景德傳燈錄

THE JINGDE RECORD OF THE TRANSMISSION OF THE LAMP — VOLUME 29

VOLUME 29
EULOGIES — ODES — GATHAS — POEMS
1. Ten Eulogies on the Mahayana by Venerable Zhigong.
2. Twelve Odes on the Twelve Hours by Venerable Zhigong.
3. An Ode on the Fourteen Hours by Venerable Zhigong.
4. One ode by Chan Master Zhizhen of Guizong.
5. Nineteen odes by Great Master Jideng on Fragrant Karma.
6. One ode by Venerable Dongshan of Junzhou.
7. Eighteen odes by Venerable Longya of Tanzhou.
8. Three odes by Great Master Zongyi of Xuansha.
9. Two odes by Zhaoqing, Great Master Zhenjue.
10. One Ode on the Illumination of the Way by the Venerable of Luohan in Zhangzhou.
11. One Ode on the Ground of Awakening by Venerable Jing at the Pratyutpanna Practice Place on Nanyue.
12. Five Odes on the Shallow and Profound Stages of Entering the Way by Venerable Linxi of Binzhou.
13. Fourteen odes by Chan Master Great Fayan.
14. Eight gathas on the Eight Gradual Stages by Bai Juyi of the Tang dynasty.
15. Ten Discourses on the Mystery by Chan Master Cha of Tongan.
16. Ten poems by the monk Defu of Yunding Mountain.
17. Three poems by the monk Run.
1) Ten Eulogies on the Mahayana by Venerable Baozhi of the Liang dynasty.

– Eulogy 1:

The Great Way is ever before your eyes;
Though before your eyes, it is difficult to see.
If you wish to awaken to the Way as the true essence,
Do not cast aside sounds, forms, or speech.
Speech itself is precisely the Great Way;
There is no need to sever and eliminate afflictions.
Afflictions have from the beginning been empty and quiescent;
Deluded feelings immediately bind one to another.
Everything is like a shadow or an echo;
How could anything be known as ugly or fair?
With a mind that grasps appearances as real,
Know for certain that seeing the nature will not be clear.
If you wish to create karma in pursuit of Buddhahood,
Karma is the great portent of birth and death.
The karma of birth and death always follows the body;
Within the dark prison, this is not yet understood.
Awakening to the principle, from the beginning nothing differs;
Once awakened, who is late and who is early?
The measure of the Dharma realm equals the vastness of empty space,
Yet the wisdom-minds of sentient beings make themselves small.
If only one does not give rise to notions of self and person,
The true Dharma of nirvana is always wholly sufficient.

– Eulogy 2:

A delusory body before a mirror beholds its reflection;
The reflection and the delusory body do not differ.
One merely wishes to discard the reflection and retain the body,
Not knowing that the body itself is likewise unreal and empty.
The body and its reflection are fundamentally no different;
It cannot be that one exists while the other does not.
If you wish to preserve one and discard the other,
You will forever remain far from the true principle.
Moreover, if you cherish the sacred and despise the ordinary,
You will forever sink and float in the ocean of birth and death.
Afflictions exist because of the mind;
If there is no mind, where can afflictions abide?
Do not labor to discriminate and grasp appearances;
Naturally, you will attain the Way in an instant.
While dreaming, one acts within the dream;
Upon awakening, one knows that all its scenes are empty.
Reflect again upon waking and dreaming:
Deludedly seeing them as two, one fails to see that they do not differ.
Exchanging delusion for awakening in pursuit of gain—
How is this different from engaging in trade?
When movement and stillness both disappear, there is constant quiescence,
Naturally corresponding with true suchness.
If one says that sentient beings differ from the Buddha,
One remains ever remote and far removed from the Buddha.
The Buddha and sentient beings are not different;
Naturally, in the ultimate state, nothing remains excluded.

– Eulogy 3:

The Dharma-nature has from the beginning been ever quiescent,
Vast and boundless, without any shore.
Yet one deliberately places the mind amid grasping and rejecting,
And is alternately transformed by these two objects.
Solemnly composing the face, one sits in Chan and enters samadhi,
Restraining objects, settling the mind, and cultivating investigation.
Like a wooden automaton practicing the Way,
When could one ever reach the other shore?
All dharmas are originally empty and leave no trace;
Objects resemble drifting clouds that gather and disperse.
Suddenly awakening that the original nature is fundamentally empty
Is like breaking into a sweat when a fever subsides.
Do not speak of this before those lacking wisdom,
Or they will strike your physical body and scatter it to pieces.

– Eulogy 4:

I tell you sentient beings plainly:
Nonexistence itself is not the absence of existence.
Neither existent nor nonexistent, and not dual—
Why must emptiness be discussed in opposition to existence?
Existence and nonexistence are names established by the deluded mind;
When one is destroyed, the other has nowhere to remain.
Both names are fashioned by your feelings;
Freedom from feelings is itself original true suchness.
If you wish to preserve feelings while seeking the Buddha,
You are taking a net up a mountain to catch fish.
You vainly expend effort without any benefit;
How much labor is squandered to no purpose!
Not understanding that this very mind is Buddha
Is like riding a donkey in search of a donkey.
Neither loving nor hating anything—
If those afflictions must be cast away,
Then, in casting them away, the body too must be cast away.
With the body removed, there is neither Buddha nor person.
When neither Buddha nor person can be found,
Naturally, there is neither dharma nor person.

– Eulogy 5:

The Great Way is not attained through practice;
Practice is provisionally taught for ordinary beings.
When one realizes the principle and looks back upon practice,
Only then does one know that all effort was spent in vain.
Before awakening to the great principle of perfect penetration,
Speech and conduct must support each other.
Do not cling to any separate understanding;
Turn the light around and return to the source, wholly empty.
Who can understand these words?
I teach you to search and inquire within yourself.
When you yourself perceive the faults of former times,
Cut away the tumors of the five desires.
Liberated, carefree, and always at ease,
Wherever you go, freely offer this elegant way of life for sale.
Whoever arouses the resolve to purchase it
Will likewise become free of sorrow, just as I am.

– Eulogy 6:

Views of the inner and views of the outer are both evil;
The Buddha Way and the way of Mara are both mistaken.
When ensnared by these two Maras, Papiyan,
One immediately loathes suffering and seeks happiness.
Once birth and death are clearly understood, their essence is originally empty;
Where then could Buddha or Mara find a secure abode?
It is only because deluded feelings discriminate
That both the body before and the body after remain solitary.
Revolving through the six paths without cease,
The bonds of karma cannot be cast away.
Thus one drifts through birth and death,
All because reckless notions arise and devise their schemes.
The body is originally empty and unreal;
Who can weigh and measure the return to the source?
Existence and nonexistence are fashioned by oneself;
There is no need for the deluded mind to calculate.
The bodies of sentient beings are the same as vast empty space;
Where could afflictions ever touch them?
Simply be without every kind of seeking,
And afflictions will naturally dissolve and disappear.

– Eulogy 7:

How laughable are sentient beings, crawling sluggishly along,
All clinging to one kind of distorted view.
They wish only to scrape cakes from the side of the pan,
Not knowing to return to the source and examine the rice flour.
Rice flour is the basis of both right and wrong;
Through human action, it undergoes a hundred transformations.
When needed, act freely in every direction;
There is no need to remain infatuated and attached.
To be without attachment is liberation;
If there is seeking, one again encounters snares and nets.
In the compassionate mind, everything is equal;
True suchness and bodhi manifest of themselves.
If you harbor the twofold mind of self and other,
Even face-to-face, you will not see the Buddha’s countenance.

