The Third Ancestor Great Master Sengcan’s

Inscription on Faith in Mind

三祖僧大師信心銘

 

By Jianzhi Sengcan, "The 3rd Ancestor" of Chinese Zen (d. 606 C.E)

Translated by Gregory Wonderwheel

 

[Note: Line numbers are inserted for ease of comparing translations.]

 

Inscription on Faith in Mind

 

Reaching the Way is without difficulty, only refrain from picking and choosing.

Merely do not hate or love, and penetrate like this to realization.

With one-thousandth of a hairsbreadth there is discrepancy, and heaven and earth hang divided.

Desiring to attain the manifest in front (of you), do not live by going along with or opposing.

To defy or to go along with is a reciprocal struggle and is a disease of the acting mind.

Not knowing the profound purpose, one labors in vain thinking of tranquility.

In complete equality and vast emptiness, there is no lack, there is no excess.

“The Good” causes taking hold and casting away; that which “uses” is not Suchness.

Do not pursue the whence of existence; do not dwell in enduring emptiness.

[10] Embrace the even oneness, and submerging like this the self is exhausted.

Stopping moving comes back to stopping; (such) stopping still is filled with moving.

Only by blocking both sides, would you rather know oneness.

When oneness is not passed through, the paired positions lose merit.

To banish existence is to drown in existence; to accord with emptiness is to betray emptiness.

The many words and many strategies spin around irrelevantly.

By cutting off words and cutting off strategies, there is no place that is not passed through.

Returning to the root gains the purpose; following after the light loses the lineage.

Instantly turn around the light, then victory and retreat are the primary emptiness.

The transformations of primary emptiness are all because of false views.

[20] Do no employ seeking for truth; it’s only necessary to put an end to views.

Do not dwell in dualistic views; scrupulously do not pursue or search for them.

The first time there exists right and wrong, just like that the heart-mind is lost in entanglements.

The two exist because of the One; and likewise do not guard the One.

The One Mind is not born; the ten thousand things are without fault.

Without fault, without things, it is not born, it is not mind

When power follows the environment it is extinguished; when the environment pursues power it is submerged.

Environment is the environment because of power; power is power because of the environment.

Desiring to know both parts, their origin is the emptiness of the One.

The emptiness of the One is the same as both; equally containing the ten thousand outward appearances.

[30] Do not view fine or coarse, or would you rather have one-sided associations?

The essence of the Great Way is broad, without ease and without difficulty.

The fox doubts of small views spin quickly and spin slowly.

The seizing of immoderation necessarily enters the evil paths.

Letting go of the self’s autonomy, the essence is without going or staying.

Allow the nature to unite with the Way, and ramble carefree cutting off vexations.

Knotted thoughts oppose the True and dully sink into the not good.

When “not good” belabors the spirit, what use are “unfamiliar” and “intimate”?

If you desire to take hold of the One Vehicle (Ekayana), do not despise the six dusts. 

The six dusts are not despicable and, besides, are identical with right awakening.

[40] Those who are wise are non-doing; monkey-minded people are tied up by themselves.

The Dharma is without an opposing Dharma; the false self loves attachments.

To use the mind by commanding the mind, how can it not be a great mistake?

Delusion gives birth to stillness and chaos; awakening is without good and evil.

With two sides to everything, the false self deliberates.

Dreams and illusions, flowers in the sky; why labor to grasp them?

Gain and loss, right and wrong, in one moment release them and withdraw.

If the eyes are not asleep, the various dreams are by themselves wiped away.

If mind does not discriminate, the ten thousand things are One Suchness.

In the profound essence of One Suchness, you look ignorant and forget the secondary causes.

[50] The insight, that the ten thousand things are equal, returns to and restores autonomy.

By putting an end to that which “uses,” it is not possible to go in the direction of comparisons.

In stopping moving there is no moving; in moving stopping there is no stopping.

Pairs are de facto not complete; the One, how does that exist?

Finally impoverished to the utmost, do not preserve by tracks and rules.

The harmonious mind is equality, where contrivances all cease.

With fox doubts entirely purified, right faith harmonizes directly.

When everything does not remain, there is no ability to remember.

The clear light shines by itself and does not belabor the mind’s strength.

Do not consider the amount or the place; consciousness and feelings are difficult to measure.

[60] In the Dharma Realm of True Suchness, there is no other and there is no self.

When it is vital to quickly be relevant, only speak the non-dual.

In the non-dual all is the same, without exclusion.

In the ten directions, those who are wise all enter this lineage.

The lineage does not hurry or delay for a single moment or ten thousand years.

Without being present or absent, the ten directions are in front of the eyes.

The utmost small is the same as the great, so forget cutting off the bounded realms.

The utmost great is the same as the small, so do not view outside of the borders.

Existence is exactly nonexistence; nonexistence is exactly existence.

If this is not Suchness, necessarily it does not need to be guarded.

[70] One is exactly everything; everything is exactly One.

When only capable Suchness is, what concerns are not concluded?

Faith in mind is non-dual; non-dual is faith in mind.

In spoken language the Way is cut off; it is neither the gone, nor the coming, nor the present.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments on translating the “Inscription on Faith in Mind” (Xinxin Ming).

