hsin hsin ming

by seng ts’an

 

the great way is not difficult

it has no preferences

 

when love and hate are absent

all becomes clear

 

make the smallest distinction

and heaven and earth are far apart

 

if you want to experience it

don’t be for or against anything

 

conflict between liking and not liking

is the disease of the mind

 

if its deep meaning is not understood

we strive in vain to quiet the mind

 

it is perfect like vast space 

nothing lacking, nothing left over

 

accepting and rejecting

we can’t see the essence

 

don’t get entangled in outer things

or abide in inner emptiness

 

when the mind is still

all views disappear

 

trying to quiet the mind

is just more activity

 

caught in duality

how can you know oneness?

 

when unity is not understood

both activity and quietude are failures

 

if you deny the reality of things, all things are lost

pursue emptiness and you stray even further from it

 

the more talking and thinking

the farther you go from what is

 

stop talking and thinking

and there’s nothing you can’t understand

 

return to the root and find meaning

follow appearances and lose the source

 

look within for just a moment

and go beyond appearance and emptiness

 

changing appearances in this empty world

seem real due to ignorance

 

don’t seek truth

just let go of your views

 

don’t remain in duality

take care never to go that way

 

choosing this or that

the mind is lost in confusion

 

duality comes from the one

but don’t be attached to the one

 

when the mind is still

the ten thousand things do not offend

 

when things don’t affect you, they cease to exist

no thought, no mind

 

without an object of thought, there can be no thinking subject

without a thinker, there are no things

 

things are things because of the mind

the mind is the mind because of things

 

if you want to understand mind and world

see them as ultimately one emptiness

 

in this emptiness the two are one

it contains everything

 

don’t distinguish between coarse and refined

and you won’t be for this or against that

 

the great way is vast

to live in accord with it is neither easy nor hard

 

those with narrow views are full of doubt and fear

the more they hurry, the slower they go

 

clinging has no limit

we go down the wrong path

 

in accord with nature

nothing comes or goes

 

following our nature, we are in harmony with the way

wandering freely, without a care

 

fixed ideas can’t encompass what is true

they sink into darkness, become unhealthy

 

don’t trouble your mind

why shun this and desire that?

 

if you want to take the one vehicle

don’t reject mental or sensory experience

 

to accept everything 

is to be enlightened

 

the wise man does nothing

the fool shackles himself

 

the dharma has no distinctions

they come from our foolish attachments

 

seeking the mind with the mind

isn’t that a big mistake?

 

illusion creates concepts like tranquil and disordered

illumination destroys liking and disliking

 

all pairs of opposites

are created by our ignorance

 

dreams, illusions, flowers in the air

why bother trying to grasp them?

 

profit and loss, right and wrong

get rid of them once and for all

 

if the eyes don’t close in sleep

all dreaming ceases naturally

 

if the mind makes no discriminations

the ten thousand things have one essence

 

understanding the mystery of one suchness

difficulties are forgotten

 

see all things as equal

and all will return to naturalness

 

no descriptions or analogies are possible

of this state where relations have come to an end

 

arrest motion, and motion ceases

move stillness and stillness is gone

 

when dualities are abolished

how can there be one?

 

in the end, things are ultimately

not subject to law

 

for the unified mind in harmony with the way

all striving ceases

 

all doubts are cleared up

established in right intuition

 

nothing remains

there’s nothing to remember

 

empty, clear, your light shines

without mental effort

 

thought can’t reach this

beyond knowing, imagining, feeling

 

in the realm of things as they are

there is no self or other

 

if you want to approach and enter it

just say “not two”

 

where there are not two, all is the same

there is nothing that is not included

 

the wise of all times and places

enter into this source

 

truth cannot be increased or decreased

one moment, ten thousand years

 

no here, no there

the whole world right before our eyes

 

the tiny is as large as the vast

when boundaries are gone

 

the vast is as small as the tiny

when there are no limits

 

what is, is not

what is not, is

 

any other view

must be abandoned

 

one thing is all things

all things are one thing

 

when you’ve understood this

there’s no need to worry about not being perfect

 

the stable mind is nondual

intuition and mind are not two

 

beyond words

no past, no future, no now

 

 

–version by johnny stallings

 

some notes:

The Hsin Hsin Ming is the earliest known Zen writing. Seng Ts’an is the Third Zen Patriarch. He lived in China from 529 to 606 AD. The First Zen Patriarch was Bodhidharma, who lived in the 5th or 6th Century, and is credited with bringing Zen (or Chan) Buddhism to China from India.

The origin of Zen Buddhism is the Buddha’s Flower Sermon. One day the Buddha held up a white flower. Mahākāśyapa realized enlightenment, and smiled.

The first Zen text comes a thousand years later.

The “great way” referred to in the opening verse is the Chinese word “tao,” which also stands for ultimate reality in Taoism. The “it” in verses 4, 6, 7 & 14, also refers to the Tao.

Translating Chinese is problematic. I am not a scholar of classical Chinese. I’ve made this version as accurate and clear as I can by consulting many English translations.

I hope you find it helpful in your meditation and mindfulness practice.

 

May all people be happy.

May we live in peace & love.

 

–Johnny