– Eulogy 8:

How many foolish and deluded people there are in the world,
Taking the Way and then wishing to seek the Way!
Bustling about, they search widely through manifold doctrines,
Yet cannot even save their own bodies.
They single-mindedly seek strange writings and speak chaotically,
Taking them to be the loftiest and most wondrous principle.
Vainly they let an entire lifetime pass for nothing,
And for many kalpas sink within birth and death.
The defilement of craving binds the mind and will not release it;
The pure wisdom-mind is troubled and disturbed.
Within the forest of the Dharma realm of true suchness,
Weeds, refuse, thorns, and brambles arise anew.
They cling to yellow leaves and take them for gold;
Failing to awaken, they discard gold and seek treasure.
Thus, losing mindfulness, they run wildly astray,
Striving to adorn themselves and preserve a fair appearance.
With their mouths they recite sutras and treatises,
While within, their minds are perpetually dry and haughty.
Once they know that the original mind is empty,
True suchness is complete, lacking nothing.
The sravaka mind severs delusions thought after thought,
Yet the mind capable of severing them is itself the thief.
As thief after thief is successively eliminated,
When will the source be understood and speech fall silent?
The mouth recites a thousand scrolls of sutras,
Yet, questioned about the sutra’s essence, it does not know.
Not understanding the perfect penetration of the Buddhadharma,
One vainly labors to count and comprehend words and meanings.
Why should a dhutanga choose ascetic practices,
Hoping for merit in a future body?
Such hope itself creates distance from the sacred;
How could the Great Way thereby be attained?
It is like crossing a river in a dream:
A ferryman carries you over to Hebei.
Upon waking, you find yourself asleep upon your bed,
And at once lose the rules of the ferry crossing.
The ferryman and the one who ferries people across
Fundamentally have never known one another.
Sentient beings, tightly bound by delusion and inversion,
Toil painfully back and forth within the three realms.
Upon awakening, birth and death are like a dream,
And every seeking mind naturally comes to rest.

– Eulogy 9:

Awakened understanding is itself bodhi;
Clearly comprehend that there are fundamentally no steps or stages.
How lamentable are ordinary beings, bent beneath their burden;
At eighty, walking and standing are truly difficult.
Vainly they let an entire lifetime pass for nothing,
Not knowing that heaven and the moon are ever shifting.

Look upward and watch the mouths of other teachers,
Like infants who have lost the milk that nourished them.
Monastics and laypeople, lofty and imposing, gather together,
All day long listening to the dead words of others.
They do not contemplate the impermanence of their own bodies;
Their greedy minds behave like tigers and wolves.
They lament the narrow inferiority of the Two Vehicles,
Yet must crush down the six viscera.
They do not consume wine, meat, onions, or garlic,
Yet glance sideways to watch others eat and drink.
There are also those whose deviant practices are truly fierce,
Cultivating vital energy and never consuming salt or vinegar.
If one awakens to the utterly true Supreme Vehicle,
There is no need to distinguish between male and female.

Note: Above it is recorded that there are ten verses, but here there are only nine. This is because the second and eighth verses here are too long, and it is not known where they should be divided.

2) Twelve verses on the Twelve Hours by Venerable Baozhi.

1/ The Hour of the Tiger: Daybreak

Within the mechanism of madness is the body of a person of the Way;
It has endured destitution and suffering for immeasurable kalpas.
Not believing in the ever-pure, lofty, precious wish-fulfilling jewel,
One grasps at things and immediately enters the ford of delusion.
If even the slightest trace remains, it is dust.
Not abiding in former times, it has no appearance;
Knowledge sought outside is likewise not true.

2/ The Hour of the Rabbit: Sunrise

In functioning, there is no need to contrive cleverness.
Even though the divine radiance shines upon being and nonbeing,
The moment an intention arises, demonic disturbances are encountered.
If one acts yet ultimately fails to comprehend,
Day and night one is deceived and manipulated by others.
There is no need to arrange anything—whom or what would one follow?
When has the ground of mind ever produced afflictions?

3/ The Hour of the Dragon: Eating the Morning Meal

Fundamental ignorance is itself the body of Shakyamuni.
Sitting and lying down, one does not know that this originally is the Way.
Why remain busily occupied, enduring bitterness and pain?
Recognizing sounds and forms, one searches for intimacy and estrangement;
It is merely the household of others that defiles people.
If you deliberately employ the mind to seek the Buddha’s path,
Ask emptiness itself before you can escape the dust.

4/ The Hour of the Snake: Within the Quarter

Those who have not comprehended do so because the teaching has not reached them.
They must be enabled to penetrate the words of the Patriarchs.
If they do not turn toward the mind, how can they understand the meaning?
Merely holding to the abstruse while discarding the written word,
And clinging to robes, is likewise incorrect.
For the time being, endure it yourself and do not pursue or seek;
For many kalpas you will not encounter states conjured by demons.

5/ The Hour of the Horse: The Sun Turns South

Within the body of the four great elements is a priceless treasure.
Flowers in the sky and shimmering mirages—one cannot bear to cast them away.
Deliberately undertaking cultivation only increases bitterness and pain.
Since you have never been deluded, do not seek awakening.
Let yourself be free from morning until evening.
Within the body there is form, and there is the formless body;
On the road of ignorance there is no path to life.

6/ The Hour of the Goat: The Sun Slants Westward

When has the ground of mind ever established a definitive meaning?
The writings of other households cause intimacy and estrangement to be lost.
Do not arouse efforts or the intention to seek;
Freely range in every direction, ending all apprehension and fear.
Growing up in the human realm, one does not dwell in the world.
Its functioning never departs from sounds and forms;
For many kalpas, when has it ever been cast away, even briefly?

7/ The Hour of the Monkey: Late Afternoon

In studying the Way, first you must not disdain poverty.
Whatever possesses form has from the beginning been provisionally accumulated;
Why should the formless need to consume the real?
Striving to make yourself pure only exhausts the spirit.
Do not accept ignorance as your neighbor.
When words have ended, there is no seeking and no dwelling place;
For the time being, this is called a person who has left home.

8/ The Hour of the Rooster: Sunset

Illusory sounds ultimately do not endure.
One does not even consume the dusty cultivation of meditative joy;
Who then could make one drink the wine of ignorance?
Cast everything away and release it, retaining nothing.
Vast, free, and unfettered—nothing has ever existed.
Even if you study widely and penetrate past and present,
That too is foolish madness, running about outside.

9/ The Hour of the Dog: Dusk

A madman exerts himself and enters a darkened house.
Even if the mind penetrated for immeasurable periods,
Throughout the kalpas, how would it ever differ from today?
If one resolves to deliberate and whisper about it,
One only causes that mind to become black as lacquer.
Day and night, radiance shines upon being and nonbeing;
The wise call this paramita.

10/ The Hour of the Boar: People Settle into Rest

Courageous vigor becomes indolence.
Do not give rise to even the slightest thought of cultivation or study.
Within formless radiance, one is always at ease,
Surpassing Shakyamuni and the Patriarchs.
If the mind contains a clever person, there will be obstruction;
Open, unoccupied, and free of affairs, one suddenly becomes serene.
Other households naturally have their own clever people.

