your thoughts.

It is clear like space,
Nothing missing, nothing extra.
If you want something
You cannot see things as they are.

Outside, don't get tangled in things.
Inside, don't get lost in emptiness.
Be still and become One
And all opposites disappear.

If you stop moving to become still,
This stillness always moves.
If you hold on to opposites,
How can you know One?

If you don't understand One,
This and that cannot function.
Denied, the world asserts itself.
Pursued, emptiness is lost.

The more you think and talk,
The more you lose the Way.
Cut off all thinking
And pass freely anywhere.

Return to the root and understand.
Chase appearances and lose the source.
One moment of enlightenment
Illuminates the emptiness before you.

Emptiness changing into things
Is only our deluded view.
Do not seek the truth.
Only put down your opinions.

Do not live in the world of opposites.
Be careful! Never go that way.
If you make right and wrong,
Your mind is lost in confusion.

Two comes from One,
But do not cling even to this One.
When your mind is undisturbed
The ten thousand things are without fault.

No fault, no ten thousand things,
No disturbance, no mind.
No world, no one to see it.
No one to see it, no world.

This becomes this because of that.
That becomes that because of this.
If you wish to understand both,
See them as originally one emptiness.

In emptiness the two are the same,
And each holds the ten thousand things.
If you no longer see them as different,
How can you prefer one to another?

The Way is calm and wide,
Not easy, not difficult.
But small minds get lost.
Hurrying, they fall behind.

Clinging, they go too far,
Sure to take a wrong turn,
Just let it be! In the end,
Nothing goes, nothing stays.

Follow nature and become one with the Way,
Free and easy and undisturbed.
Tied by your thoughts, you lose the truth,
Become heavy, dull, and unwell.

Not well, the mind is troubled.
Then why hold or reject anything?
If you want to get the One Vehicle
Do not despise the world of the senses.

When you do not despise the six senses,
That is already enlightenment.
The wise do not act.
The ignorant bind themselves.

In true Dharma there is no this or that,
So why blindly chase your desires?
Using mind to stir up the mind
Is the original mistake.

Peaceful and troubled are only thinking.
Enlightenment has no likes or dislikes.
All opposites arise
From faulty views.

Illusions, flowers in the air --
Why try to grasp them?
Win, lose, right, wrong --
Put it all down!

If the eye never sleeps,
Dreams disappear by themselves.
If the mind makes no distinctions,
The ten thousand things are one essence.

Understand this dark essence
And be free from entanglements.
See the ten thousand things as equal
And you return to your original nature

Enlightened beings everywhere
All enter this source.
This source is beyond time and space.
One moment is ten thousand years.

Even if you cannot see it,
The whole universe is before your eyes.

Infinitely small is infinitely large:
No boundaries, no differences.
Infinitely large is infinitely small:
Measurements do not matter here.

What is is the same as what is not.
What is not is the same as what is.
Where it is not like this,
Don't bother staying.

One is all,
All is one.
When you see things like this,
You do not worry about being incomplete.

Trust and Mind are not two.
Not-two is trusting the Mind.

Words and speech don't cut it,
Can't now, never could, won't ever.

Seng T'san was the third Chinese patriarch of Zen, having received transmission from Bodhidharma's successor, Hui K'o. The poem attributed to him, the "Hsin Hsin Ming" (lit. "Trust Mind Inscription), is one of the earliest and most influential Zen writings, blending together Buddhist and Taoist teachings.

The translator teaches Zen at the Kansas Zen Center and Classics at the University of Kansas.

Hsin Hsin Ming
Inscribed on the Believing Mind
http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmSengTsan.htm

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 opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
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 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 cherish opinions.

Do not remain in the dualistic state;
avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace
of this and that, of 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 the 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.
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 benefits 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 to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many;
distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the 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 to 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:
both movement and 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 to 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 doubt arises, ‘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 ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, Emptiness there,
but the infinite universe stands
always before your 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.

