|
The dharma of thusness
is intimately transmitted by buddhas and ancestors.
Now you have it;
preserve it well.
[X] A silver bowl
filled with snow,
a heron hidden in the moon.
Taken as similar,
they are not the same;
Not distinguished, their places are known.
The meaning does
not reside in the words,
but a pivotal moment brings it forth.
Move and you are
trapped,
miss and you fall into doubt and vacillation.
Turning away and
touching are both wrong,
for it is like a massive fire.
Just to portray
it in literary form
is to stain it with defilement.
In darkest night
it is perfectly clear;
in the light of dawn it is hidden.
It is a standard
for all things;
its use removes all suffering.
Although it is not
constructed,
it is not beyond words.
Like facing a precious
mirror;
form and reflection behold each other.
You are not it,
but in truth it is you.
Like a newborn child,
it is fully endowed with five aspects:
No going, no coming,
no arising, no abiding;
"Baba wawa"-- is anything said or not?
In the end it says
nothing,
for the words are not yet right.
In the hexagram
"double fire,"
when main and subsidiary lines are transposed,
Piled up they become
three;
the permutations make five.
Like the taste of
the five-flavored herb,
like the five-pronged vajra.
Wondrously embraced
within the complete,
drumming and singing begin together.
Penetrate the source
and travel the pathways,
embrace the territory and treasure the roads.
You would do well
to respect this;
do not neglect it.
Natural and wondrous,
it is not a matter of delusion or enlightenment.
Within causes and
conditions, time and season,
it is serene and illuminating.
So minute it enters
where there is no gap,
so vast it transcends dimension.
A hairsbreadth's
deviation,
and you are out tune.
Now there are sudden
and gradual,
in which teachings and approaches arise.
With teachings and
approaches distinguished,
each has its standard.
Whether teachings
and approaches are mastered or not,
reality constantly flows.
Outside still and
inside trembling,
like tethered colts or cowering rats.
The ancient sages
grieved for them,
and offered them the dharma.
Led by their inverted
views,
they take black for white.
When inverted thinking
stops,
the affirming mind naturally accords.
If you want to follow
in the ancient tracks,
please observe the sages of the past.
One on the verge
of realizing the Buddha Way
contemplated a tree for ten kalpas.
[X] Like a battle-scarred
tiger,
like a horse with shanks gone grey.
Because some are
vulgar,
jeweled tables and ornate robes.
Because others are
wide-eyed,
cats and white oxen.
[X] With his archer's
skill,
Yi hit the mark at a hundred paces.
But when arrows
meet head-on,
how could it be a matter of skill?
The wooden man starts
to sing,
the stone woman gets up dancing.
It is not reached
by feelings or consciousness,
how could it involve deliberation?
Ministers serve
their lords,
children obey their parents.
Not obeying is not
filial,
Failure to serve is no help.
With practice hidden,
function secretly,
like a fool, like an idiot.
[Y] Just to continue
in this way
[Y] is called the host within the host.
|