11/ The Hour of the Rat: Midnight

For the mind to abide in non-arising is itself birth and death.
When has birth and death ever belonged to being or nonbeing?
When it is time to function, simply function, and written words disappear.
This matter lies beyond the words spoken by the Patriarchs.
Knowing it only after an arising occurs is still incorrect;
Deliberately seeking it truly causes its trace to be lost.
When the demon of birth and death comes, let each test the other.

12/ The Hour of the Ox: The Cock Crows

The single round pearl has long been radiant.
The moment inside and outside meet, seek it and it is gone.
Acting amid phenomena, it mingles with being;
No head can be seen, and it has no hands.
When the world is destroyed, it does not decay.
Whoever has not yet comprehended should hear a single word:
It merely prevents anyone now from opening their mouth.

3) Verses on the Fourteen Topics by Venerable Zhigong.

1/ Bodhi and Affliction Are Not Two

Sentient beings do not understand cultivation of the Way,
And so they wish to eliminate afflictions.
Afflictions have from the beginning been empty and quiescent,
Yet they still wish to take the Way and seek the Way.
That single thought of mind itself is it;
Why must one search elsewhere?
The Great Way is right before one’s eyes,
But deluded and confused fools do not understand.
The Buddha-nature is innately true and naturally so;
Nor is it created through causes, conditions, or cultivation.
Not knowing that the three poisons are false,
They deludedly cling, sinking and floating through birth and old age.
In former days, each day of delusion was late;
Today, newly knowing this is not early.

2/ Observance and Transgression Are Not Two

A true person functions always without obstruction,
And is not constrained by precepts and discipline.
Observance and transgression are originally unarisen,
But fools are bound by them and can only submit.
Whatever the wise create and perform is empty;
Shravakas become obstructed as soon as they make contact.
Great beings attain perfect penetration with their fleshly eyes,
While the divine eyes of the Two Vehicles are veiled by a film.
Within emptiness, they falsely cling to being and nonbeing,
Not understanding that form and mind are unobstructed.
Bodhisattvas dwell together with ordinary people,
Yet their purity is never stained by the world.
Fools greedily cling to nirvana;
For the wise, birth and death are ultimate reality.
The Dharma-nature is empty and does not speak;
Within dependent arising, there is ultimately no person.
A hundred-year-old person without wisdom is a child;
A child possessing wisdom is a hundred years old.

3/ Buddha and Sentient Beings Are Not Two

Sentient beings and Buddha do not differ;
Great wisdom is not separate from ignorance.
Why seek the treasure outside?
The field of the body itself contains the bright pearl.
The Right Way and the deviant way are not two;
Clearly understand that ordinary beings and sages share one path.
Delusion and awakening fundamentally do not differ;
Nirvana and birth and death are one and the same.
Ultimately relying upon conditions, all is quiescent;
Merely seeking through thought is truly empty and clear.
There is not a single Dharma that can be attained;
At ease and naturally free, one enters the remainderless state.

4/ Phenomena and Principle Are Not Two

The sovereign mind is sovereign indeed and utterly at ease;
The Dharma-nature originally has none of the ten bonds.
Everything whatsoever is the work of the Buddha;
Why must one gather the thoughts and sit in meditation?
Deluded thoughts have from the beginning been quiescent;
There is no need to eliminate them by relying on conditions.
For the wise, there is no mind that can attain anything;
Naturally they neither contend nor make a clamor.
Not knowing the boundless Great Way,
When could one ever realize the profound mystery?
Buddha and sentient beings are of one kind;
Sentient beings themselves are the World-Honored One.
Ordinary people deludedly produce a discriminating mind,
Clinging within emptiness to real existence—how deluded!
Clearly understanding that greed and anger are empty and quiescent,
What place is not the gate of truth?

5/ Purity and Disorder Are Not Two

Shravakas weary of clamor and seek tranquility,
Like discarding flour to search for a cake.
Yet the cake has always fundamentally been flour;
Its preparation assumes many forms according to the person.
Affliction itself is bodhi;
Where there is no mind, there are no objects.
Birth and death do not differ from nirvana;
Greed and anger are like fire and like reflected images.
The wise have no mind that seeks Buddhahood;
Fools cling to the deviant and cling to the right.
Laboring in vain, they let an entire lifetime pass,
Never beholding the Tathagata’s Wondrous Crown.
Clearly understand that sensual desire is empty in nature,
And boiling cauldrons and charcoal furnaces naturally become cool.

6/ Good and Evil Are Not Two

My own body and mind are joyful;
At ease, there is neither good nor evil.
The Dharma-body is sovereign and has no dwelling place;
Wherever one looks, everything is perfect awakening.
The six sense objects have from the beginning been empty and quiescent,
But ordinary people deludedly produce attachments.
Nirvana and birth and death are equal;
Throughout the four seas, where is there thickness or thinness?
The unconditioned Great Way is naturally so;
There is no need to use the mind to ponder and measure it.
Bodhisattvas are open, unrestrained, numinous, and penetrating;
Whatever they do always encompasses wondrous awakening.
Shravakas cling to the Dharma and sit in meditation,
Like silkworms spinning silk and binding themselves.
The Dharma-nature has from the beginning been perfectly radiant;
Once the illness is gone, what need is there to hold on to the medicine?
Clearly understand that all dharmas are equal.

Utterly at ease, lucid, and joyful.

7/ Form and emptiness are not two.

The Dharma-nature is originally without blue or yellow;
Sentient beings falsely fashion literary compositions.
What I myself proclaim is only contemplation,
Yet of their own accord they become confused and deranged.
Not knowing the wondrous principle of perfect penetration,
When will they understand true permanence?
Unable to cure their own illness,
They prescribe medicine for others.
Outwardly, they appear to be virtuous,
But inwardly their minds are like jackals and wolves.
Fools fear hell;
For the wise, it is no different from heaven.
When encountering objects, the mind never arises;
Every step is the place of enlightenment.
Buddha and sentient beings are not two;
Sentient beings themselves create the separation.
If one wishes to eliminate the three poisons completely,
Seeking afar does not free one from calamity.
The wise know that this mind is Buddha;
Fools delight in turning toward the Western Land.

8/ Birth and death are not two.

All worldly dharmas are like dreams and illusions;
Birth and death are also like thunder and lightning.
The Dharma-body is sovereign and perfectly penetrating,
Passing through mountains and rivers without interruption.
Inverted delusive thoughts are originally empty;
Prajnaparamita is neither deluded nor confused.
The three poisons are naturally liberated—
What need is there to collect the thoughts in meditative contemplation?
Only because fools do not understand
Do they accept others’ judgments concerning precepts.
Not knowing the true suchness of quiescent extinction,
When will they reach the other shore?
The wise have no evil to sever;
Their activity accords with the mind, gathering and dispersing freely.
The Dharma-nature has always been empty and quiescent,
Unbound by birth and death.
If one wishes to cut off afflictions,
That is the ignorance of an old fool.
Afflictions themselves are bodhi;
Why separately seek meditative contemplation?
In ultimate reality there is neither Buddha nor Mara;
The nature of mind has neither shape nor form.

9/ Severance and non-severance are not two.