 

 

The poem known as "The Third Ancestor Great Master Sengcan's Inscription on Faith in Mind" is traditionally attributed to Jianzhi Sengcan (d. 606 C.E.), who is called the Third Ancestor of Chinese Zen. He was the disciple of Huike, the Second Ancestor, who was the disciple of Bodhidharma considered the “First Ancestor” of Zen in China though tradition makes Bodhidharma the 28th Ancestor of the Zen lineage in India. There is debate whether Sengcan actually wrote the poem, or whether a disciple wrote it down from Sengcan's recitation or someone much later wrote it and attributed it to Sengcan.  As I see it, all three scenarios have some valid arguments in their favor, but more to the point, what is incontrovertible in my mind is that the poem expresses Sengcan’s teaching of One Vehicle (Ekayana) Buddhism as taught by Bodhidharma which used the Lankavatara Sutra and was handed down to Sengcan, and through him to the Sixth Ancestor Huineng.

 

The central themes of Ekayana Buddhism, such as the non-dual, one suchness (tatha), and one mind, are all present in "Faith in Mind".  The poem directly addresses people who seek the path of the One Vehicle (Ekayana) and expresses the essence of the One Vehicle in the statement that the One Vehicle is not found in alienation from the "six dusts" of the senses.  This is the Tathagata Zen teaching central to the Lankavatara Sutra which emphasizes that all things are nothing but manifestions of mind and all opposites are the expression of One Suchness, and that not perceiving the True Suchness of opposites is the source of delusion.

 

"Faith in Mind" is among the earliest, if not the earliest, of Chinese Zen poems of awakening.  It contains most of the core teachings of Zen that are found in later generations of the great Zen masters of the Tang period such as Huineng, Mazu, Shitou, Baizhang, Huangbo, Linji, Dongshan, etc.   For example, "Faith in Mind" focuses on the non-dual by not becoming entangle in opposites, such as right and wrong, love and hate, existence and nonexistence, large and small, etc.  Liberation from oppositions, i.e, refraining from picking and choosing, is the central method taught as how to reach the Way.  150 years later Baizhang was continuing this teaching about reaching the Way directly in line with “Faith in Mind” when he said: "In the presence of all things in the environment, to have a mind neither still nor disturbed, neither concentrated nor distracted, passing through all sound and form without lingering or obstruction, is called being a wayfarer." (Sayings and Doings of Pai-Chang: Ch'an Master of Great Wisdom. Shih Huai-Hai. Cleary, Thomas, trans. Los Angeles: Zen Center Publications, 1978.)  And as the Blue Cliff Record shows in four of its cases (2, 57, 58, & 59),  Zhaozhou used the opening line of "Faith in Mind" as a common teaching device.

 

The poem is interesting in another way for the context of Buddhist history that is reveals.  It represents one of the first examples of Zen literature finding its own style outside the traditional Buddhist treatise format. It is traditionally considered to be the first Zen poem.  As Buddhism was growing in China there were several if not many Buddhist writers using the treatise style of writing about the sutras and Buddhist practice.  The Zen teachers and practitioners were of course not known for their writing but for the practice of meditation and their pithy oral teachings.   Pure Land Buddhism too was not particularly a scholastic enterprise but began to become popular with its advocacy of "faith in Amitabha Buddha" which spoke to everyday people who were not especially in the middle or upper classes of education and euridition so where not well read or who did not feel that they had the time for extensive meditation practice.  The poem "Faith in Mind" was passed around as a responsive poetical polemic to the popularity of Pure Land Buddhism and became a missionary piece of work to tell people about Zen's approach to faith as "Faith in Mind," in its non-dual Suchness, in distinction to faith in an objectified god-like Buddha figure.  Framing Buddha as the Tathagata, that is, as the inherent Suchness (tahta, tathata) of mind that comes (agata) or goes (gata) in mind, rather than a personality, is what constitutes Tathagata Zen.  The direct intent of "Faith in Mind" is not only to "teach" Zen but also to stir up faith in the Buddha Way as a personal and direct Way inherent in Mind, rather than as faith in personified Buddhas as figures of worship.  This question of having faith in one’s own mind or faith in an external Buddha is the core of what was later to be characterized as the “self-power” verses “other-power” debate in Buddhism. From Sengcan’s “Faith in Mind” we can see that this debate extended at least as far back as the 6th Century in China.

 

Another interesting historical aspect of "Faith in Mind" is its mention of lineage, as in lines 63 and 64: 

"In the ten directions, those who are wise all enter this lineage.

The lineage does not hurry or delay, a single moment--ten thousand years."

 

I take this to be the lineage of the "Ekayana school" that Bodhidharma was reported (in the Middle-Tang period text by Tao-hsuan (596–667 C.E.) titled Biographies of Eminent Monks) to have brought from Southern India, and which hundreds of years later became called the "Zen lineage."  As D.T. Suzuki wrote in his Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra, “The line of Hui-ke belongs to the Ekayana school of Southern India which was also the one resorted to by Dharma himself when he wanted to discourse on the philosophy of Zen Buddhism.” (pp. 54-55.)  For those who accept that the poem was written or spoken by Sengcan this mention of lineage is confirmation that the lineage was brought by Bodhidharma and was already present in the transmission from Huike to Sengcan.  However, to those who already firmly believe and are convinced that the Zen lineage was a later sectarian invention, the mention of lineage in "Faith in Mind" becomes evidence that the poem was not written or spoken by Sengcan as they don't accept the story of Sengcan as a lineage holder or that his transmission story is anything more than a politically inspired legend. I think a through study of the poem in light of the Lankavatara Sutra would be most illuminating.