On Trust in the Heart

From Zen: a way of life, by Christmas Humphreys
http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmSengTsan.htm

The perfect way knows no difficulties
Except that it refuses to make preferences;
Only when freed from hate and love
It reveals itself fully and without disguise;
A tenth of an inch’s difference,
And heaven and earth are set apart.
If you wish to see it before your own eyes
Have no fixed thoughts either for or against it.

To set up what you like against what you dislike -
That is the disease of the mind:
When the deep meaning (of the Way) is not understood,
Peace of mind is disturbed to no purpose.

The Way is perfect like unto vast space,
It is indeed due to making choice
That its Suchness is lost sight of.

Pursue not the outer entanglements,
Dwell not in the inner Void;
Be serene in the oneness of things,
And dualism vanishes by itself.

When you strive to gain quiescence by stopping motion,
The quiescence thus gained is ever in motion;
As long as you tarry in dualism,
How can you realize oneness?

And when oneness is not thoroughly understood,
In two ways loss is sustained:
The denying of reality is the asserting of it,
And the asserting of emptiness is the denying of it.

Wordliness and intellection -
The more with them, the farther astray we go:
Away, therefore, with wordliness and intellection,
and there is no place where we cannot pass freely.

When we return to the root, we gain the meaning;
When we pursue external objects we lose the reason.
The moment we are enlightened within,
We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us.

Transformations going on in an empty world which confronts us
Appear real all because of ignorance:
Try not to seek after the true.
Only cease to cherish opinions.

Gatha of Seng T'san, Third Chan Patriarch
Hsin-hsin-ming
http://www.hsuyun.org/Dharma/zbohy/Sruti-Smriti/Gathas/hsin-hsin-ming.html

It’s not difficult to discover your Buddha Mind
But just don’t try to search for it.
Cease accepting and rejecting possible places
Where you think it can be found
And it will appear before you.

Be warned! The slightest exercise of preference
Will open a gulf as wide and deep
as the space between heaven and earth.

If you want to encounter your Buddha Mind
Don’t have opinions about anything.
Opinions produce argument
And contentiousness is a disease of the mind.

Plunge into the depths.
Stillness is deep. There’s nothing profound in shallow waters.
The Buddha Mind is perfect and it encompasses the universe.
It lacks nothing and has nothing in excess.
If you think that you can choose between its parts
You’ll miss its very essence.

Don’t cling to externals, the opposite things,
the things that exist as relative.
Accept them all impartially
And you won’t have to waste time in pointless choosing.

Judgments and discriminations block the flow
and stir the passions.
They roil the mind that needs stillness and peace.
If you go from either-or, this and that,
or any of the countless opposites,
You’ll miss the whole, the One.
Following an opposite you’ll be led astray,
away from the balancing center.
How can you hope to gain the One?

To decide what is, is to determine what’s not.
But determining what’s not can occupy you
so that it becomes what is.
The more you talk and think. the farther away you get.
Cease talking and thinking and you’ll find it everywhere.

If you let all things return to their source, that’s fine.
But if you stop to think that this is your goal
And that this is what success depends upon
And strive and strive instead of simply letting go,
You won’t be doing Zen.
The moment that you start discriminating and preferring
you miss the mark.
Seeking the real is a false view
which should also be abandoned.
Just let go. Cease searching and choosing.
Decisions give rise to confusions
and in confusion where can a mind go?

All the opposing pairs come from the One Great Buddha Mind.
Accept the pairs with gentle resignation.
The Buddha Mind stays calm and still,
Keep your mind within it and nothing can disturb you.
The harmless and the harmful cease to exist.
Subjects when disengaged from their objects vanish
Just as surely as objects,
when disengaged from their subjects, vanish too.
Each depends on the existence of the other.
Understand this duality and you’ll see
that both issue from the Void of the Absolute.

The Ground of all Being contains all the opposites.
From the One, all things originate.
What a waste of time to choose between coarse and fine.
Since the Great Mind gives birth to all things,
Embrace them all and let your prejudices die.