A true person acts openly and with dignity,
Free and unfettered, sovereign and unobstructed.
Nothing can cause him harm;
He is steadfast, like vajra.
Attached neither to the two extremes nor to the middle way,
He is naturally neither annihilated nor eternal.
Dwelling amid desire, greed, and anger is Buddha;
Hell is no different from the meditation hall.
Fools delusively produce distinctions
And drift fiercely through birth and death.
The wise know that form is unobstructed;
All the shravakas become anxious and bewildered.
The Dharma-nature is originally unscarred,
Yet sentient beings delusively cling to blue and yellow.
The Tathagata guides and receives the foolish and deluded,
Sometimes speaking of hell and heaven.
Maitreya is naturally present within one’s own body;
Why seek and speculate elsewhere?
Casting aside true suchness to seek Buddha-images—
Such a person is truly deranged.
Shravakas do not understand within their minds;
They concern themselves only with seeking written words.
Written words are originally not the true Way;
They merely increase contentious obstinacy.
Within their minds are scorpions, snakes, and centipedes;
Their venom immediately inflicts harm.
Not knowing that they cling to meanings within the words,
When will they understand true permanence?
After death they enter the Avici hell,
And their consciousness again undergoes calamity.

10/ The ultimate and the conventional are not two.

The Dharma teacher says, “The Dharma is exceedingly wondrous,”
Yet inwardly he has not departed from afflictions.
He merely speaks written words to instruct others,
Thereby increasing birth and aging still further.
Truth and delusion have never been two.
Ordinary beings discard delusion to seek the Way.
The four assemblies gather like clouds to hear the teaching;
From the high seat, meanings are discussed without end.
The southern and northern seats contend with one another,
While the four assemblies deem their words excellent.
Although their mouths speak sweet nectar,
Their ordinary minds within remain parched.
They themselves originally possess not a single coin,
Yet day and night they count another’s jewels.
They resemble ignorant fools
Who cast away pure gold and carry grass.
The three poisons within their minds remain unrelinquished;
They do not yet know when they will attain the Way.

11/ Liberation and bondage are not two.

Vinaya masters who observe the precepts bind themselves;
Binding themselves, they continually bind others as well.
Outwardly, their deportment appears calm and dignified,
But inwardly their minds are just like great waves.
If they do not board the vessel that crosses birth and death,
How can they cross the river of craving?
Failing to understand the true tenet and right principle,
Their words of wrong views are exceedingly verbose.
Two bhikshus once violated the Vinaya
And went to ask Upali.
Upali judged their offenses according to the Vinaya,
Further entangling the bhikshus.
The layman sat within the abbot’s chamber;
Vimalakirti immediately came and rebuked him.
Upali remained silent and could not reply.
Vimalakirti expounded the Dharma of faultlessness:
“The nature of the precepts is itself like emptiness,
Dwelling neither within nor without the Saha world.”
Though urged to cast away arising and cessation, they refuse;
Upon sudden awakening, they are one with Shakyamuni.

12/ The object and illumination are not two.

13/ Unobstructed functioning.

I now surge forth in sovereign freedom,
With no desire for dukes, lords, ministers, or generals.
Throughout the four seasons I remain like vajra;
In suffering and joy, my ordinary mind does not change.
The treasure of Dharma is likened to Mount Sumeru;
Wisdom is as vast as rivers and seas.
Unmoved by the eight winds,
I am neither diligent nor weary.
I let my nature rise and sink as though mad,
Roaming everywhere, unhindered in every direction.
Even if swords and blades fall upon my head,
I remain at ease and make no distinctions.

14/ Delusion and awakening are not two.

When deluded, one takes emptiness to be form;
When awakened, one takes form to be emptiness.
Delusion and awakening have never differed;
Ultimately, form and emptiness are likewise the same.
Fools call the south the north;
The wise understand there is neither east nor west.
If one wishes to seek the Tathagata’s wondrous principle,
It is ever present within a single thought of mind.
A shimmering mirage is originally not water,
Yet a thirsty deer runs after it with all its might.
This illusory body has never been real;
One takes emptiness and again wishes to seek emptiness.
The delusion and inversion of worldly people are truly excessive,
Like dogs barking at the roaring thunder.

4) A verse by Chan Master Zhizhen Zhichang at Guizong:

5) Nineteen verses from Great Master Zhixian’s Collection of the Lamp, Incense, and Karma:

1/ Receiving the guiding principle (Transmission of the guiding principle)

The bones of the ancients possessed many extraordinary qualities;
Worthy descendants secretly set them in place.
This one gate fulfills filial duty and righteousness;
Those who have not attained it must not go astray.
One must firmly resolve to cast off doubt;
Attaining tranquility, one encounters no danger.
Turn toward it and it recedes; seek it and it departs.
Grasp it urgently and it is lost; lose it and it comes slowly.
Make no comparisons; forget knowing and awareness.
Know that the turbid current has always been false.
In a single kshana, penetrate its transformations;
On precipitous rocky mountains, flames blaze fiercely.
Fire erupts within and pours toward the summit;
Unchecked, it burns down to the ocean floor.
The Dharma-net fears the subtle numinous flame.
For six months one lies down, having cast aside the covering robe.
It cannot be concealed; there is no falsehood.
One who has attained the Way speaks the Patriarch’s intent;
Our lineage has always regarded this with caution.
Only this person skillfully establishes it,
Possessing both Dharma wealth and a sense of shame.
He acts without deceit, and his functioning is certain;
When someone asks, he seldom rebukes,
But examines carefully before speaking of precious rice.

2/ Final words:

There is a single saying complete with every rule.
Cease deliberation; do not sanction yourself.
If midway you meet one who has attained the Way,
At the raising of an eyebrow, you yourself recognize the destination.
Unable to step into it, you harbor many doubts and worries,
Then reflect again while looking toward your companions.
A whole life spent in inquiry, yet the matter remains unaccomplished;
With earnest care, embrace the sandalwood tree.

3/ Changxuan together with Grand Master Cui.

One who has attained often conceals and reveals,
Displaying forms and deportment without fixed pattern.
Once he has spoken, no trace remains;
Secretly and closely, he gives unseen protection.
A frown reveals the ancient way;
Only through luminous subtlety can it be known.
Responding to things, he makes appropriate arrangements;
Do not call it inconceivable.

5/ With Judicial Commissioner Xue.
One drop of water falls; one spark of fire shines.
The drinker of water becomes intoxicated; one who approaches the fire grows old.
Neither drinking nor approaching, one no longer lies at ease.
Break the bow and arrows; trample down the shooting mound.
If you wish to know, cast away hook and awl beforehand.
If you must ask me, who am I?
Speak quickly! Speak quickly!

6/ With a practitioner from Linru County.
The great man laments having long been buried in the dust;
Because of this day, I have been able to enter the mountain.
Raising his eyebrows, he points it out, and thereby opens my eyes;
The old monk swiftly writes beside the dragon’s pen.
Beyond the words lies a meaning that escapes the cage.

9/ Reply to the question of Vice Director Zheng, two verses:
Within words the hidden is buried; before sound, its form is displayed.
At once understand the subtlety—the ancients shared the same wind.
Echoing in response to conditions, the schools have no doctrine of self or other;
The dull serpent is instantly transformed into a dragon.

10/ Discussing the Way
Clearly, clearly, nothing further is borne;
How could its singular functioning depend on anything?
When you meet one who has attained the Way along the road,
Do not answer with words, whether spoken or withheld.

11/ With the student Xuanji.
The wondrous purport is swift, yet proper speech comes slowly;
The gifted understand by following words; the deluded miss the spiritual pivot.
Raise your eyebrows and he will question you; turn your face away and he smiles with delight.
What realm is this? Only one who shares the Way knows.