 

Textual aspects of the translation.

 

The “Faith in Mind” is written in a very terse style that allows for a wide variety of translations. The original as written in the scroll format consists of 584 characters written vertically left to right in 36 lines of 16 characters until the last 37th line of eight characters.  There is no punctuation to separate the characters, therefore each translator can read it according to his or her own understanding of where the complete sentences cut off.  Though written in the 6th century C.E., the poetic style is considered to be written in the manner of the ancient poetic standard text, the Shih Ching (Classic of Poetry) written in mostly between the 10th and the 7th centuries B.C.E., using 146 four-character lines or verses.  However, the 4-chaacter line should not be thought of as a whole sentence or complete phrase. Many if not most of the 4-character lines are incomplete phrases. The structure is more correctly conceived as consisting of 73 couplets as each of the two 4-character lines may be arranged in pairs making whole sentences.  Some translators don’t use the couplet arrangement and instead arrange the 4-character lines into stanzas with whole sentences longer than two 4-character lines. I think this is an error of judgment.  Others keep the couplet structure and join the couplets into stanzas of varying size. To me doing so is a translator’s choice, as long as the translator informs the reader that the stanzas are not in the original, so that the reader may consider for themselves if the stanza breaks make sense.  I have decided to present the poem as 73 lines, consisting of the 8-character couplets, without arranging the lines into stanzas.  The reader is invited to examine the poem and see where she or he would divide the stanzas.  The problem with attempting to define stanzas is that the content is so intricately interwoven that what would seem like the end of one stanza also begins what would be the next stanza. 

 

Also the Chinese language in these older writings of the medieval period is largely devoid of almost all pronouns, articles, conjunctions, possessives, plurals, and prepositions, all of which must be inferred and inserted by the translator to make a translation of passable English. The reader may be surprised to lean that virtually all of the above parts of speech and all punctuation is supplied by the translator, and that is why different translators can come up with some surprising differences in their tanslations.

 

My own personal style is to use punctuation as freely as seems necessary, but to keep the inserted inferences of words to a bare minimum hoping to avoid as much as possible the inclusion of pronouns and other matter in order to keep the original ambiguity.  For example, when a sentence is lacking a pronoun, it can often be read as saying "You," "I", "one", or "we"  and unless the context is absolutely clear which use is intended, the translator is narrowing the range of possibilities by selecting one of the choices and rejecting the others. 

 

For instance, the eight characters of line 35 say,  "Allow-nature-to unite with-the Way-ramble-carefree-cut off-vexations," but it doesn't make much sense if "nature" is read in the Western sense as "Mother Nature," because that “nature” is already united with the Way.  It is our own nature that is directed to be allowed to unite with the Way, since it is to respond to our sense of being distant or separate from the Way that we go on the spiritual journey and is also the reason-for-being of the poem in the first place. So I have rendered it as "Allow the nature to unite with the Way" but it could just as legitimately be written as "Allow (one's) nature" or "Allow (our) nature."  As with most translators, in order to not clutter up the text too much with parenthetical ellipses, I have not always put inferred insertions into parentheses. Thus, I have rendered "Allow-nature-to unite with-the Way-ramble-carefree-cut off-vexations," as “Allow the nature to unite with the Way, and ramble carefree cutting off vexations.”

 

Here’s a comparison of how different translators have rendered the title and this line:

 

Key with name of translator and translation of title:

1. Red: Dusan Pajin: “Faith-Mind Inscription”

2. Green: Daisetsu Teitarõ Suzuki: “Inscribed On the Believing Mind”

3. Violet: Richard B. Clarke: “Verses On the Faith Mind”

4. Orange: Andy Ferguson: “Faith in Mind”

5.. Black: Gregory Wonderwheel: “Inscription on Faith in Mind”.

 

 

Line 35:

W-G: Jen hsing ho tao, hsiao-yao chüeh nao.

PY: Ren4 xing4 he2 dao4, xiao1yao2 jue2 nao3.

J: Shõ ni ninzureba dõ ni gassu, shõyõ to shite nõ o zessu.

DP:  Accord your nature with the way, and go free of troubles.

DTS: Obey the nature of things, and you are in concord with the Way, Calm and easy and free from annoyance;

RBC: Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and undisturbed.

AF: In accord with your fundamental nature unite with Tao And wander the world without cares

GW: Allow (your) nature to unite with the Way, and ramble carefree with vexations cut off.

 

As the reader can see, the translations have similarities and differences.  My style of translation is based on providing the best word for word correspondence rather than on what is sometimes called idea for idea correspondence which appears in the work of translators, such as Clarke who, from my point of view, include way too much of their own interpretation of ideas into the translation. In the example above, note that Clarke leaves out both the all important word “the Way” (dao4) and the word “unite with”. All of the translators above have left out the image of “cut off” (jue2) in reference to nao3 which each of the 5 translators has translated differently as vexations, troubles, annoyances, disturbed, or cares.  In my style of translation there is no excuse for leaving out some reference to the character jue2 by a word such as cut off, sever, end, or terminate.  In my view, it is just lazy to translate xiao1yao2 jue2 nao3 as “go free of troubles” rather than as “go free with troubles ended” or “go free having cut off troubles.”

