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− | + | ::::''HsinHsinMing<br> |
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</font> |
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+ | |||
− | ::::::(with commentary) |
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− | |||
+ | <font face=Comic size=3><i> |
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− | :'''''THERE IS NOTHING DIFFICULT ABOUT THE GREAT WAY,<br> |
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+ | :There is nothing difficult about the Great Way, |
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− | :'''''BUT, AVOID CHOOSING! |
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+ | :But, avoid choosing! |
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+ | :Only when you neither love nor hate, |
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+ | :Does it appear in all clarity. |
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− | :We suffer, at one and the same time, from excessive pride and |
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− | :excessive humility. On the one hand, our intellect rushes in |
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− | :where angels fear to tread. On the other hand, we are too humble |
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− | :before the Buddhas and saints, not realizing that we too are the |
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− | :Buddha, as the "Avatamsaka" ("Kegonkyo") declares: |
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+ | :A hair's breadth of deviation from it, |
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+ | :And deep gulf is set between heaven and earth. |
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+ | :If you want to get hold of what it looks like, |
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+ | :Do not be anti- or pro- anything. |
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− | :''The mind, the Buddha, living creatures, -- |
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− | :''these are not three different things. |
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+ | :The conflict of longing and loathing, -- |
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− | :Haiku are divided, rather arbitrarily, into seven sections: |
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+ | :This is the disease of the mind. |
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− | :The Season, Sky and Elements, Fields and Mountains, Gods and Buddhas, |
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+ | :Not knowing the profound meaning of things, |
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− | :Human Affairs, Animals and Birds, Trees and Flowers. |
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+ | :We disturb our peace of mind to no purpose. |
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− | :With all these but one, the fifth, in the petals of the barley leaf, |
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− | :the tender smile on the lips of Kwannon, the moonlight on the valley |
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− | :stream, the voices of insects in autumn, the coldness of winter, |
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− | :we can see the Great Way that stretches out in every direction, |
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− | :throughout past, present and future. |
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− | :But when we come to man, to ourselves, it is a different story. |
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+ | :Perfect like a Great Space, |
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− | :''So, beneath the starry dome |
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+ | :The Way has nothing lacking, nothing in excess. |
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− | :''And the floor of plains and seas, |
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+ | :Truly, because of our accepting and rejecting, |
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− | :''I have never felt at home, |
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+ | :We have not the suchness of things. |
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− | :''Never wholly been at ease. |
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+ | :Neither follow after, |
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− | :''The First Day of the Year: |
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+ | :Nor dwell with the Doctrine of the Void. |
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− | :''I remember |
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+ | :If the mind is at peace, |
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− | :''A lonely autumn evening. |
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+ | :Those wrong views disappear of themselves. |
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− | :~ Basho ~ |
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+ | :When activity is stopped and passivity obtains, |
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− | :''Scattering rice too, |
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− | : |
+ | :This passivity is again the state of activity. |
+ | :Remaining in movement or quiescence, -- |
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− | :''The fowls are fighting each other. |
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+ | :How shall we know the One? |
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− | :~ Issa ~ |
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+ | :Not thoroughly understanding the unity of the Way, |
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− | :In "The Sphinx", Emerson tells us: |
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+ | :Both (activity and quiescence) are failures. |
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+ | :If you get rid of phenomena, all things are lost. |
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+ | :If you follow after the Void, |
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+ | :you turn your back on the selflessness of things. |
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+ | :The more talking and thinking, |
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− | :''Erect as a sunbeam, |
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+ | :The farther from truth. |
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− | :''Upspringeth the palm; |
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+ | :Cutting off all speech, all thought, |
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− | :''The elephant browses, |
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+ | :There is nowhere that you cannot go. |
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− | :''Undaunted and calm. |
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− | :''But man crouches and blushes, |
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− | :''Absconds and conceals; |
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− | :''He creepeth and peepeth, |
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− | :''He palters and steals. |
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+ | :Returning to the root, we get the essence; |