To realize the Great Mind be neither hesitant nor eager.
If you try to grasp it, you’ll cling to air
and fall into the way of heretics.
Where is the Great Dao? Can you lay It down?
Will It stay or go?
Is It not everywhere waiting for you
to unite your nature with Its nature
and become as trouble free as It is?

Don’t tire your mind by worrying about what is real
and what isn’t,
About what to accept and what to reject.
If you want to know the One,
let your senses experience what comes your way,
But don’t be swayed and don’t involve yourself in what comes.
The wise man acts without emotion
and seems not to be acting at all.
The ignorant man lets his emotions get involved.
The wise man knows that all things are part of the One.
The ignorant man sees differences everywhere.

All things are the same at their core
but clinging to one and discarding another
Is living in illusion.
A mind is not a fit judge of itself.
It is prejudiced in its own favor or disfavor.
It cannot see anything objectively.

Bodhi is far beyond all notions of good and evil,
beyond all the pairs of opposites.
Daydreams are illusions and flowers in the sky never bloom.
They are figments of the imagination
and not worth your consideration.
Profit and Loss, right and wrong, coarse and fine.
Let them all go.
Stay awake. Keep your eyes open.
Your daydreams will disappear.
If you do not make judgments, everything will be
exactly as it is supposed to be.

Deep is the Tathagata’s wisdom,
Lofty and beyond all illusions.
This is the One to which all things return
provided you do not separate them,
keeping some and casting others away.
Where can you put them anyway?
All things are within the One.
There is no outside.

The Ultimate has no pattern, no duality,
and is never partial.
Trust in this. Keep your faith strong.
When you lay down all distinctions there’s nothing left
but Mind that is now pure, that radiates wisdom,
and is never tired.

When Mind passes beyond discriminations
Thoughts and feelings cannot plumb its depths.
The state is absolute and free.
There is neither self nor other.
You will be aware only that you are part of the One.
Everything is inside and nothing is outside.

All wise men everywhere understand this.
This knowledge is beyond time, long or short,
This knowledge is eternal. It neither is nor is not.
Everywhere is here and the smallest equals the largest.
Space cannot confine anything.
The largest equals the smallest.
There are no boundaries, no within and without.
What is and what is not are the same,
For what is not is equal to what is.
If you do not awaken to this truth,
do not worry yourself about it.
Just believe that your Buddha Mind is not divided,
That it accepts all without judgment.
Give no thoughts to words and speeches or pretty plans
The eternal has no present, past or future.

Affirming Faith In Mind
http://www.io.com/%7Esnewton/zen/faithmnd.html

The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose.

When preferences are cast aside the Way stands clear and undisguised.

But even slight distinctions made set earth and heaven far apart.

If you would clearly see the truth, discard opinions pro and con.

To founder in dislike and like is nothing but the mind's disease.

And not to see the Way's deep truth disturbs the mind's essential peace.

The Way is perfect like vast space, where there's no lack and no excess.

Our choice to choose and to reject prevents our seeing this simple truth.

Both striving for the outer world as well as for the inner void condemn us to entangled lives.

Just calmly see that all is One, and by themselves false views will go.

Attempts to stop activity will fill you with activity.

Remaining in duality, you'll never know of unity.

And not to know this unity lets conflict lead you far astray.

When you assert that things are real you miss their true reality.

But to assert that things are void also misses reality.

The more you talk and think on this the further from the truth you'll be.

Cut off all useless thought and words And there's nowhere you cannot go.

Returning to the root itself, you'll find the meaning of all things.

If you pursue appearances you overlook the primal source.

Awakening is to go beyond both emptiness as well as form.

All changes in this empty world seem real because of ignorance.

Do not go search for the truth, just let those fond opinions go.

Abide not in duality, refrain from all pursuit of it.

If there's a trace of right and wrong, True-mind is lost, confused, distaught.

From One-mind comes duality, but cling not even to this One.