16/ Those of superior faculties.
Alas! Do not mistakenly suppose the man of sudden awakening is unaware.
Where no words issue forth, the dragon fears entanglement.
Softly calling, he brings all names and characteristics to an end;
Lofty indeed is the current of the Way—it cannot be displayed.

18/ Walking alone.
The chick pecks, the mother hen pecks; the chick knows no egg.
Mother and child are both lost, yet responding to conditions is never mistaken.
Those who share the Way sing and answer one another,
Subtly speaking of the one-legged one.

6) A verse by Venerable Liangjie of Dongshan.

7) Eighteen verses by Venerable Judun of Longya.

3/ As soon as no-mind is attained, the disposition of the Way is present.
The six gates rest, and the body is not wearied.
Those joined by conditions are not necessarily companions;
Without employing both eyebrows, they are still brothers.

4/ After awakening, one is again like those not yet awakened;
With no mind of superiority or inferiority, the spirit rests naturally.
From ancient times, the venerable ones called themselves “this poor wayfarer”;
How many people turn toward this gate?

5/ In studying the Way, one must first have the cause of awakening;
It is just like once racing swift dragon boats.
Although the old pavilion stands upon empty ground,
Once the quest begins, it ceases only upon arrival.

6/ An empty mind does not reach it; the Way is not at rest.
The Way and the empty mind are like a single boat.
One who investigates the mystery is no wayfarer of emptiness;
Even if they suddenly meet, it is not easy to exchange glances.

7/ From childhood I followed a master and studied the ancestral tradition;
Idle blossoms, too, are like bees binding a person.
A true monk need not dwell beyond the clouds;
Once attained, one knows that the formless is empty of itself.

8/ Studying the Way without principle is like learning to paint a dragon;
This is because one has not yet attained its eightfold freedom of movement.
One morning, upon understanding the real dragon,
One knows that all former effort was spent in vain.

9/ Those who hope to become Buddhas remember and recite the Buddha’s name;
After reciting for many years, they instead become demons.
If you now wish to attain Buddhahood by yourself,
Those who are free of thought are not many.

10/ While dreaming, how could one know the dream is false?
Only after awakening does one know the dream is empty.
When deluded, it is like seeing events within a dream;
Once awakened, one is like a sleeper who has risen.

11/ Studying the Way, I followed my master to a tranquil place;
Within emptiness, there is no path hidden from the human world.
Though you may expound a thousand sutras and treatises,
When confronted by difficulty, a single phrase is hard to utter.

12/ Bodhisattvas and shravakas have not exhausted emptiness;
Devas and humans then come to ask about the true tradition.
Why are all Buddhas unobstructed ones?
Sitting solemnly with no-mind, they point only to demonic powers.

13/ If it does not cease in this life, when will it cease?
Let it cease in this life, and emptiness will be known.
When the mind ceases, conditions alone remain, without deluded thought;
When delusion is removed and mind ceases, that is the time of rest.

14/ The deluded have not understood; exhorting them makes them blind and deaf,
Like adding another layer of mud upon the earth.
The awakened intentionally share the intent of the deluded;
Yet within delusion itself, delusion cannot be encountered.

15/ Those who study the Way must not crave or seek;
With no-mind toward the myriad affairs, one accords with the Way.
Only through no-mind does one understand the Way of no-mind;
Once no-mind is understood, the Way, too, is finished.

16/ The urna between the eyebrows shines brilliantly over the body;
How could seeing the master compare with seeing the body of principle?
How could seeing phenomena compare with seeing the principle directly?
Phenomena exist only by relying upon principle;
Principle is provisionally established as an expedient to teach devas and humans.
Once great awakening dawns, all of it vanishes;
Only then may one be called a person with nothing to do.

17/ Human feelings are strong, while affinity with the Way is weak;
The Way employs human feelings, yet how could worldly people know this?
Failing to understand human feelings, one cannot employ the Way;
How long can human feelings endure?

8) Three verses by Great Master Zongyi Shibei of Xuansha.

– Verse 1:

– Verse 2:

– Verse 3:

For ten thousand miles, the divine light lies behind your head;
When your head is lost, where will that one look?
Once the matter is accomplished, intention too comes to an end;
This has pervaded every place since ancient times.
When a wise person happens to hear it, he suddenly raises it up;
Do not wait a moment, or you will immediately lose your head.

9) Two verses by Great Master Zhenjue Xingdeng of Zhaoqing.

1/ Instruction for those attached to seated meditation:
The Great Way is perfectly clear, cutting off every speck of dust;
Why must one sit forever before becoming intimate with it?
When encountering conditions, if you understand, all is right;
In the place of confusion, how could there be old or new?
How could unrestrained ease equal the companion of Zhidun?
How could carefree wandering come close to Hui?
Whether roaming among streams and rocks or through marketplaces,
One may rightly be called a person beyond things, dwelling amid mist and clouds.

2/ Instruction on the expedient means of seated meditation:
Among the four deportments, sitting is foremost;
Settle thought, body, and mind, and be at ease for a while.
Seeing that your conditions bind you to the turbid realm,
You should not prolong those heavenly years forever.
In cultivation, attend solely to the critical phrase of the gong’an;
How could the ultimate principle be discussed as lying on the other shore?
At all times, continuously keep hold of it;
When causes and conditions converge, the cavern opens into the mystery.

10) Verses on Illuminating the Way by Venerable Gui Chen of Luohan,
Zhangzhou
The Ultimate Way is profound and vast; do not try to express it in words.
To proclaim what is wrong—who then can say what is right?
Whatever one encounters is that very person; how could true emptiness be likened to anything?
If true emptiness could be discerned, it would be like an image appearing in a mirror.
Although being and nonbeing are displayed, they cause no harm where they are.
When there is neither harm nor abiding, why persist in attachment and obstruction?
If it is not attained through meritorious effort, what could make the Dharma thus?
“The Dharma is originally thus” and “not originally thus” are merely lips and teeth.
If this is taken up and presented, it buries the essential principle of the school.
The school cannot be revealed through thought, nor can it be seen or heard.
Seeing and hearing do not escape, like the moon in water.
If one is not clear here, what remains is merely a residual teaching.
Any Dharma that has form is a disease of your pupils.
When the pupils are not clear, the world looms precipitously.
Our school is wondrous and extraordinary; it must be like the blazing sun.
Buddhas and sentient beings alike rely upon its beneficent power.
It cannot be attained by bowing the head and pondering.
Smash apart the face that conceals heaven and earth.
Directly take it up and transcend the sense faculties and their objects.
If you do not understand it, then all this is merely false speech.

11) Verses on the Ground of Awakening by Chan Master Weijing of Nanyue.