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− | :In other words, Sengtsan, in declaring that the Way in not |
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+ | :Following after appearances, we loose the spirit. |
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− | :difficult, is flatly contradicting the experience of mankind both |
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+ | :If for only a moment we see within, |
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− | :in regard to the complexities of ordinary life and the perception |
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− | : |
+ | :We have surpassed the emptiness of things. |
− | :His meaning is faintly adumbrated by the well known verse of Yamazaki |
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− | :Sokan, d. 1553, included in a collection of poems he made called |
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− | :"Inutsukuba": |
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+ | :Changes that go on in this emptiness |
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− | :''How I wish to kill! |
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+ | :All arise because of our ignorance. |
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− | :''How I wish |
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+ | :Do not seek for the Truth; |
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− | :''Not to kill! |
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− | :''The thief I have caught |
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− | :''Is my own son. |
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+ | :Religiously avoid following it. |
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− | :This corresponds to the English proverb, |
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+ | :If there is the slightest trace of this and that, |
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+ | :The Mind is lost in a maze of complexity. |
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+ | :Duality arises from Unity, -- |
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− | :''He who follows truth too closely, will have dirt kicked into his face. |
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+ | :But do not be attached to this Unity. |
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− | :''It is the very search, and the excessive zeal of it, which causes the |
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+ | :When the mind is one, and nothing happens, |
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− | :''truth to disappear. In our hot grasp the truth wilts away. |
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+ | :Everything in the world is unblameable. |
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+ | :If things are unblamed, they cease to exist; |
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− | :''There is no one |
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+ | :If nothing happens there is no mind. |
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− | :''Who dyes them, |
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+ | :When things cease to exist, the mind follows them; |
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− | :''But of themselves |
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+ | :When the mind vanishes, things also follow it. |
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− | :''The willow is green, |
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− | :''The flowers red. |
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+ | :Things are things because of the Mind; |
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− | :If we just remain quiet, and live in all simplicity, no problems arise. |
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+ | :The Mind is the Mind because of things. |
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+ | :If you wish to know what these two are, |
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+ | :They are originally one Emptiness. |
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+ | :In this Void both (Mind and things) are one, |
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− | :''Were I a king, pensively |
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+ | :All the myriad phenomena contained in both. |
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− | :''Would I pace the corridors of the palace. |
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+ | :If you do not distinguish refined and coarse, |
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− | :''The path I walk goes through the pine-trees; |
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+ | :How can you be for this or against that? |
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− | :''The sea is blue, a butterfly flits by. ~ Miyoshi Tatsuji |
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+ | :The activity of the Great Way is vast; |
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− | :Sengtsan attributes all our uneasiness, our dissatisfaction with |
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+ | :It is neither easy nor difficult. |
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− | :ourselves and other people, our inability to understand why we are |
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+ | :Small views are full of foxy fears; |
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− | :alive at all, to one great cause: choosing this and rejecting that, |
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+ | :The faster, the slower. |
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− | :clinging to the one and loathing the other. |
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− | :There is a profound saying: |
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+ | :When we attach ourselves (to the idea of enlightenment) we lose our balance; |
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− | :''The flowers fall, for all our yearning; |
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+ | :We infallibly enter the Crooked Way. |
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− | :''Grasses grow, regardless of our dislike. |
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+ | :When we are not attached to anything, all things are as they are; |
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+ | :With Activity there is no going or staying. |
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− | |||
− | :Other verses that express this fact of the life that comes from |
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− | :the death of self and its wants and distastes, are the following: |
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+ | :Obeying our nature, we are in accord with the Way, |
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+ | :Wandering freely, without annoyance. |
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+ | :When our thinking is tied, it turns out from the truth; |
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+ | :It is dark, submerged, wrong. |
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− | :''Just get rid |
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− | :''Of that small mind |
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− | :''That is called "self", |