 

Another important aspect of my style of translation is that if there is a pattern of words in the original then I want to keep that same pattern of words in the translation as far as linguistically possible.  For instance here is line (couplet) 41:

 

W-G: Fa wu-i fa, wang tzu ai-cho.

PY: Fa3 wu2yi4 fa3, wang4 zi4 ai4-zhuo2.

J: Hõ ni ihõ nashi, midari ni mizukara aijaku su.

DP: Things are not different, ignorance leads to preference.

DTS: While in the Dharma itself there is no individuation, They ignorantly attach themselves to particular objects.

RBC: This is one Dharma, not many: distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.

AF: Though one Dharma differs not from another The deluded self desires each.

GW: The Dharma is without an opposing Dharma; the false self loves attachments.

 

Here we can see the first four characters is in the structure of A-B-C-A (Fa3 wu2yi4 fa3), where the first word is repeated as the fourth or last word in the phrase, so in my view, the translator should attempt to render a translation that maintains this structure.  Using this style, Pajin’s “Things are not different” should be “Things are not different things” and Clarke’s “This is one Dharma, not many” should be something like “This one Dharma is not many Dharmas”, though I fail to see at all where Clarke found the concept “one and many” in the line; it simply isn’t there and is some kind of personal  interpolation on the meaning of the word “yi4” which means  “opposing,” “different,” “strange,” or “separate”. As I read it, the concept that is conveyed here by Sengcan is that in the world of opposing things (dharmas) such as right and wrong, large and small, like and dislike, the true Dharma is non-dual without an opposing or opposite Dharma.  That is the meaning of the “one Suchness” that is the glue that holds the “Faith in Mind” together.

 

Lastly, my style, as far as contextually possible, is to have one Chinese word (usually 1 but sometimes 2 characters) translated as one English word and to have the same English word always refer to the same Chinese word.   So, for example, in this translation the Chinese wu2 is always translated as “without” or “is without” when it stands alone, and as “un-“ or “non-“ or “–less” when the context requires a conjunction with another word such as “non-doing” for  the word “wu2 wei2”.  While other translators may claim to share this goal, few actually live up to it in practice. 

 

 

Translation with Chinese Characters:

 

信心銘

An Inscription on Faith in Mind

 

1.  至道無難  唯嫌揀擇 

Reaching the Way is without difficulty, only refrain from picking and choosing.

 

2.  但莫憎愛  洞然明白 

Merely do not hate or love, and penetrate like this to realization.

 

3.  毫釐有差  天地懸隔 

With one-thousandth of a hairsbreadth there is discrepancy, and heaven and earth hang divided.

 

4.  欲得現前  莫存順逆 

Desiring to attain the manifest in front (of you), do not live by going along with or opposing.

 

5.  違順相爭  爲心病 

To defy or to go along with is a reciprocal struggle and is a disease of the acting mind.

 

6.  不識玄旨  徒勞念靜 

Not knowing the profound purpose, one labors in vain thinking of tranquility.

 

7.  圓同太虚  無欠無餘 

In complete equality and vast emptiness, there is no lack, there is no excess.

 

8.  良由取捨  所以不如 

“The Good” causes taking hold and casting away; that which “uses” is not Suchness.

 

9.  莫逐有縁  勿住空忍 

Do not pursue the whence of existence; do not dwell in enduring emptiness.

                                                                                                                            

10.  一種平懷  泯然自盡 

Embrace the even oneness, and submerging like this the self is exhausted.

 

11.  止動歸止  止更彌動 

Stopping moving comes back to stopping; (such) stopping still is filled with moving.

 

12.  唯滯兩邊  寧知一種 

Only by blocking both sides, would you rather know oneness.

 

13.  一種不通  處失功 

When oneness is not passed through, the paired positions lose merit.

 

14.  遣有沒有  從空背空 

To banish existence is to drown in existence; to accord with emptiness is to betray emptiness.

 

15.  多言多慮  轉不相應 

The many words and many strategies spin around irrelevantly.

 

16.  絶言絶慮  無處不通 

By cutting off words and cutting off strategies, there is no place that is not passed through.

 

17.  歸根得旨  隨照失宗 

Returning to the root gains the purpose; following after the light loses the lineage.

 

18.  須臾返照  勝卻前空   

Instantly turn around the light, then victory and retreat are the primary emptiness.

 

19.  前空轉變  皆由妄見 

The transformations of primary emptiness are all because of false views.

                   

20.  不用求眞  唯須息見   

Do no employ seeking for truth; it’s only necessary to put an end to views.

 

21.  二見不住  慎莫追尋 

Do not dwell in dualistic views; scrupulously do not pursue or search for them.

 

22.  纔有是非  紛然失心   

The first time there exists right and wrong, just like that the heart-mind is lost in entanglements.

 

23.  二由一有  一亦莫守 

The two exist because of the One; and likewise do not guard the One.

 

24.  一心不生  萬法無咎   

The One Mind is not born; the ten thousand things are without fault.

 

25.  無咎無法  不生不心 

Without fault, without things, it is not born, it is not mind

 

26.  能隨境滅  境逐能沈   

When power follows the environment it is extinguished; when the environment pursues power it is submerged.

 

27.  境由能境  能由境能 

Environment is the environment because of power; power is power because of the environment.

 

28.  欲知兩段  元是一空   

Desiring to know both parts, their origin is the emptiness of the One.

 

29.  一空同兩  齊含萬象 

The emptiness of the One is the same as both; equally containing the ten thousand outward appearances.

