The Great Way

[Guest guest]

THIRD CHINESE PATRIARCH OF ZEN

Translation by Richard B. Clarke of the HSIN HSIN MING

attributed to Seng Ts'an, the Third Chinese Patriarch of Zen

 

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 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

(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. 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 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 separation?

 

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 (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 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 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.

 

* NOTE: The Chinese character translated as "Great Way" or "Way" is

the character for "Tao." -- Weinstein

[Guest guest]

, "COMO KASHA" <lostnfoundation@y.

> no tomorrow, no today.

>

> * NOTE: The Chinese character translated as "Great Way" or "Way" is

> the character for "Tao." -- Weinstein

 

Namaste All,

 

The Archaic Chinese Character for Tao is 'Man running'...On the way

presumably..Tony.