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− | :''And there is nothing in the universe |
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− | :''That can harm or hinder you. |
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− | :''How delightful it is |
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− | :''To make all space |
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− | :''Our dwelling place! |
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− | :''Our hearts and minds |
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− | :''Are perfectly at ease. |
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+ | :It is foolish to irritate your mind; |
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+ | :Why shun this and be friend of that? |
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+ | :If you wish to travel in the True Vehicle, |
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+ | :Do not dislike the Six Dusts. |
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− | :D.H.Lawrence says the same thing in "Kangaroo": |
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+ | :Indeed, not hating the Six Dusts |
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+ | :Is identical with Real Enlightenment. |
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+ | :The wise man does nothing; |
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+ | :The fool shackles himself. |
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− | :''Home again. But what was home? The fish has vast ocean for home. |
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− | :''And man has timelessness and nowhere. "I won't delude myself with |
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− | :''the fallacy of home", he said to himself. "The four walls are a |
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− | :''blanket I wrap around in, in timelessness and nowhere, to go to |
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− | :''sleep". |
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+ | :The Truth has no distinctions; |
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− | |||
+ | :These come from our foolish clinging to this and that |
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− | |||
+ | :Seeking the Mind with the mind, -- |
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− | :'''''ONLY WHEN YOU NEITHER LOVE NOR HATE |
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+ | :Is not this the greatest of all mistakes? |
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− | :'''''DOES IT APPEAR IN ALL CLARITY |
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− | :There is love and Love, but only hate; there is no such thing as |
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− | :Hate. In Love is included that which might be called Hate, what |
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− | :Lawrence calls "the dark side of love". In so far as we love, in |
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− | :the sense of being attached to a thing, we hate. In so far as we |
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− | :Love, whether it be with pain or joy, the Way is walked in by us, |
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− | :we are the Way. Ryoto, a pupil of Basho, says: |
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− | |||
+ | :Illusion produces rest and motion; |
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− | :''Yield to the willow |
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+ | :Illumination destroys liking and disliking. |
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− | :''All the loathing, |
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− | : |
+ | :All these pairs of opposites |
+ | :Are created by our own folly. |
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+ | :Dreams, delusions, flowers of air, -- |
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− | :Another didactic verse is the following: |
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+ | :Why are we so anxious to have them in our grasp? |
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+ | :Profit and loss, right and wrong, -- |
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+ | :Away with them once for all! |
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− | : |
+ | :If the eye does not sleep, |
+ | :All dreaming ceases naturally. |
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− | :''There is nothing, |
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+ | :If the mind makes no discriminations, |
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− | :''There is everything. |
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+ | :All things are as they are. |
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− | :~ Sodo ~ (1641-1716) |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''A HAIR'S BREADTH OF DEVIATION FROM IT, |
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− | :'''''AND A DEEP GULF IS SET BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH. |
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+ | :In the deep mystery of this "Things as they are", |
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− | :A miss is as good as a mile. The slightest thought of self, that |
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+ | :We are released from our relations to them. |
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− | :is, by self, and the Great Way is irretrievably lost. A drop of |
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+ | :When all things are seen "with equal mind", |
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− | :ink, and a glass of clear water is all clouded. Once we think, |
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+ | :They return to their nature. |
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− | :"This flower is blooming for me; this insect is a hateful |
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− | :nuisance and nothing else; that man is a useful rascal; that |
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− | :woman is a good mother, and she must therefore be a good wife", |
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− | :-- when such thoughts arise in our minds, all the cohesion |
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− | :between things disappear; they rattle about in a meaningless and |
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− | :irritating way. Instead of being united into a whole by virtue of |
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− | :their own interpenetrated suchness, they are pulled hither and |
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− | :thither by our arbitrary and ever-changing preferences, out whims |
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− | :and prejudices. We suppose this particular man to be a Buddha, |
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− | :ourselves to be ordinary people, this action to be charming, that |
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− | :to be odious, and fail to see how "All things work for good" |
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− | :(Romans VIII, 28). In actual fact, Heaven and Earth cannot be |
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− | :separated; one cannot exist without the other. |