 

30.  不見精  寧有偏黨   

Do not view fine or coarse, or would you rather have one-sided associations?

 

31.  大道體寛  無易無難 

The essence of the Great Way is broad, without ease and without difficulty.

 

32.  小見狐疑  轉急轉遲   

The fox doubts of small views spin quickly and spin slowly.

 

33.  執之失度  入邪路 

The seizing of immoderation necessarily enters the evil paths.

 

34.  之自然  體無去住 

Letting go of the self’s autonomy, the essence is without going or staying.

 

35.  任性合道  逍遙絶惱 

Allow the nature to unite with the Way, and ramble carefree cutting off vexations.

 

36.  繋念乖眞  昏沈不好   

Knotted thoughts oppose the True and dully sink into the not good.

 

37.  不好勞神  何用疏親 

When “not good” belabors the spirit, what use are “unfamiliar” and “intimate”?

 

38.  欲取一乘  勿惡六塵 

If you desire to take hold of the One Vehicle (Ekayana), do not despise the six dusts. 

 

39.  六塵不惡  還同正覺 

The six dusts are not despicable and, besides, are identical with right awakening.

 

40.  智者無爲  愚人自縛 

Those who are wise are non-doing; monkey-minded people are tied up by themselves.

 

41.  法無異法  自愛著  

The Dharma is without an opposing Dharma; the false self loves attachments.

 

42.  將心用心  豈非大錯   

To use the mind by commanding the mind, how can it not be a great mistake?

 

43.  迷生寂亂  悟無好惡 

Delusion gives birth to stillness and chaos; awakening is without good and evil.

 

44.  一切二邊  自斟酌  

With two sides to everything, the false self deliberates.

 

45.  夢幻虚華  何勞把捉 

Dreams and illusions, flowers in the sky; why labor to grasp them?

 

46.  得失是非  一時放卻   

Gain and loss, right and wrong, in one moment release them and withdraw.

 

47.  眼若不睡  諸夢自除 

If the eyes are not asleep, the various dreams are by themselves wiped away.

 

48.  心若不異  萬法一如 

If mind does not discriminate, the ten thousand things are One Suchness.

 

49.  一如體玄  兀爾忘虚 

In the profound essence of One Suchness, you look ignorant and forget the secondary causes.

 

50.  萬法齊觀  歸復自然   

The insight that the ten thousand things are on the same level is returning home and restoring naturalness..

 

51.  泯其所以  不可方比 

By putting an end to that which “uses,” it is not possible to go in the direction of comparisons.

 

52.  止動無動  動止無止 

In stopping moving there is no moving; in moving stopping there is no stopping.

 

53.  兩既不成  一何有爾   

Pairs are de facto not complete; the One, how does that exist?

 

54.  究竟窮極  不存軌則 

Finally impoverished to the utmost, do not preserve by tracks and rules.

 

55.  契心平等  所作倶息 

The harmonious mind is equality, where contrivances all cease.

 

56.  狐疑盡淨  正信調直   

With fox doubts entirely purified, right faith harmonizes directly.

                                                

57.  一切不留  無可記憶 

When everything does not remain, there is no ability to remember.

 

58.  虚明自照  不勞心力 

The clear light shines by itself and does not belabor the mind’s strength.

 

59.  非思量處  識情難測   

Do not consider the amount or the place; consciousness and feelings are difficult to measure.

 

60.  眞如法界  無他無自

In the Dharma Realm of True Suchness, there is no other and there is no self.

 

61.  要急相應  唯言不二   

When it is vital to quickly be relevant, only speak the non-dual.

 

62.  不二皆同  無不包容 

In the non-dual all is the same, without exclusion.

 

63.  十方智者  皆入此宗 

In the ten directions, those who are wise all enter this lineage.

 

64.  宗非促延  一念萬年 

The lineage does not hurry or delay for a single moment or ten thousand years.

 

65.  無在不在  十方目前   

Without being present or absent, the ten directions are in front of the eyes.

 

66.  極小同大  忘絶境界 

The utmost small is the same as the great, so forget cutting off the bounded realms.

 

67.  極大同小  不見邊表   

The utmost great is the same as the small, so do not view outside of the borders.

 

68.  有即是無  無即是有 

Existence is exactly nonexistence; nonexistence is exactly existence.

 

69.  若不如此  必不 

If this is not Suchness, necessarily it does not need to be guarded.

 

70.  一即一切  一切即一 

One is exactly everything; everything is exactly One.

 

71.  但能如是  何慮不畢

When only capable Suchness is, what concerns are not concluded?

 

72.  信心不二  不二信心 

Faith in mind is non-dual; non-dual is faith in mind.

 

73.  言語道斷  非去來今   

In spoken language the Way is cut off; it is neither the gone, nor the coming, nor the present.

 

 

 

 

Chinese-English Interlinear Text:

 

                

three/third ancestor Sencan great master

                             

Trust/faith heart-mind engrave/engraving/inscription/inscribe 

 

1. 

                             難    

Arrive/reach the Way without difficulty 

                                      

only suspect/suspicion/dislike/reject select/pick/choose select/choose

 

2.  

                               愛 

But/however/still/merely/yet/only do not hate love

                                            

hole/cavity/see through correct/like that/so/just so/thus

明白

to understand/realize /clear/obvious/unequivocal

 

3. 