Briefly speaking, the Ground of Awakening bears names both different and alike;
Beginning and end rise and fall, giving birth to one another.
Setting a beginning in the Ocean of Nature adds another designation;
Wondrous awakening, in turn, relies upon the luminous nature of awakening.
The essence of awakening wholly embraces luminosity and wonder;
Luminous awakening and wondrous awakening proceed as a pair.
Wondrous awakening awakens to wonder; its essence is originally luminous,
Wholly becoming the undefiled, single true essence.
Luminous awakening awakens to luminosity, and luminosity is then understood;
Yet because one comprehends appearances, original luminosity is lost.
Luminosity and wonder, the two awakenings, have the essence of awakening as their source;
Essential awakening and the nature of awakening shine together.
Serene awakening is perfectly complete, without increase or decrease;
Within it there is neither Buddha nor sentient being.
Not awakening to before and after, one does not clearly understand;
Not hearing of delusion and awakening, how could one be alert?
It accords precisely with the Tathagata’s mind-ground;
There is neither illuminating awareness nor non-arising.
Neither arising nor ceasing, the ocean of true suchness,
Empty and luminous, ever-abiding, named yet nameless.
Before vast space awakened, a speck of haze arose;
How could one hear the conditioned sounds of the minute dust motes?
Empty bubbles are not apart from awakening;
Movement and stillness are originally the one true luminosity.
The essence of awakening and luminosity joins with the flickering flame;
Awakening and luminosity wax and wane along with the flame.
Error that does not return is called non-awakening;
Once understood, Initial Awakening and Original Awakening arise.
Original Awakening arises by virtue of Initial Awakening;
Perfect Awakening again depends upon the union of awakening and luminosity.
Because these two become differentiated,
They become intermingled as the alaya-consciousness.
It encompasses both paths, defiled and pure;
Awakening and luminosity further contain the seeds of other paths.
From the arising of nature comes the unmoving wisdom of non-arising,
Never apart from the essence of awakening, originally perfect and complete.
When the arising of nature turns away from awakening, further arising occurs,
Causing the conditioned to fall into blind delusion.
Ignorance and craving mutually permeate one another;
Name-and-form and the faculties successively arise.
The seven consciousnesses turn toward the hoped-for perfect mirror;
When the fifth and sixth arise, they obscure awakening and luminosity.
Contact, feeling, existence, and grasping arise in dependence upon one another;
Birth, old age, sickness, and death follow one after another.
Karmic consciousness is dim and obscure upon the sea of suffering;
Following its boundless current, beings drift without rest.
The Great Sage, in compassion, diligently comes to their aid;
From the one voice employed there issue three voices.
The wisdom-body arises from the Dharma-body;
The practice-body, in turn, arises in relation to the wisdom-body.
The two bodies of wisdom and practice interpenetrate without duality,
Returning to the one essence, equal from the beginning.
The myriad existents are all contained within the true ocean-seal;
The one mind universally manifests, wholly perfect and luminous.
Radiantly clear, upon what could it rely?
Its empty nature is boundless, with nowhere to abide.
Everywhere appearances manifest: arising without arising;
In every place forms appear: ceasing without ceasing.
The mirror and the pearl accord without coming or going;
Floating clouds gather and disperse, never remaining constant.
Hidden or manifest, silent or active, the true is like the moon in water;
Responding to conditions like an echo, it liberates sentient beings.
The ground of sentient beings’ nature is originally undefiled;
Only floating delusions obscure their true disposition.
Not knowing that the five skandhas are like a heap of emptiness,
How could they know that the four great elements are like a gandharva city?
The mountain of pride and delusion towers aloft;
The sea of ignorance and desire stretches far into obscurity.
Always following deceitful and arrogant chandala companions,
They constantly pursue savage beasts and bring forth sorrowful lamentation.
The transformation of consciousness within self-nature is an illusion;
The illusory objects of one’s own mind frighten that very mind.
Know that this illusory nature is like a shimmering mirage;
The flowers in the sky and waves of consciousness then return to perfection.
When vast space is suddenly known, it is like clouds dispersing;
Only then does one know that empty space was originally clear of itself.
Profound and boundless, it has always shone radiantly;
From the beginning, the designations “ordinary” and “sage” cannot be established.

12) Five Verses on the Shallow and Profound Stages of Entering the Way by Venerable Jing
Tuo of Linxi, Chengzhou.

– Verse 1:

– Verse 2:

– Verse 3:

– Verse 4:

I see artisans showing off their drills,
Speaking obscurely in abstruse and wondrous phrases.
Unskillfulness is originally the very root;
Cleverly they display strange and consummate affairs.

– Verse 5:

Shaoshi and Magadha
Have merely exchanged the place where they are extolled. Now I ask all of you: who will be the master of the future?

13) Fourteen Verses by Chan Master Wenyi, the Great Fayan.

1/ The Three Realms Are Mind-Only.

The three realms arise from mind; the myriad dharmas are consciousness-only.
Mind-only, consciousness-only—the eye hears sounds and the ear sees forms.
Forms do not reach the ear; how could sounds encounter the eye?
Eye and form, ear and sound—the myriad dharmas are accomplished.
The myriad dharmas have no conditions; how could they be regarded as illusions?
The great earth, mountains, and rivers—who determines them, and who transforms them?

2/ The Meaning of the Six Characteristics in the Avatamsaka:

The meaning of the Avatamsaka’s six characteristics:
Within identity, difference is also present.
Difference is difference within identity;
This is entirely not the intent of the Buddhas.
The intent of the Buddhas is universal and particular;
How could identity and difference ever have existed?
Within a man’s body, from the time he enters samadhi,
He pays no heed to the body of a woman.
Paying no heed, names and words cease;
The myriad phenomena shine brilliantly, beyond principle and phenomena.

3/ Looking Up at Subhuti:

Subhuti’s appearance is wondrous and extraordinary;
He expounds the Dharma, yet no Dharma is apart.
If your faith cannot reach it, you will again doubt him;
If your faith can reach it, what will you do then?
Taking up your staff, go and look east and west.

4/ Calling Out at the Crossroads:

The drum resounds, tung, tung; much effort is exerted,
Urging people toward the road that passes through.
When the road passes through, where does it arrive?
Those who have attained it should not speak of reaching the jeweled ground.

5/ Taking Up and Relinquishing the Quest for the Way:

In the eastern house, one does not break off cassia branches;
At Nanhua, one does not study immortality.
One goes directly to the Qianzhu Monastery,
Throws open one’s robe, and imitates sitting in meditation.
If meditation could be attained by imitating the seated posture,
Would not the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception also be exceptional?
I offer this advice to those investigating Chan:
They must realize the mystery within the Way.
What is the mystery within the Way?
The true refuge is naturally clear.

6/ The Diamond Sutra: Being Despised by Others:

The precious sword is not lost; the false boat bears no mark.
Neither lost nor marked—he is capable of this.
Reliance cannot be borne; alone and thus, luxuriant yet obstructed.
A bird’s trace in empty space—being and nonbeing are transformed.

7/ A Monk Asked: “Does the mani pearl follow colors?”

8/ Master Xietou’s Hermitage:

The Patriarch’s hermitage stands south of the city;
The old foundation of the hermitage rests above the clouds.
Auspicious beasts and people are attached to appearances;
Should a single thought suddenly arise, it could never be borne.

9/ The Gandharva City:

The gandharva city—the Dharma is naturally altogether thus.
The Dharma naturally is not thus; a clever appearance is truly demonic.
The sun is warm, the moon is cold, the sea is deep, and the mountains are high.
In the gandharva city, both right and wrong are forgotten.

10/ On Seeing a Monk Reading a Sutra:

People today read the teachings of old,
Yet cannot avoid confusion within their minds.
If they wish to be free of confusion within their minds,
They need only know how to read the teachings of old.

11/ He Asked a Monk, “Do You Understand?” The Monk Replied, “I Do Not Understand.”

12/ The Flowerpot in the Cypress Courtyard

13/ A Chance Instruction in the First Lunar Month

In the first lunar month, spring accords with the season;
All that exists and does not exist alike harbors joy.
If you wish to know whose power this is,
Ask again who teaches whom to decide.