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− | :Together they are the Great Way. |
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− | :The two points to bear in mind are first the nearness of the Way |
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− | :and second, its corollary, the fact that we and the Way are not |
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− | :two things. It seems so far that we can never attain to it: |
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+ | :No description by analogy is possible |
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+ | :Of this state where all relations have ceased. |
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+ | :When we stop movement, there is no-movement |
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+ | :When we stop resting, there is no-rest. |
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+ | :When both cease to be, |
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+ | :How can the Unity subsist? |
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− | :''Far, far from here |
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− | :''Is the Heavenly Land, |
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− | :''A million million miles away; |
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− | :''We can hardly get there |
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− | :''On just one pair of straw sandals. |
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+ | :Things are ultimately, in their finality, |
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+ | :Subject to no law. |
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+ | :For the accordant mind in its unity, |
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+ | :(Individual) activity ceases. |
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+ | :All doubts are cleared up, |
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+ | :True faith is confirmed. |
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− | :But as Ikkyu punningly says: |
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+ | :Nothing remains behind; |
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+ | :There is not anything we must remember. |
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+ | :Empty, lucid, self-illuminated, |
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+ | :With no over-exertion of the power of the mind. |
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+ | :This is where thought is useless, |
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+ | :This is what knowledge cannot fathom. |
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− | :''Paradise is in the West; |
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− | :''It is in the East also. |
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− | :''Look for it in the North |
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− | :''That you came through, |
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− | :''It is all in yourself (the South). |
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+ | :In the World of Reality, |
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+ | :There is no self, no other-than-self. |
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+ | :Should you desire immediate correspondence (with this Reality) |
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+ | :All that can be said is "No Duality!" |
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− | :[There is a pun on the Japanese words |
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− | : *minami*, south, and *mina mi*, all oneself.] |
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+ | :When there is no duality, all things are one, |
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− | :The moment you place your happiness in the fulfillment of any want |
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+ | :There is nothing that is not included. |
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− | :or wish, that is, outside yourself, outside the Way, in anything |
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+ | :The Enlightened of all times and places |
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− | :but the thing as it is, as it is becoming, at that moment your |
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+ | :Have entered into this Truth. |
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− | :balance is lost and you fall straight from Heaven to Hell. |
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− | :Things are one; things are many. The intellect cannot grasp these |
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− | :two simultaneously, but experience can, if it will. If we fall, |
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− | :only by a hair's breadth, into the error of supposing that we are |
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− | :different, weariness and envy and triumph and shame and fear |
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− | :succeed one another in an endless train. We must be in the |
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− | :condition that Paul describes: |
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+ | :Truth cannot be increased or decreased; |
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+ | :An (instantaneous) thought lasts a myriad years. |
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+ | :There is no here, no there; |
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+ | :Infinity is before our eyes. |
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− | :''Who is weak and I am not weak? |
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− | :''Who is offended and I burn not? (Corinthians, XI, 29) |
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+ | :The infinitely small is as large as infinitely great; |
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+ | :For limits are non-existent things. |
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+ | :The infinitely large is as small as the infinitely minute; |
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+ | :No eye can see their boundaries. |
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− | :If this state could only be attained, we can say of man with |
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− | :Matthew Arnold in "A Summer Night": |
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+ | :What is, is not, |
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+ | :What is not, is. |
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+ | :Until you have grasped this fact, |
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+ | :Your position is simply untenable. |
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− | :''How boundless might his soul's horizons be, |
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− | :''How vast, yet of what clear transparency. |
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+ | :One thing is all things; |
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− | |||
+ | :All things are one thing. |
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+ | :If this is so for you, |
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+ | :There is no need to worry about perfect knowledge. |