When this One-mind rests undisturbed, then nothing in the world offends.

And when no thing can give offense, then all obstructions cease to be.

If all thought-objects disappear, the thinking subject drops away.

For things are things because of mind, as mind is mind because of things.

These two are merely relative, and both at source are Emptiness.

In Emptiness these are not two, yet in each are contained all forms.

Once coarse and fine are seen no more, then how can there be taking sides?

The Great Way is without limit, beyond the easy and the hard.

But those who hold to narrow views are fearful and irresolute; their frantic has just slows them down.

If you're attached to anything, you surely will go far astray.

Just let go now of clinging mind, and all things are just as they are. In essense nothing goes or stays.

See into the true self of things, and you're in step with the Great Way, thus walking freely, undisturbed.

But live in bondage to your thoughts, and you will be confused, unclear.

This heavy burden weighs you down-- O why keep judging good and bad?

If you would walk the highest Way, do not reject the sense domain.

For as it is, whole and complete, This sense world is enlightenment.

The wise do not strive after goals, but fools themselves in bondage put.

The One Way knows no differences, the foolish cling to this and that.

To seek Great Mind with thinking mind is certainly a grave mistake.

From small mind come rest and unrest, but mind awakened transcends both.

Delusion spawns dualities-- these dreams are nought but flowers of air-- why work so hard at grasping them?

Both gain and loss, and right and wrong-- once and for all get rid of them.

When you no longer are asleep, all dreams will vanish by themselves.

If mind does not discriminate, all things are as they are, as One.

To go to this mysterious Source frees us from all entanglements.

When all is seen with "equal mind," to our Self-nature we return.

This single mind goes right beyond all reasons and comparisons.

Stop movement and there's no movement, stop rest and no-rest comes instead.

When rest and no-rest cease to be, then even oneness disappears.

This ultimate finality's beyond all laws, can't be described.

With single mind one with the Way, all ego-centered strivings cease;

Doubts and confusion disappear, and so true faith pervades our life.

There is no thing that clings to us, and nothing that is left behind.

All's self-revealing, void and clear, without exerting power of mind.

Thought cannot reach this state of truth, here feelings are of no avail.

In this true world of Emptiness both self and other are no more.

To enter this true empty world, immediately affirm "not-two".

In this "not-two" all is the same, with nothing separate or outside.

The wise in all times and places awaken to this primal truth.

The Way's beyond all space, all time, one instant is ten thousand years.

Not only here, not only there, truth's right before you very eyes.

Distinctions such as large and small have relevance for you no more.

The largest is the smallest too-- here limitations have no place.

What is is not, what is not is-- if this is not yet clear to you, you're still far from the inner truth.

One thing is all, all things are one-- know this and all's whole and complete.

When faith and Mind are not separate, and not separate are Mind and faith, this is beyond all words, all thought.

For here there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.

Hsin Hsin Ming

verses on the faith mind / inscribed on the believing mind
~ Seng T'san, the third Zen Patriarch
translated from the Chinese by Richard B. Clarke
http://home.att.net/%7Epaul.dowling/archive/zen/hsin.htm

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 opinions for or against anything.

To set up what you like against what you dislike

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 in the oneness of things and such

erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

When you try to stop activity by 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 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 cherish opinions.

Do not remain in the dualistic state.

Avoid such pursuits carefully.

If there is even a trace of this and that,

of 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 the 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 (mind):

the mind (subject) is such because of things (object).

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 (attachment) 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 the 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 enlightenment.

The wise man strives to no goals

but the foolish man fetters himself.

There is one Dharma, 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 air -

foolish to 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,

both movement and 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 to 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 say when doubt rises "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 and space:

In it a single thought is ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, emptiness there,

but the infinite universe

stands always before your 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.

Trusting In Mind -

A New Translation of the Hsin Hsin Ming,
the classic poem by the Third Patriarch of Zen,
Seng T'san - Zen Master
http://home.att.net/%7Epaul.dowling/archive/zen/hsin-new.htm