                                         差 

fine hair/measure of length one-thousandth of a foot have/possess/be uneven/discrepancy/differ

                             

heaven/sky earth/ground/land hang/suspend divide(d)/separate(d)

 

4 

                           前 

desire able to/obtain/get manifest/reveal front/forward/before/previous

                                                  

 do not keep/preserve/deposit/live/exist go along with/follow/obey oppose/disobey/go against

 

5. 

                                                      

defy/disregard obey/go along with one another/each other/characteristics/appearances

struggle/contend/argue/quarrel

                                            

correct/is/yes do/for/act/become/turn into/regard as heart-mind ailment/ill/sick/disease

 

6. 

                                          旨 

do not/is not/cannot know profound/dark/mystic/mysterious purpose/aim/intention

                                                                                                   

going on foot/disciple/follower/gang/empty handed/in vain labor/trouble/worry

                                          

think/recall/thought/moment calm/serene/tranquil

 

7. 

                                     虚 

round/complete same/equal/identical extremely/vast empty/unoccupied/void

          

without lack without excess/surplus

 

8. 

                                              

nice/good/excellent/instinctive/inborn from/by/reason/cause to take/to hold

to cast off/abandon

                                                                                              

place/location/that which/actually use/regard as/by means of do not/no/un

thus/so/like/Suchness

 

9. 

                                   

not/do not gradually/little by little/chase/pursue have/possess/be/exist/be present

縁 

from/by/whence/reason/observe/follow

                                                                                      

do not dwell/abide/abode/stop void/empty/emptiness/sunya  endure/suffer/tolerate

 

10. 

                                       

one/single/whole/all seed/kind/class/various/genus flat/even/level/pacify

懷 

cherish/bear/embrace/conceive (child)

                                                                                      

destroy/put an end to/vanish in this way/in that way/just so oneself/naturally

exhaust/end/use up/entirely/utmost

 

11. 

                                      止 

Stop/finish move/do/act/stir/arouse return/belongs to stop/finish

                                                                    

stop/finish more/still/further/to a greater degree fill/full/complete/long time

move/do/act/stir/touch/arouse

 

12. 

                                                                    邊 

Only blocked/stagnant/standstill/obstructed both extremes/edges

                                                                                                   一種

peaceful/would rather/had rather/would sooner know/understand oneness

 

 13. 

 一種                 通 

oneness do not/is not/cannot pass through/flow unobstructed

                                                  

two/both place/to dwell/to live/point/feature lose/miss/neglect/mistaken

merit/contribution/achievement/effectiveness/usefulness

 

14. 

                                                沒 

send/dispatch/exile/drive away have/possess/is/exist/be present immerse/have not

 have/being/possess

                                                      

follow/observing/accord with emptiness carry on the back/shoulder/violate emptiness

 
15.

                                                                                    慮 

many/numerous/more than words many/numerous/too much strategies/concerns/anxieties

                                                                                                                  

turn/rotate/convey/transfer/indirect/roundabout/pass on do not/cannot/is not

相應

mutual support/corresponding/relevant

 

16. 

                                                                                                                       

cut off/terminate/end/sever/be done with/put a stop to/go beyond words beyond strategies

                                                                    

without/no/not position/place/location/point/feature not pass through

 

17. 

                                                                                                

return/come back root/base/foundation get/obtain/gain/be able to purpose/aim/intention

                                                           

follow/accompany/come after/listen to illuminate/shine/reflect/accord/take care of

                                              

lose/miss/fail/mistake/neglect ancestry/school/lineage/sect/religion

 

18. 

須臾                                                                             

moment/instant/Skt. ksana return to/revert to/restore shine/illuminate/reflect/light

                                                                          

win/victory/excellent/excel/surpass/wonderful withdraw/retreat/but/yet/go back

                                                          

before/previous/in front/forward/past emptiness

 

19. 

                                                                        轉變

before/previous/in front/forward/past emptiness transform/change

                                                                                      妄見 

all/every/entire/in all cases from/by/because/reason/cause false views/foolish opinion

 

20. 

                                                                                                    

do not/is not/cannot use/employ/operate/function/exert seek/strive for truth/real/genuine

                                                                                                

only must/should/ought/necessary cease/put an end to/set to rest views/opinions

 

21. 

                                                                    

dualistic/two view/opinion do not/is not/cannot dwell/reside/remain/inhabit

                                                  

cautious/act with care/scrupulous do not/is not/cannot/there is none who

                                                                                                 

chase/pursue/follow/trace/expel/drive/demand insistently seek/search for

 

22. 

                                                                                              

just now/only/not until/for the first time have/possess/existence is/right/correct

is not/neither/wrongs/evils/faults/mistakes

                                                                       

numerous/varied/confused/disorderly/tangled like that/correct/right/thus

                                                    

lose/miss/neglect/make a mistake   heart-mid

 

23. 

                                                                                          

two/dual from/by/reason/because/cause/depend on one/single have/possess/existence

                                                 

one/single/whole also/too/likewise is not/do not/cannot/there is none who

abide by/guard/defend/protect/conserve/wait

 

24.

               生 

one heart-mind not/no/un born/produced/life

                                      

ten thousand dharmas without blame/fault

 

25. 

            法         

without blame without Dharma/things

                             

is not/no/un born/life/produce is not/no mind

 

26. 