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− | :'''''IF YOU WANT TO GET HOLD OF WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, |
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− | :'''''DO NOT BE ANTI OR PRO ANYTHING. |
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+ | :The believing mind is not dual; |
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− | :Since the Great Way is one, it is impossible for us to be for |
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+ | :What is dual is not the believing mind. |
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− | :this, and aiding that which needs no aid. There is a certain |
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+ | :Beyond all language, |
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− | :current, a Flow of the universe. We may swim with it or against |
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+ | :For it there is no past, no present, no future. |
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− | :it, float in the middle of the stream or stagnate in a |
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+ | </i></font> |
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− | :back-water, but nothing we can do will accelerate or retard that |
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− | :Flow. Yet his Flow is not something separate from ourselves; it |
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− | :is our own flowing; we are not corks bobbing up and down on a |
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− | :stream of inevitability. It is not as Fitzgerald says: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''The Ball no question makes of Ayes or Noes, |
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− | :''But Here or There as strikes the Player goes. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :Or rather, it would be better to say that this is true, and that |
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− | :Henley's words are equally true, not in alternation but |
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− | :synchronously: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''I am the master of my fate; |
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− | :''I am the captain of my soul. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :This submergence and assertion of self, this living fully without |
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− | :taking sides which Sengtsan urges upon us, is the poetical life. |
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− | :The unpoetical life is of two kinds. First, by aversion, we live |
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− | :in a limited world, a half-world. Second, by infatuation, we |
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− | :exaggerate, sentimentalize, weary by repetition. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''THE CONFLICT OF LONGING AND LOATHING,<br> |
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− | :'''''THIS IS JUST THE DISEASE OF THE MIND. |
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− | |||
− | :Something arises which pleases the mind, which fits in with our |
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− | :notions of what is profitable for us, -- and we love it. |
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− | :Something arises which thwarts us, which conflicts with our |
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− | :wants, and we hate it. So long as we possess this individual |
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− | :mind, enlightenment and delusion, pain and pleasure, accepting |
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− | :and rejecting, good and bad toss us up and down on the waves of |
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− | :existence, never moving onwards, always the same restlessness and |
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− | :wabbling, the same fear of woe and insecurity of joy. So |
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− | :Wordsworth say, in the "Ode to Duty": |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''My hopes must no more change their name. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :In addition, the mirror of our mind being distorted, nothing |
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− | :appears in its natural, its original form. The louse appears a |
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− | :dirty, loathsome thing, the lion a noble creature. But when we |
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− | :see the louse as it really is, it is not merely neutral thing; it |
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− | :is something to be accepted as inevitable in our mortal life, as |
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− | :in Basho's verse: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''Fleas, lice, |
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− | :''The horse pissing |
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− | :''By my pillow. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :It may be seen as something charming and meaningful as in Issa's haiku: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''Giving the breast, |
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− | :''While counting |
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− | :''The flea-bites. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :There is nothing intrinsically more beautiful or poetical about |
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− | :the moon than about a dunghill; if anything, the contrary, for |
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− | :the latter is full of life and warmth and energy. |
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− | |||
− | :The "Vaipulya-mahavyuha Sutra" says: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''The lotus arises form the mud, but is not dyed therewith. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :This is expressed less ambitiously in the following waka: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''Just get rid of |
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− | :''The mind that thinks |
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− | :''"This is good, that is bad", |
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− | :''And without any special effort, |
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− | :''Wherever we live is good to live in. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :Quite devoid of sententiousness or literary ambition, with no |
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− | :longing or loathing, Basho's verse on the mountain violets: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''Coming along the path, |
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− | :''There is something touching |
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− | :''About these violets. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''NOT KNOWING THE PROFOUND MEANING OF THINGS, |
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− | :'''''WE DISTURB OUR (ORIGINAL) PEACE OF MIND TO NO PURPOSE. |
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− | |||
− | :When we are in the Way, when we act without live or hate, hope or |