14/ Sent to Monk Zheng of Zhongling Guang

The Western Mountains rise lofty and emerald-green;
The waters of the Zhang River settle clear in a single hue.

Their distinct manifestations—when will they ever be exhausted?

14) Eight verses on the Eight Gradual Stages by Bai Juyi.

In the nineteenth year of the Zhenyuan era of the Tang dynasty, in the eighth month of autumn, a Great Master named Ning Gong passed into transformation at the Eight-Stupa Cloister of Shengshan Monastery in the Eastern Capital. In the second month of the following spring, a visitor named Bai Juyi came from the east and composed eight Verses on the Gradual Stages in praise of him, each verse consisting of six lines, with four characters to each line.

Formerly, Bai Juyi had sought the essential teaching of mind from the Master, and the Master had bestowed upon him eight words: Contemplation, Awakening, Samadhi, Wisdom, Illumination, Penetration, Deliverance, and Relinquishment. Entering through his ears, they penetrated his mind. Alas!

The Master's reward-body has now passed into transformation, but the eight words spoken by the Master have not passed away. Sublime indeed are these eight words—the gradual gateway to contemplating the patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. Therefore, beginning with Contemplation and proceeding through Relinquishment, he praised them in sequence.

Expanding each word into a verse, he thus composed eight Verses on the Gradual Stages, intending to elucidate the Master's mind-teaching and also to make clear that Bai Juyi dared not let it be lost. He then ascended the Dharma hall, approached the Master's meditation couch to pay homage, knelt and wept, recited the verses, and withdrew. The verses say:

1/ Contemplation:

With the eye within the mind, contemplate forms outside the mind.
Whence do they arise? Whither do they disappear?
Contemplate, and contemplate again; then true and false are both empty.

2/ Awakening:

Only the true is ever constant, yet it is obscured by delusion.
If true and false are discerned, awakening arises therein.
Without departing from delusion and existence, one attains true emptiness.

3/ Samadhi:

If the true is not extinguished, delusion will not arise.
The source of the six faculties within is like still water.
This is meditative samadhi, whereby one escapes birth and death.

4/ Wisdom:

If samadhi alone is made paramount, samadhi itself becomes a fetter.
Employ wisdom to aid it, and wisdom is then unobstructed.
Like a pearl upon a tray: the tray is samadhi, the pearl is wisdom.

5/ Illumination:

When samadhi and wisdom unite, only after their union is there illumination.
It shines upon all those myriad things, and no thing can conceal its form.
Know that the Great Perfect Mirror responds even to the insentient.

6/ Penetration:

When wisdom arrives, there is illumination; when illuminated, there is no darkness.
Only when illumination is complete is there penetration; penetration is without obstruction.
What is unobstructedness? To transform freely and at will.

7/ Deliverance:

The power of penetration is not fixed; it changes in accordance with each thought.
The forms of transformation do not exist, yet appear in accordance with what is sought.
This is great loving-kindness and compassion: by means of the one, the myriad are saved.

8/ Relinquishment:

Once all suffering has been relieved, great compassion too is relinquished.
Since suffering is not real, compassion too is provisional.
Therefore, among sentient beings, there is truly no one who is delivered.

15) Ten Discourses on the Mystery by Chan Master Cha of Tong'an.

In general, the abstruse discourse of the subtle phrase gives rise to the Three Vehicles. It neither mingles with the manifold conditions nor establishes anything separately. Responding to circumstances from the central dais, it is like the bright moon without stars.

Turning its reflection, it lets the pivotal function vanish, like a luminous pearl still hidden beneath the sea. Moreover, students have limitations, while the wondrous principle is inexhaustible. Those who comprehend phenomena are few; those deluded about the source are many.

Amid the teeming myriad forms, each and every thing is manifest. Or else, both phenomena and principle are cast away, and names and words are all lost. Therefore, though one earnestly points to the moon, do not mistake the finger's device.

Do not be confused by the needle penetrating the water; one may entrust the jewel by opening the fist. Briefly, subtle words are set forth to reveal phenomena and principle.

1/ The Mind-Seal:

I ask you: what form does the mind-seal have?
Who would dare transmit and confer the mind-seal?
Through many kalpas, serenely, it has no differing hue;
To call it the mind-seal is already empty speech.
You must know that its nature is originally empty;
It may be likened to a lotus within a blazing furnace.
Do not say that no-mind is called the Way;
Even no-mind remains separated by one gateway.

2/ The Patriarch's Meaning:

The Patriarch's meaning is like emptiness, yet is not empty;
How could the spiritual pivot fear the merits of being and nonbeing?
The Three Worthies have surely not yet understood this meaning;
How could the Ten Sages comprehend this school?
Breaking through the net, the golden fish still lingers in the water;
Returning home, the stone horse emerges from its cage.
Earnestly I speak of the meaning of the coming from the West:
Do not ask whether the West reaches the East.

3/ The Mysterious Pivot:

The empty kalpa is remote and cannot be approached;
How could the dust of circumstances obstruct it?
The wondrous essence has from ancient times had no abode;
Throughout the whole body, how could there be footprints?
One numinous phrase transcends the herd of elephants;
Far beyond the Three Vehicles, it does not depend upon cultivation.
On which side, beyond the thousand sages, will you let go your hands?
On returning, you can become an ox within the fire.

4/ Apart from Defilement:

The turbid is turbid of itself; the clear is clear of itself;
Bodhi and affliction are equally empty.
Who says that when the jade is shattered, no one beholds it?
My Way is the donkey's pearl reaching the realm of clarity.
When the myriad dharmas vanish, the whole essence appears;
The distinctions of the Three Vehicles are names imposed by force.
Every true man possesses an aspiration soaring to heaven;
Do not turn toward the Tathagata to practice the various conduct.

5/ Expounding the Teaching:

The Three Vehicles, in due sequence, expound the golden words;
The Tathagatas of the three times likewise speak them together.
At first, being and nonbeing were taught, and people clung to both;
Later, neither emptiness nor existence was taught, and the assembly followed conditions.
The entire treasury of the Dragon Palace contains meanings like medicinal prescriptions;
All that was spoken beneath the Crane Tree has not yet revealed the mysterious principle.
Within the realm of true purity, the pivotal instant of a single thought—
In Jambudvipa, eight thousand years have already passed.

6/ Reaching the Root

Do not worship the King of Emptiness midway along the road;
Take up your staff, return, and you must reach your native village.
When clouds and waters separate you, do not remain there;
In the depths of the Snow Mountains, I shall not forget.
Seeking the face of former days, it was like jade;
Lamenting upon the return, the hair is like frost.
Letting go your hands, you reach home, yet no one knows;
Again, there is not a single thing to offer in the ancestral hall.

7/ Returning to the Source:

Upon returning to the original source, affairs are already different;
From ancient times it has abided nowhere, so it cannot be called home.
Along the ten-thousand-year-old pine path, the snow lies deep;
A single range of lofty mountains cruelly blocks the clouds.
The mutual courtesies of guest and host are wholly delusion;
King and ministers dwell together: the oblique within the upright.
How can the song of return to the old village be sung?
Before the house, the moon shines brightly upon blossoms on a withered tree.

8/ Turning the Pivot:

Even within the city of nirvana, danger still remains;
When strangers meet, no appointed time can be fixed.
Temporarily hooking on a soiled robe, one is called Buddha;
Clad in jeweled garments, by what name shall one be called?
At midnight, the wooden man puts on his shoes and walks;
At daybreak, the stone maiden dons her cap and returns.
Through myriad ages, the moon shines brilliantly over the blue pool;
Only after much fumbling about will one consent to know.

