景德傳燈錄 30.9

30.9

In the realm of phenomena there is a wish-fulfilling jewel; / a person kept his mouth long sealed, / and on his chest inscribed these words: / "The one of old who gathered in the mind! / Take heed, take heed! / Do not ponder much, do not know much. / Much knowing brings much trouble; it is better to rest the mind. / Much pondering brings much loss; it is better to guard the one. / Pondering much, the resolve is scattered; knowing much, the mind is disordered. / When the mind is disordered, affliction arises; when the resolve is scattered, it hinders the Path. / Do not say, 'What harm is there?' Its suffering is long and drawn out. / Do not say, 'What is there to fear?' Its disaster boils like a cauldron. / If drops of water do not cease, the four seas will soon brim full. / If fine dust is not swept away, the five peaks will soon be formed. / Guard against the branches by staying at the root; though small, it must not be taken lightly. / Close your seven apertures, shut your six sense-emotions. / Do not look at sights; do not listen to sounds. / Those who hear sounds become deaf; those who see sights become blind. / A single text, a single craft is a tiny gnat in the sky; / a single art, a single ability is a lone lamp beneath the sun. / Heroic virtue, talent, and craft: these are folly and delusion. / Casting aside plain simplicity, one is drowned in luxuriant glamour. / The horse of consciousness is easily galloped; the ape of the mind is hard to subdue. / Once the spirit is overtaxed, the physical form is bound to be damaged and perish. / Heterodox conduct leads in the end to delusion; the path of cultivation is forever bogged down. / Do not prize talent and ability; day by day you grow more dim and benighted. / Boasting of clumsy ways and envying cleverness, one's virtue will not be broad. / With a weighty reputation and thin practice, one's high standing quickly collapses. / Harbouring pride and arrogance within invites resentment and hatred without. / Whether spoken by the mouth or written by the hand, / courting the praise of others is exceedingly vile. / The ordinary call it auspicious; the sage calls it a fault. / Delighting in it is fleeting; sorrow over it is enduring. / Fearing your shadow, fearing your footprints: the further you run, the more exhausted you become; / sit upright in the shade of a tree: footprints vanish and the shadow disappears. / Loathing birth and dreading old age: following your thoughts, you bring them to pass; / if conceptual thought in the mind is extinguished, birth and death are cut off forever. / Neither dying nor being born, without characteristic and without name, / the one Path is empty and serene, and the ten thousand things are equal and level. / What is noble? What is base? What is disgraceful? What is glorious? / What is superior? What is inferior? What is heavy? What is light? / The clear sky is ashamed of its purity; the bright sun is humbled by its radiance. / Secure like Mount Tai, firm like that city wall of metal, / with reverence this is bequeathed to worthy sages: for this Path, perseverance brings benefit."