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− | :despair of indifference, the meaning of things if self-evident, |
||
− | :not merely impossible but unnecessary to express. Conversely, |
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− | :while we are looking for the significance of things, it is |
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− | :non-existent. Our original nature is one of perfect harmony with |
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− | :the universe, a harmony not of similarity or correspondence nut of |
||
− | :identity. The "Tsaikentan" ("Seikontan") [By Hung Yingming. fl. |
||
− | :1600 A.D. A compound of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.] |
||
− | :says: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''The mind that is free form itself, -- why should it look within? |
||
− | :''This introspection taught by Buddha only increases the |
||
− | :''obstruction. Things are originally one; why then should we |
||
− | :''endeavour to unite them? Chuangtse preached the identity of |
||
− | :''contraries, thus dividing up that unity. |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''PERFECT LIKE GREAT SPACE,<br> |
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− | :'''''THE WAY HAS NOTHING LACKING, NOTHING IN EXCESS. |
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− | |||
− | :Without beginning, without end, without increase or decrease, the |
||
− | :Great Way is perfect, like a circle, with nothing too small in |
||
− | :the smallest thing, nothing too large in the largest. And this |
||
− | :perfection in the dew-drop and in the solar system we are |
||
− | :enabled to see, we are driven to see, by the perfection in |
||
− | :ourselves. Beyond all this confusion and asymmetry there is a |
||
− | :deep harmony and proportion without us and within us that |
||
− | :satisfies us when we submit to it, when we take it as it is, but |
||
− | :can never be perceived or conceived intellectually. This supreme |
||
− | :Form of Things is called "Formlessness" in the "Hannyashingyo": |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''All things are formless, without growth or decay, without purity |
||
− | :''or sin, without increase or decrease. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :In poetry the three are expressed as follows: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''Age cannot wither her not custom stale |
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− | :''Her infinite variety. |
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− | :("Anthony and Cleopatra", II, 2) |
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− | |||
− | :''The young girl |
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− | :''Blew her nose |
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− | :''In the evening glory. |
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− | :~ Issa ~ |
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− | |||
− | :''The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; |
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− | :''the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall. |
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− | :(Bacon, "Of Goodness") |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :In poetry as in life, too much soon wearies. This is why we turn |
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− | :to Virgil, to Chaucer, to Basho. The circle expresses this |
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− | :moderation however large or small it may be. In the Oxherding |
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− | :pictures used in Zen, it portrays serenity. The circular mirror |
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− | :is used in Shinto. Emerson has an essay on Circles. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''TRULY, BECAUSE OF OUR ACCEPTING AND REJECTING,<br> |
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− | :'''''WE HAVE NOT THE SUCHNESS OF THINGS. |
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− | |||
− | :Our state of mind is not to be fatalistic, saying of bad things, |
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− | :"It can't be helped", and of good things, "What difference does |
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− | :it make?" It must be to want what the universe wants, in the way |
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− | :it wants it, in that place, at that time. This wanting *is* the |
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− | :Way, this wanting *is* the suchness of things; there is no Way, |
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− | :no suchness apart from it. |
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− | |||
− | :The suchness of things is what the poet is looking for, listening |
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− | :to, smelling, and tasting. And in so far as he and we listen and |
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− | :touch and see, the suchness has an existence, a meaning, a value. |
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− | :Unless we taste the world, it is tasteless; it is void of |
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− | :suchness. But this tasting is not to be a choosing, tasting some |
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− | :and not tasting others. Hung Yingming, following Chuangtse, and |
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− | :using almost the same words as Sengtsan, says: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''All the things in heaven and earth, all human emotions, |
||
− | :''all the things that happen in the world, when looked at |
||
− | :''by the unenlightened eye, are seen as multifarious and |
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− | :''disparate. When viewed by the Eye of the Way, all this |
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− | :''variety is uniformity; why should we distinguish them, |
||
− | :''why accept these and reject those? |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''NEITHER FOLLOW AFTER, NOR DWELL WITH<br> |
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− | :'''''THE DOCTRINE OF THE VOID. |
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− | |||
− | :We are not to be beguiled by the senses, by the apparent |
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− | :differences of things. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''Rain, hail and snow, |
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− | :''Ice too, are set apart, |
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− | :''But when they fall, -- |
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− | :''The same water |
||
− | :''Of the valley stream. |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :On the other hand, we are not to fall into the opposite error of |
||
− | :taking all things as unreal and meaningless. This is the basis of |
||
− | :much of the poetical thinking of Swinburne, of Shelley and Byron. |
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− | :It tinges the poetry of Matthew Arnold, Clough, Christina |
||
− | :Rossetti. It is the basis of all passive, quietistic thought. |
||
− | :Both these extreme views are wrong; Yungchia describes the |
||