9/ Shifting Position:

Wearing fur and bearing horns, enter the village;
The utpala flower blossoms within the fire.
Over the sea of afflictions, make rain and mist;
Above the mountain of ignorance, make clouds and thunder.
Blow upon the oil cauldron and coal furnace, commanding them to go out;
Shout at the forest of swords and mountain of blades, causing them to collapse.
The golden lock of the Nine Mysteries cannot hold you;
Go even to the realm of animals and revolve in samsara.

10/ The One Color:

Before the cave of the withered tree are many divergent paths;
Travelers who reach this place all linger irresolutely.
A heron standing beside the snow is not of the same color;
The bright moon and reed blossoms are neither alike nor different.
Clearly, when it is understood, it cannot be understood;
Even the mystery within the mysterious must be reproached.
Earnestly sing the song within the mystery:
Can the bright moon in midheaven be grasped?

16) Ten poems by the monk Defu of Yunding Mountain.

1/ Speech and Silence Are Difficult to Fathom.

Words at leisure, profound silence—the sages do not know;
Even if one speaks, nothing can be compared with it.
A stone man holds a tablet and strikes it amid the snow;
A wooden maiden holds a reed organ in her mouth and plays beneath the water.
If you say it cannot be heard, you still have not understood;
If you wish to seek its resonance, doubts arise again.
Though I bid you sing and respond, the notes must still accord;
Cease asking about the modes of bamboo and silk.

2/ The Patriarchal Teaching Is Far Apart.

The Patriarch's meaning, remote and profound, transmits a single phrase;
Within the teachings, it is broadly displayed to guide the Three Vehicles.
Vimalakirti's mountain collapses as thunder resounds;
An autumn bird over a solitary pool cages the moon's reflection.
At the marketplace, having sold everything, one forgets the place from which one came;
In a deep cave, raising a tiger brings surpassing victory.
Though one knows that identity of essence is a provisional expedient,
It is still like a lamp beneath the blazing sun.

3/ Though One Attains Wondrous Learning.

Those who set their minds on learning the Way are numerous as dust;
How many people have truly recognized Caoxi?
If sages and ordinary beings are made free of obstruction,
Then even tiles and bricks should constitute true cultivation.
In the blink of an eye, a single thought of wrong reflection arises,
Because through many lifetimes one has followed heedlessness.
If one does not encounter the purport of the Patriarchal Master,
When the occasion arises and one opens one's mouth, it remains difficult to reveal.

4/ Coming to Inquire Respectfully, Yet No Answer Can Be Given.

Do not boast of deceitfully answering with a lucid phrase;
Searching for phrases and seeking words mistakenly kills people.
Only when one meets Manjushri is it immediately the Way;
That venerable layman Vimalakirti remained silent, without a sound.
Seeing someone, one must put down the object used to knock at the gate;
Knowing the road, one still forgets the mound.
If you did not mistakenly suppose that words explain everything,
What harm would there be in living out your days in silence?

5/ No Pointing to a Target.

It abides neither in the northwest nor in the east or west;
How could above and below within empty space be equal?
Manifest upon the tip of a tiny hair, it is still called vast;
Outside the high heavens, it still fears being low.
Quickly dry up the four seas, and the red dust rises;
Completely exhaust the three evil paths and the dark karma of delusion.
If all the myriad things such as these are empty and perishable,
You must still go before Caoxi and inquire.

6/ Delighting in Oneself and Abandoning Attachment.

Though this is attachment to traces, it is not carefree;
Too indolent to leave the monastery gate for more than ten years.
With palms joined, there are times when one is too indolent to ask the Buddha

Who would bow down and consent to meet princes and lords?
The dream of life, like a flash of lightning, has no lasting firmness.
Desiring the fire of worldly people, morning and evening, to cease,
Know that the skandhas have from the beginning possessed the nature of numinous awareness,
Which cannot even temporarily be made to follow the mind upon arrival.
7/ In questions and answers, one must know how inversion arises.
In questions and answers, one must teach how inversion arises;
A dragon’s head and a snake’s tail merely deceive themselves.
As when a king holds a sword, it is still the king’s intent;
As a mirror upon its stand awaits the contemplation of phenomena.
A sidelong glance—and the uneven grasses stretch a thousand miles;
Lower the head in thought—and one falls through ten thousand layers.
All contend within this Way over whose insight is deepest;
Why then stand upon the road ahead as a false barrier?
8/ Words and conduct support each other.
To act in accordance with one’s words is not easy to do;
Like the crow and the hare, the two lights shine.
If day and night one remains ever diligent,
It is not from greed, anger, indolence, or sloth that this is born.
Even bodhisattvas still find it difficult to speak of it;
How dare the shravakas come to discuss and judge it?
Yet one sits forever at leisure, without rank or position;
Who could have foreseen that dragons and spirits would come to welcome one?
9/ A single phrase.
A single phrase of the Mystery cannot be exhausted;
Even with a whirring sound, clearly understood—how excellent it is!
Unattached to affairs, one moves and becomes free of affairs;
The patriarchal teaching and the mind-demon are the Buddha-demon.
Within the parable of the poor son, this Way is spoken;
Within the verse that bestows the jewel, a vast net is spread.
The gateless gate has a path both level and broad;
With utmost earnestness, whoever is invited—just pass through.
10. The great meaning, from ancient times to the present.
From ancient times to the present, the fly-whisk has been displayed in the southeast;
The great meaning is secret and profound—how could it be easily investigated?
Pointing a finger or covering the head, all are one;
Casting a glance or clapping the hands, surely there are not three.
Our Way is not suddenly understood in the same way by everyone;
Who can comprehend the bow and arrow and the stone hide?
If this principle is not transmitted and taught by a master,
With what view would one seek to speak of the Mysterious Discourse?
17) Three poems by Monk Nhuận.
1/ On reading the Bảo Lâm Chronicle.
The patriarchal moon and the wind of Chan converge in Bảo Lâm;
For more than two thousand years, the Way has been easy to find.
Though divided between the Western Land and the Eastern Land,
There is no separation between the human mind and the Buddha-mind.
Kashyapa first transmitted it, and it greatly flourished;
Huineng, in the latter age, made it deeper still.
Seeing here the sudden awakening that transcends ordinary beings,
I lament that people, from ancient times to the present, remain deluded.
2/ A poem presented to a practitioner of the Way.
One word of true emptiness transcends the world;
How pitiable are the deluded, forever circling round.
In this life, sitting peacefully, delighting in the three dhyanas,
One chants excellent verses endlessly amid the myriad affairs.
When the autumn moon becomes full, watch throughout the night;
As drifting clouds fly away, in which mountain do they lose their way?
Only when one finally ventures oneself is there complete understanding;
Cease clinging to other scriptures and knock at the Patriarch’s gate.
3/ Presented to a Chan traveler.
Knowing delusion and returning to the true, the myriad anxieties vanish;
Ordinary beings and sages, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, are not different in essence.
When deluded, all are alike in entering the fire;
When awakened, all are like cranes escaping their cages.
A fragment of tranh sends its shadow across the waters of a thousand ravines;
A solitary pine resounds with the winds of the four seasons.
One must inwardly accord, mind to mind, with the ground of mind;
Then cease the weary search for the elder sister in a dream.