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Translating Sutras
Hui Yung (332-414 )
We go on unwinding the woof
from the web of their meaning:
words of the Sutras
day by day leap forth .
Head on we've
chased the miracle
of Dharma:
here are no mere scholars .
-
Moon Sitting
Hui Yung (332-414 )
High mountain cascades froth .
This wild temple owns few lamps .
Sit facing the glitter
of the moon: out of season
heart of ice.
-
Miao Yin
(ft 376-380)
Wind and Watera steady wind scours the autumn moon
from a stagnant pool, from the crystal spring
every place pure now. .. just as it is.
why, then, does karma yet coil and bind ?
-
Hui K'o
(4th-5th Century)
No me : Dharmas all
empty.
Death, Life, small
difference.
Heart of mystery's
transformation:
know, and see.
The Truth cries out
where the arrow strikes the target .
-
The Absolute
Hui K'o (4th-5th Century)
selfless dharmas are all empty
life and death about alike
the transformed heart knows it all at a glance
truth is in the middle of things.
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Verses on the Faith-Mind
Seng Ts'an (d 606)
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 or 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.
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 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 .
Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things
is to miss their reality;
to assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality .
If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things
are as they are, of single essence.
To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion,
both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.
For the unified mnd in accord with the Way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage;
nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating
with no exertion of the mind's power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination
are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just simply say when doubt arises, `Not two.
'In this `not two ' nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension or
diminution in time or space;
in it a single thought is ten thousand years.
Emptiness here,
Emptiness there, but the infinite universe stand
salways before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small:
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Don't waste time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.
One thing, all things:
move among and intermingle,
without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,
Because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.
words!
The Way is beyond language
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.
-
Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Divination showed my place among these bunched cliffs
where faint trails cut off the traces of men and women
what's beyond the yard
white clouds embracing hidden rocks
living here still after how many years
over and over I've seen spring and winter change
get the word to families with bells and cauldrons
empty fame has no value
-
Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Everyone who reads my poems
must protect the purity of their heart's heart
cut down your craving continue your days modestly
coax the crooked and the bent then you'll be upright
drive out and chase away your evil karma
return home and follow your true nature
on that day you'll get the Buddhabody
as swiftly as Lu-ling runs
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Looking for a place to settle out
Cold Mountain will do it
fine wind among thick pines
the closer you listen the better the sound
under them a man his hair turning white
mumbling mumbling Taoist texts
he's been here ten years unable to return
completely forgotten the way by which he came
-
Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
My heart is like the autumn moon
perfectly bright in the deep green pool
nothing can compare with it
you tell me how it can be explained
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Wanting to go to the eastern cliff
setting out now after how many years
yesterday I used the vines to pull myself up
but halfway there wind and mist made the going tough
the narrow path grabbed at my clothes
the moss so slippery I couldn't proceed
so I stopped right here beneath this cinnamon tree
used a cloud as a pillow and went to sleep
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Sitting alone in peace before these cliffs
the full moon is heaven's beacon
the ten thousand things are all reflections
the moon originally has no light
wide open the spirit of itself is pure
hold fast to the void realize its subtle mystery
look at the moon like this
this moon that is the heart's pivot
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
I like my home being well hidden
a dwelling place cut off from the world's noise and dust
trampling the grass has made three paths
looking up at the clouds makes neighbors in the four directions
there are birds to help with the sound of the singing
but there isn't anyone to ask about the words of the Dharma
today among these withered trees
how many years make one spring
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
People ask the way to Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain the road doesn't go through
by summer the ice still hasn't melted
sunrise is a blur beyond the fog
imitating me how can you get here
if your heart was like mine
you'd return to the very center
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
I live beneath a green cliff
the weeds I don't mow flourish in the yard
new vines hang down all twisted together
old rocks rise up straight in precipitous slopes
monkeys pick the mountain fruit
egrets catch the pond fish
with one or two of the immortals' books
beneath the trees I mumble reading aloud
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
When the year passes it's exchanged for a year of worries
but when spring arrives the colors of things are fresh and new
mountain flowers laugh in green water
cliff trees dance in bluegreen mist
the bees and butterflies express their joy
the birds and fish are even more lovable
my desire for a friend to wander with still unsatisfied
I struggled all night but could not sleep
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Your essays are pretty good
your body is big and strong
but birth provides you with a limited body
and death makes you a nameless ghost
it's been like this since antiquity
what good will come of your present striving
if you could come here among the white clouds
I'd teach you the purple mushroom song
-
Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
If you ' re always silent and say nothing
what stories will the younger generation have to tell
if you hide yourself away in the thickest woods
how will your wisdom's light shine through
a bag of bones is not a sturdy vessel
the wind and frost do their work soon enough
plow a stone field with a clay ox
and the harvest day will never come
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
In the green creek spring water is clear
at Cold Mountain the moon's corona is white
silence your understanding and the spirit of itself is enlightened
view all things as the Void and this world is even more still
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
My resting place is in the deep woods now
but I was born a farmer
growing up simple and honest
speaking plainly without flattery
what nourished me wasn't studying for jade badges of office
but believing that a man of virtue would then get the pearl
how can we be like those floating beauties
wild ducks drifting on the waves as far as the eye can see
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Clouds and mountains all tangled together up to the blue sky
a rough road and deep woods without any travellers
far away the lone moon a bright glistening white
nearby a flock of birds sobbing like children
one old man sitting alone perched in these green mountains
a small shack the retired life letting my hair grow white
pleased with the years gone by happy with today
mindless this life is like water flowing east
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
In my house there is a cav ein the cave
there's nothing at all
pure emptiness really wonderful
glorious and splendid bright as the sun
vegetarian fare nourishes this old body
cotton and hides cover this illusory form
let a thousand saints appear before me
I have the Dharmakaya for my very own
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Despite the obstacles I pursued the great monk
the misty mountains a million layers high
he pointed to the road back home
one round moon lantern of the sky
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
Ahead the green creek sparkles as it flows
toward the cliff a huge rock with a good edge for sitting
my heart is like a lone cloud with nothing to depend on
so far away from the world's affairs
what need is there to search for anything
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Han Shan (Legendarv, c. 730)
When this generation sees Han-shan
they all say I'm a crazy man
unworthy of a second look
this body wrapped only in cotton and hides
they don' t understand what I say
I don't speak their kind of jabber
I want to tell all of you passing by
you can come up and face Cold Mountain
Me I'm happy with the everyday way
like the mist and vines in these rockstrewn ravines
this wilderness is so free and vast
my old friends the white clouds drift idly off
there is a road but it doesn't reach the world
mindless who can be disturbed by thoughts
at night I sit alone on a stone bed
while the round moon climbs the face of Cold Mountain
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