− | :position in the following way: |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :''Getting rid of things and clinging to emptiness |
||
− | :''Is an illness of the same kind; |
||
− | :''It is just like throwing oneself into a fire |
||
− | :''To avoid being drowned. |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''IF THE MIND IS AT PEACE, |
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− | :'''''THESE WRONG VIEWS DISAPPEAR OF THEMSELVES. |
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− | |||
− | :Dogen has a waka: |
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− | |||
− | :''Ever the same, |
||
− | :''Unchanged of hue, |
||
− | :''Cherry blossoms |
||
− | :''Of my native place: |
||
− | :''Spring now has gone. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :Here the eternal and temporal, the unchanged and changing are |
||
− | :one, because the flowers are allowed to be the same colour as |
||
− | :always; they are allowed to fall as always. The flowers are not |
||
− | :separated, in their blooming and in their falling, from the poet |
||
− | :himself, nut neither is it a dream world, an eternal world where |
||
− | :all is vanity. It is a world of form and colour, of change and |
||
− | :decay, yet it is beyond time and place, a world of truth. A verse |
||
− | :by Gyosei Shonin, |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''All the various |
||
− | :''Flowers of spring, |
||
− | :''Tinted leaves of autumn, |
||
− | :''Tokens in this world |
||
− | :''Untainted with falsity. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :The ordinary world and the world of reality are here one; life |
||
− | :and death are Nirvana. The great mistake of life and of poetry |
||
− | :is the desire to get away from things, instead of getting into |
||
− | :them, escaping form this world into the dream world. Yet even |
||
− | :this world of day-dreams, of escapist poetry, Wagnerian music |
||
− | :and pictures of Paradise, is also a way of life, is also, when we |
||
− | :realize it, the Great Way. Thus it is again that enlightenment is |
||
− | :ignorance, salvation is damnation, Heaven and Hell are one self |
||
− | :place. |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''WHEN ACTIVITY IS STOPPED AND THERE IS PASSIVITY,<br> |
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− | :'''''THIS PASSIVITY AGAIN IS A STATE OF ACTIVITY. |
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− | |||
− | :The modern theories of repression may be taken as an example of |
||
− | :the meaning of this verse. When we thwart nature, suppress our |
||
− | :instincts, control our desires, the energy thus restricted and |
||
− | :yet augmented is still active, and may at any time burst forth |
||
− | :with volcanic force in some unsuspected direction. |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret. |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :In the poetic life precisely the same thing happens. Only the |
||
− | :charming, picturesque aspects of nature, only innocuous creatures |
||
− | :are described. |
||
− | |||
− | :But this is only one half of life or less; this is not the Way at |
||
− | :all. But all day and every day, Nature is giving us all kinds of |
||
− | :experiences, ghastly as well as pleasant. Germs of disease are |
||
− | :attacking us, wives are unfaithful, children ungrateful, the |
||
− | :cesspool awaits us, cats catch mice, and men kill one another. In |
||
− | :tragic drama, a great deal of this is expressed, but in general |
||
− | :poetry, vast tracts are omitted. A glance at the list of subjects |
||
− | :for Haiku [See the author's ''"Haiku"'', four vols.] shows us how |
||
− | :limited they are. Here and there a snake shows its head, a |
||
− | :dustbin or a corpse appear, but these are rare until we come to |
||
− | :modern times. |
||
− | |||
− | :But whatever the subject may be, there must be what Wordsworth |
||
− | :calls ''"a wise passiveness"'', that is, an active rest, such as we |
||
− | :find described in the following haiku: |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''I came to the flowers; |
||
− | :''I slept beneath them; |
||
− | :''This is my leisure. |
||
− | : ~ Buson ~ |
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− | |||
− | |||
− | :In regard to everything, the double, compensatory use of things |
||
− | :must never be lost sight of. In summer, we like airy, spacious |
||
− | :rooms. but the ceiling is low and the walls press in on us. Let |
||
− | :us bear it gladly: |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''My hut has a low ceiling: |
||
− | :''What happiness, |
||
− | :''In this winter seclusion! |
||
− | : ~ Buson ~ |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''"Every ceiling is a good ceiling"'', not merely sometimes, but |
||
− | :always, for this means that it is good by the mere fact of being |
||
− | :what it is. And what is it? It is a no-ceiling, it is nothing, it |
||
− | :is everything, it is what we make it, -- and yet it is a ceiling, |
||
− | :and a low ceiling at that, in all the four seasons, hot in summer, |
||
− | :snug in winter. |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''REMAINING IN MOVEMENT OF QUIESCENCE, |
||
− | :'''''HOW SHALL YOU KNOW THE ONE? |
||
− | |||
− | :Not only movement and quiescence but enlightenment and illusion, |
||
− | :life and death and Nirvana, salvation and damnation, profit and |
||
− | :loss, this and that, -- all these are our lot and portion from |
||
− | :moment to moment, if we do not realize that the Great Way is one |
||
− | :and indivisible however we delude ourselves that we have divided it. |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''NOT THOROUGHLY UNDERSTANDING THE UNITY OF THE WAY,<br> |
||
− | :'''''BOTH (ACTIVITY AND QUIESCENCE) ARE FAILURES. |
||
− | |||
− | :In other words, mere activity, activity without quiescence, mere |
||
− | :quiescence without its inner activity, are no good, neither has |
||
− | :its proper quality and function. Freedom is impossible without |
||
− | :law, man is nothing without God, illusion non-existent except for |
||
− | :enlightenment, this is this because that is that. ut freedom and |
||
− | :law, illusion and enlightenment, this and that are two names of |
||
− | :one thing. Unless this is realized (in practical life) none of |
||
− | :these is its real self. This is not this until and unless it is |
||
− | :that; only when the two are one are they really two. |
||
− | |||
− | :In practical life, this means that the composure we feel at home |
||
− | :among our family, is only an illusion that is broken when we go |
||
− | :out into the world and meet with vexation and disappointment, |
||
− | :becoming irritated and depressed. Our activity when playing chess |
||
− | :is not the true activity, as we see when we are beaten and our |
||
− | :opponent's face and voice become hateful to us. It lacks the |
||
− | :balance that preserves the mind from spite though we properly |
||
− | :enough feel gloomy at losing. |
||
− | |||
− | :In the poetical life it is equally important that we realize, |
||
− | :through each all of the senses, that true diversity is the unity. |
||
− | :Even in the scientific world, the nature, for example, of a |
||
− | :many-legged caterpillar is only understood when we know it is a |
||
− | :six-legged insect. The nature of feathers, skin, nails, scales, |
||
− | :and so on is perceives when we find that they are all one thing. |