                                             

can/able to/capability/power follow/accompany/comply with/come after/listen to/submit to

                                                                         

border/condition/circumstances/phenomenon extinguish/exterminate/Skt. nirodha (3rd Nobel Truth)

                                                                                        

border/condition/circumstances/phenomenon/objectivity chase/pursue/follow

                                               

can/able to/capability/power submerge/sink

 

27. 

                                                                                              

border/condition/circumstances/phenomenon from/by/because

                                           

can/able to/capability/power area/border/condition/circumstances/phenomenon

                                                                     

border/condition/circumstances/phenomenon from/by/because

                                                                              

area/border/condition/circumstances/phenomenon can/able to/capability/power

 

28. 

                                           

want/desire to know both/pair sections/parts

                                                                            

primary/original/first/beginning is whole/one/single emptiness

 

29.

                                                                           

one/single/whole emptiness same/similar/identical both/pair/two

                                                                                                            

even/equal/together/uniform/to make even hold in mouth/hold/contain ten thousand

elephant/image/figure/phenomenon/outward appearance

 

30. 

                                                        

do not/is not/cannot see/view/opinion energy/excellent/spirit/essence/fine/refined

rough/crude/thick/coarse

                                                                                        

tranquil/repose/peaceful/would rather have/possess/exist one-sided/biased/partial

faction/gang/political party/club/society/association

 

31. 

                                                               

Great Way/dao body/substance/essence/style broad/wide/vast

                                      

without easy/change without difficulty

 

32. 

                                      

small/few view/opinions fox doubts/suspect/hesitate

                                                                    

turn/rotate/spin around/indirect/roundabout quick/quickly/hurried/urgent/hasty

                                                                    

turn/rotate/spin around/indirect/roundabout slow/late/tardy

 

33.

                                                                                                   

arrest/grasp/persist/hold/keep/seize/uphold of/go to/this/that/those

失度    

(lose-limits)/immoderate/excessive/vaiguNya

                                                                                   

must/necessarily enter wrong/evil/depraved/wicked/mean path/road/way/street

 

34. 

                                                    自然 

release/let go/to free/liberate of/this oneself/self like that/so/however/thus/like this/-ly

                                                                           

essence/body/substance without leaving/going/past dwelling/abode

 

35. 

                                                                        

allow/let/appoint/duty/be responsible for nature union/agreement/join/unite/combine

the Way

逍遙                                                                   

carefree/rambling afar cut/sever/terminate/end vexations/annoyances/troubles

 

36. 

                                                                                                        

attach/connect/unite/fasten/tied think/thought/recall/thought moment contradict/oppose

true/real/genuine

                                                  不好   

dusk/dull/confused submerge/sink no good/not good/unwell/not pleasing/

37. 

不好                                             

no good labor/exert/deed/service spirit/god/soul/diety/immortal/mystical/smart

                                                       

what/why/how use/employ/function

                                                                                                          

to clear/remove obstructions/unfamiliar/thin/sparse/careless/coarse intimate/kiss/related

 

38. 

                                                                         

want/desire to take/hold/select/choose/obtain one vehicle/Ekayana

                                            

do not hate/despise/disgusted six dusts

 

39. 

                             

six dusts do not/are not hateful/wicked/evil/bad

                                                                                    

return/go back/repay/give back/restore/also/in addition same/identical/equal/agree

                                                 

right/straight/fair/proper/correct perceive/feel/sense/be conscious of/awaken/realize

 

40. 

                                                                                          無爲 

wisdom/prajna/jnana those who/someone who/that which wuwei/nonaction

                                                                                                           

foolish/monkey-witted/silly/stupid person/people self/oneself/personally tie/bind

 

41. 

                                                 

Dharma/dharmas/things without different/opposing strange/unusual/wonder/separate

 

dharma/Dharma/things

                                                               

false oneself/self/own love/affection/kindness apparent/attachment/wear/manifest

 

42. 

                                                                                                     

general/going to/nourish/future/to get/to lead/command mind using mind

                                         

how can it be not/is not great mistake

 

43. 

                                                                                           

delusion born/arise/produce silent/still/quiet/death of Buddhist chaos/confusion/disorder

                                                                                                                 

awakening/realization/comprehension of reality/enlightenment without good evil

 

44. 

一切                        

everything two/dual border/edge/frontier/side/margin/hem

                             斟酌  

false self/oneself/own consider/deliberate

45. 

                                                            

dreams illusions sky/void/emptiness/Sunyata flowers

                            把捉 

what/why labor/exert to grasp

46. 

                            

gain loss is/correct/yes is not/wrong/no

一時                                                      

momentarily/momentary/temporarily/”one time”

                                                                           

release/let go/act without restraint/place/lay/to withdraw/retreat/but/still/however/decline

 

47. 

                            

eye/eyeball if does not/is not asleep/to sleep

                                     

various/all/many/several dreams

                         

oneself/own/self remove/eliminate/wipe out/do away with/get rid of

 

48. 

心若不異 

mind if do not/is not discriminate/wonder

                                    

10,000 dharmas/things one suchness

 

49.

                                                   

one suchness body/substance/essence profound

                                                                                                      

this/cut off the feet/high and flat/ignorant looking you/thou/that/this forget/neglect

[]                            []

Edge/verge/margin/brink/fringe/hem cause/reason/go along/follow/margin/edge/secondary cause

 

50. 

