緇門警訓 2.2

2.2

The mind's light emptily mirrors; its essence is beyond partial or complete. / Golden ripples circle upon circle; dynamic and still, it is always Chan. / Thoughts arising and thoughts ceasing need not be halted; / Letting them flow on continuously, when did they ever arise or cease? / Arising and ceasing, quiescence and cessation—[here] appears Mahākāśyapa. / Sitting, lying, and circumambulating, never is there any pause. / When is Chan not sitting? When is sitting not Chan? / If one comprehends like this, only then is it called seated meditation. / Who is the one who sits? What kind of thing is Chan? / Yet wanting to sit it, using the Buddha to seek the Buddha. / The Buddha need not be sought; seeking him, you lose him all the more. / Sitting does not observe an ego; Chan is not an external technique. / At the outset when turbulent and confused, one cannot avoid turning and changing; / Therefore through many means they are taught quiet contemplation: / Sitting upright and collecting the spirit. At first turbulent, after a long time tranquil. / Emptily relax the six sense gates; when the six sense gates pause a while, / Discriminations arise within. As soon as discriminations are born, they already constitute arising and ceasing. / Arising, ceasing, shifting, changing—they manifest from one's own mind. / Again use one's own mind to turn back and observe once. / Turned back once, do not repeat: a round light crowns the head, spiritual flames blazingly radiate. / Mind after mind without obstruction, horizontally spanning, vertically penetrating; / Birth and death are perpetually stilled. / A single grain of returned elixir turns iron into liquid gold. / Dust-like guest defilements of body and mind have no gate to leak through. / Leave delusion and enlightenment unsaid; stop discussing adverse and agreeable. / Carefully reflect on former days sitting coldly and seeking: / Although not different, it was also a great mess. / In a single kṣaṇa, ordinary and sage—no one can believe it. / All over the earth people are in a rush; one must exercise the greatest care. / If you do not know this, sit upright and ponder: one day you will hit upon it. / I humbly bow! I humbly bow!