Hsing Hsing Ming

[Guest guest]

Hsin Hsin Ming' by Sengtsan (third Zen patriarch of China; d.606 AD) HSIN HSIN MING : verses of thefaith mind by Sengtsan The Great Way is not difficultfor those who have no preferencesWhen love and hate are both absenteverything becomes clear and undisguisedMake the smallest distinction, however,and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.If you wish to see the truththen hold no opinions for or against anything.To set up what you like against what you dislikeis the disease of the mind.When the deep meaning of things are not understoodthe mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.The Way is perfect like vast spacewhere nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or rejectthat we do not see the true nature of things.Live neither in the entanglement of outer things,not in inner feelings of emptiness.Be serene in the oneness of thingsand such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.When you try to stop activity to achieve passivityyour very effort fills you with activity.As long as you remain in one extreme or the otheryou will never know Oneness.Those who do not live in the single Wayfail in both activity and passivity,assertion and denial.To deny the reality of thingsis to miss their reality;to assert the emptiness of thingsis 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 enlightenmentthere is going beyond appearance and emptiness.The changes that appear to occur in the empty worldwe 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 traceof 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 twoand the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.In the Emptiness the two are undistinguishableand each contain in itself the whole world.If you do not discriminate between coarse and fineyou will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.To live in the great Wayis neither easy nor difficult,but those with limited viewsare 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 enlightenmentis 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 judgingbrings annoyance and weariness.What benefit can be derivedfrom distinctions and separations?If you wish to move in the one Waydo not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.Indeed to accept them fullyis identical with true Enlightenment.The wise man strives to no goalsbut the foolish man fetters himself.There is one Dharma, not many;distinctions arisefrom the clinging needs of the ignorant.To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mindis 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 the dreams will naturally cease.If the mind makes no discriminations,the ten thousand thingsare as they are, of single essence.To understand the mystery of this One-essenceis to be released from all entanglements.When all things are seen equallythe timeless Self-essence is reached.No comparisons or analogies are possiblein this causeless, relationless state.Consider movement stationaryand the stationary in motion,both movement and rest disappear.When such dualities cease to existOneness itself cannot exist.To this ultimate finalityno law or description applies.For the unified mind in accord with the Wayall self-centered striving ceases.Doubts and irresolutions vanishand life in true faith is possible.With a single stroke we are freed from bondage;nothing clings to us and we hold on to nothing.All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,with no exertion of the mind's power.Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imaginationare of no value.In this world of Suchnessthere is neither self nor other-than-self.To come directly into harmony with this realityjust 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 ordiminution in time or space;in it a single thought is ten thousand years.Emptiness here, Emptiness there,but the infinite universe standsalways before your eyes.Infinitely large and infinitely small:no difference, for definitions have vanishedand no boundaries are seen.So too with Being and non-Being.Don't waste time in doubts and argumentsthat have nothing to do with this.One thing, all things:move and intermingle, without distinction.To live in this realisationis 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 isno yesterdayno tomorrowno today.