..續本文上一頁 place beyond thought and words.

　　 When I consider the virtue of abusive words,

　　 I find the scandal-monger is my good teacher.

　　 If we do not become angry at gossip,

　　 We have no need for powerful endurance and compassion.

　　 To be mature in Zen is to be mature in expression,

　　 And full-moon brilliance of dhyana and prajna

　　 Does not stagnate in emptiness.

　　 Not only can I take hold of complete enlightenment by myself,

　　 But all Buddha-bodies, like sands of the Ganges,

　　 Can become awakened in exactly the same way.

　　 The incomparable lion-roar of the doctrine

　　 Shatters the brains of the one hundred kinds of animals.

　　 Even the king of elephants will run away, forgetting his pride;

　　 Only the heavenly dragon listens calmly, with pure delight.

　　 I wandered over rivers and seas, crossing mountains and streams,

　　 Visiting masters, asking about the Way in personal interviews;

　　 Since I recognised the Sixth Patriarch at Ts”ao Ch”i,

　　 I know what is beyond the relativity of birth and death

　　 Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen;

　　 Speaking or silent, active or quiet, the essence is at peace.

　　 Even facing the sword of death, our mind is unmoved;

　　 Even drinking poison, our mind is quiet.

　　 Our treacher, Shakyamuni, met Dipankara Buddha

　　 And for many eons he trained as Kshanti, the ascetic.

　　 Many births, many deaths;

　　 I am serene in this cycle, --there is no end to it.

　　 Since I abruptly realized the unborn,

　　 I have had no reason for joy or sorrow

　　 At any honour or disgrace.

　　 I have entered the deep mountains to silence and beauty;

　　 In a profound valley beneath high cliffs,

　　 I sit under the old pine trees.

　　 Zazen in my rustic cottage

　　 Is peaceful, lonely and truly comfortable

　　 When you truly awaken,

　　 You have no formal merit.

　　 In the multiplicity of the relative world,

　　 You cannot find such freedom.

　　 Self-centered merit brings the joy of heaven itself,

　　 But it is like shooting an arrow at the sky;

　　 When the force is exhausted, it falls to the earth,

　　 And then everything goes wrong.

　　 Why should this be better

　　 Than the true way of the absolute,

　　 Directly penetrating the ground of Tathagata

　　 Just take hold of the source

　　 And never mind the branches.

　　 It is like a treasure-moon

　　 Enclosed in a beautiful emerald.

　　 Now I understand this Mani-jewel

　　 And my gain is the gain of everyone endlessly.

　　 The moon shines on the river,

　　 The wind blows through the pines, --

　　 Whose providence is this long beautiful evening

　　 The Buddha-nature jewel of morality

　　 Is impressed on the ground of my mind,

　　 And my robe is the dew, the fog, the cloud, and the mist.

　　 A bowl once calmed dragons

　　 And a staff separated fighting tigers;

　　 The rings on this staff jingle musically.

　　 The form of these expressions is not to be taken lightly;

　　 The treasure-staff of the Tathagata

　　 Has left traces for us to follow.

　　 The awakened one does not seek truth--

　　 Does not cut off delusion.

　　 Truth and delusion are both vacant and without form,

　　 But this no-form is neither empty nor not empty;

　　 It is the truly real form of the Tathagata.

　　 The mind-mirror is clear, so there are no obstacles.

　　 Its brilliance illuminates the universe

　　 To the depths and in every grain of sand.

　　 Multitudinous things of the cosmos

　　 Are all reflected in the mind,

　　 And this full clarity is beyond inner and outer.

　　 To live in nothingness is to ignore cause and effect;

　　 This chaos leads only to disaster.

　　 The one who clings to vacancy, rejecting the world of things,

　　 Escapes from drowning but leaps into fire.

　　 Holding truth and rejecting delusion--

　　 These are but skilful lies.

　　 Students who do zazen by such lies

　　 …

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