HSIN HSIN MING
[Verses on the faith mind by Sengstan, third Zen patriarch]
[Translated from Chinese]
PART-1
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 and 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.
PART-2
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 the 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.
PART-3
Those who do not live in the single way
Fail in both activity and passivity,
Assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of the 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.
The Sufi Bayazid says this about himself:” I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was:” lord, give me the energy to change the world.’”
“As I approached middle age and realized that half of my life was gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to:’ Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come in contact with me. Just my family and friends, and I shall be content.’”
Now that I am an old and my days are numbered, my one prayer,’ Lord, give me the grace to change myself.’
If I had prayed for this right from the start I should not have wasted my life.”
[Verses on the faith mind by Sengstan, third Zen patriarch]
[Translated from Chinese]
PART-1
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 and 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.
PART-2
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 the 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.
PART-3
Those who do not live in the single way
Fail in both activity and passivity,
Assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of the 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.
The Sufi Bayazid says this about himself:” I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was:” lord, give me the energy to change the world.’”
“As I approached middle age and realized that half of my life was gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to:’ Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come in contact with me. Just my family and friends, and I shall be content.’”
Now that I am an old and my days are numbered, my one prayer,’ Lord, give me the grace to change myself.’
If I had prayed for this right from the start I should not have wasted my life.”
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