                                

10,000 dharmas/things even/equal/to make even/uniform on a level

insight meditation/observe

                                                                                     

belong to/return to/comeback/ to one’s original point return/come back/restore/recover

自然

nature/natural/naturally.

 

51. 

                                                                            

destroy/eliminate/put an end to/to flow off/ruin he/she/it/this/that/his/her/him

                                                          

place/which/where/location/position use/by means of/according to/instrumentality

                     

do not/is not approve/may/but/can/be able to/possibly

                                                                                           

direction/place/honest/method/plan/then/now/just/just then compare/than/assemble/each

 

52. 

                                       

stopping movement without movement,

                                  

movement stopped without stopping.

By stopping moving without moving, moving is stopped without stopping.

In stopping moving there is no moving; In moving stopping there is no stopping.

 

53. 

                                                                                

both/two already/since/not that/de facto do not/is not become/complete/finish/turn into/the whole

                                                                  

one what/why/how have/possess/exist/existence  you/thou/that/this/those/like that

 

54. 

究竟                                                                  

after all/in the end/actually/completely final poor/impoverished/limit/exhaust/trace to the source/thoroughly

ridge/pole/extreme/highest/utmost/farthest/final

                                                                                 

do not/is not preserve/exist/keep/live by/survive/store rut/track/rail/course/path

standard/rule/regulation/law

 

55.

                                                                                                         平等

contract/agreement/engrave/cut/carve/adopt/harmonious heart-mind equal/equality

                                                        

place/location/which/where/position do/make/act as/regard as/works/contrivance

                                                                             

all/together with/two things together/in both cases breath/cease/rest/stop/settle/interest

 

56. 

                

fox doubt(s)  exhaust/utmost/entirely/use up/deplete/finish/to the limit

pure/clean/purify/empty/totally/only/nothing but

                                                                        

proper/right/straight/just/fair/positive/rectify faith

調                                                                                        

mediate/reconcile/harmonize/allocate/transfer/tone/tune

straight/upright and honest/frank/fix/directly

 

57.

 一切                             

everything do not/is not remain/stay/leave/leave behind/detain/delay/keep/detain

                                                       記憶 

without approve/may/can/be able to/ remember/memorize/memory

 

58. 

                                                                 

empty/unoccupied/ unreal/void/clear/false bright/light/clear/evident

                                                                  

oneself/self/itself/own shine/illuminate/light

 

                                                                              

not labor/exert/work/deed/service heart-mind strength/power/force

 

59. 

                                                                   

not/negative/do not/faults/mistakes/wrong think/contemplate/consider/ponder/memory

                                         

to measure/quantity/amount place/location/spot/point/position/feature

                                           

knowledge feelings difficult  measure/gauge/fathom/estimate/conjecture

 

60. 

                        

true suchness dharma realm

In the Dharma Realm of True Suchness 

                                          

there is no other and there is no self.

 

61. 

        

demand/ask/request/coerce/ /important/vital/to want/to be going to/must/

anxious/urgent/quick(ly)/hurried/worried/with expedition

相應   

mutual support/corresponding/relevant

                                                                        不二

only/alone/-ism/yes words/speak/talk/language non-dual/ not two

 

62. 

                                                              

not/non dual/two all/every/entire/in all cases same/similar/equal/identical/agree

                          包容 

without do not/is not pardon/forgive/tolerate/contain/hold/inclusion

 

63. 

十方                                           

ten directions wise/prajna/jnana those who/someone who/persons

                                             

all/in all cases enter here/this lineage/ancestry/school

 

64.

                                                                                     

lineage/ancestry/school not/does not/is not hurry/urgent delay/prolong

                                               

one thought moment ten thousand years

 

65. 

                                               

Without/no/not/un-/-less at/on/exist(there)/in the process of/rest with/be alive/living/at present

不在

absent/not be in/be out

                                    

ten directions eye/look/see front/before/previous/past/earlier/ahead

 

66. 

                                                                               

extremely/highest/utmost/ pole small same as/identical great

                                                            境界 

forget/neglect/overlook/miss cut/cut off boundary/state/realm/sphere/region

 

67. 

                                                                                     

extremely/highest/utmost/ pole great/big same as/identical small

                                                            

not see/view/opinion/observe/perceive border/edge/end/side/hem

outside/appearance/surface/exterior/superficial/outer garment

 

68. 

                                                                                      

existence then/immediately/as it is/is of course/is in fact is without/nonexistence

                                                                                                         

without/nonexistence then/immediately/as it is/is of course/is in fact is existence

 

69. 

                                         

if do not/is not suchness/thus here/if so/in this case/this/that/those

                                              

must/necessarily do not/are not must/need to/should/ought/necessary

 

abide by/guard/defend/protect/conserve/wait

 

70.

                              一切 

one : then/immediately/as it is/is of course/is in fact  all/every/everything

一切                                                      

all/every/everything : then/immediately/as it is/is of course/is in fact one

 

71. 

                                                                                                           

but/yet/however/only/merely/still power/ability/capability suchness/tatha is/are

                                                                    

What strategies/concerns/anxieties do not/are not concluded/finish/complete/total

 

72. 

                                                                                              

trusting/faith in mind do not/are not two/dual do not/is not two/dual trust mind

 

73. 

言語                                     

spoken language saythe Way sever/break/cut apart/give up/abstain from/sever

                                                                           

neither/not leaving/going/past/gone coming/future now/present

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This web-page was last updated August 18, 2013.