||
− | :The poet delights is all the many names of things, because he |
||
− | :knows in his heart that as Laotse said, |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''The name that can be named is not an eternal name. |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''All the various |
||
− | :''Difficult names, -- |
||
− | :''Weeds of Spring. |
||
− | : ~ Shado |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :More specifically referring to the present verse of Sengtsan, we |
||
− | :may note that the poet has to regulate his creative and receptive |
||
− | :functions, that is, to unify them, otherwise the true fruit of |
||
− | :each will be list. On the one hand we get the effusions of |
||
− | :Swinburne, of Keats and Shelley, with their kaleidoscope of |
||
− | :words; on the other, the didactic and descriptive verses that |
||
− | :have nothing of the author in them, only the outside and shell of |
||
− | :things. A great many haiku suffer from the absence of the life of |
||
− | :the poet himself, whose abnegation is excessive, for example: |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :''The thatcher |
||
− | :''Is treading the fallen leaves |
||
− | :''Over the bed-room. |
||
− | : ~ Buson ~ |
||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | :'''''IF YOU GET RID OF PHENOMENA, ALL THINGS ARE LOST; |
||
− | :'''''IF YOU FOLLOW AFTER THE VOID, YOU TURN YOUR BACK |
||
− | :'''''ON THE SELF-LESSNESS OF THINGS. |
||
− | |||
− | :In this translation, the first is taken as things as they |
||
− | :appear to us, the second as Real Things; the first as |
||
− | :Emptiness, unreality, the second as the Real Self-less Nature |
||
− | :of things. If we suppose that all things are illusion, that |
||
− | :everything is meaningless in the ordinary sense of the word, we |
||
− | :are misunderstanding the doctrine that all is mind, and losing |
||
− | :our grasp on the reality outside us. The difficulty is to hold |
||
− | :firmly in the mind the two contradictory elements. |
||
− | |||
− | :In the early morning we work out into the garden and see a spider |
||
− | :finishing its web. With skill and assiduity all is completed, and |
||
− | :it sits in the centre, a thing of beauty with its duns and deep |
||
− | :blue of arabesque designs. A butterfly flits by, drops too low |
||
− | :and is immediately struggling in the mesh. The spider, though not |
||
− | :hungry, approaches, seizes it in his jaws and poisons it. He |
||
− | :returns to the centre of the web, leaving a mangled creature for |
||
− | :a future meal. A nation conquers the then known world and |
||
− | :organizes it with intelligence and ability; a great man appears, |
||
− | :is caught and nailed to a cross, a spectacle for all ages and |
||
− | :generations. These two examples are identical, despite the |
||
− | :addition of intelligence, morality, and religion to the second. |
||
− | :Both are to be seen exactly in the same way though with differing |
||
− | :degrees of intensity. Whether your children are killed by God |
||
− | :(allias an earthquake) or by God (allias a robber) or by God |
||
− | :(allias old age) the killing is to be received in the same way. |
||
− | :One's attitude to the earthquake and to the robber as such is |
||
− | :different, since these two things are intrinsically different. |
||
− | |||
− | :In the poetical attitude we must have the same lack of censure. |
||
− | :Our response to things must be similar to that of Maupassant, |
||
− | :Somerset Maugham, D.H.Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, in so far as they |
||
− | :have no hatred for the villains or love of the heroes. |
||
− | |||
− | ::::::[[HsinHsinMing2|Page 2]] |
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Stories | Ma Nature | Shamanism | The Papalagi |
- HsinHsinMing
- HsinHsinMing
- There is nothing difficult about the Great Way,
- But, avoid choosing!
- Only when you neither love nor hate,
- Does it appear in all clarity.
- A hair's breadth of deviation from it,
- And deep gulf is set between heaven and earth.
- If you want to get hold of what it looks like,
- Do not be anti- or pro- anything.
- The conflict of longing and loathing, --
- This is the disease of the mind.
- Not knowing the profound meaning of things,
- We disturb our peace of mind to no purpose.
- Perfect like a Great Space,
- The Way has nothing lacking, nothing in excess.
- Truly, because of our accepting and rejecting,
- We have not the suchness of things.
- Neither follow after,
- Nor dwell with the Doctrine of the Void.
- If the mind is at peace,
- Those wrong views disappear of themselves.
- When activity is stopped and passivity obtains,
- This passivity is again the state of activity.
- Remaining in movement or quiescence, --
- How shall we know the One?
- Not thoroughly understanding the unity of the Way,
- Both (activity and quiescence) are failures.
- If you get rid of phenomena, all things are lost.
- If you follow after the Void,
- you turn your back on the selflessness of things.
- The more talking and thinking,
- The farther from truth.
- Cutting off all speech, all thought,
- There is nowhere that you cannot go.
- Returning to the root, we get the essence;
- Following after appearances, we loose the spirit.
- If for only a moment we see within,
- We have surpassed the emptiness of things.
- Changes that go on in this emptiness
- All arise because of our ignorance.
- Do not seek for the Truth;
- Religiously avoid following it.
- If there is the slightest trace of this and that,
- The Mind is lost in a maze of complexity.
- Duality arises from Unity, --
- But do not be attached to this Unity.
- When the mind is one, and nothing happens,
- Everything in the world is unblameable.
- If things are unblamed, they cease to exist;
- If nothing happens there is no mind.
- When things cease to exist, the mind follows them;
- When the mind vanishes, things also follow it.
- Things are things because of the Mind;
- The Mind is the Mind because of things.
- If you wish to know what these two are,
- They are originally one Emptiness.
- In this Void both (Mind and things) are one,
- All the myriad phenomena contained in both.
- If you do not distinguish refined and coarse,
- How can you be for this or against that?
- The activity of the Great Way is vast;
- It is neither easy nor difficult.
- Small views are full of foxy fears;
- The faster, the slower.
- When we attach ourselves (to the idea of enlightenment) we lose our balance;
- We infallibly enter the Crooked Way.
- When we are not attached to anything, all things are as they are;
- With Activity there is no going or staying.
- Obeying our nature, we are in accord with the Way,
- Wandering freely, without annoyance.
- When our thinking is tied, it turns out from the truth;
- It is dark, submerged, wrong.
- It is foolish to irritate your mind;
- Why shun this and be friend of that?
- If you wish to travel in the True Vehicle,
- Do not dislike the Six Dusts.
- Indeed, not hating the Six Dusts
- Is identical with Real Enlightenment.
- The wise man does nothing;
- The fool shackles himself.
- The Truth has no distinctions;
- These come from our foolish clinging to this and that
- Seeking the Mind with the mind, --
- Is not this the greatest of all mistakes?
- Illusion produces rest and motion;
- Illumination destroys liking and disliking.
- All these pairs of opposites
- Are created by our own folly.
- Dreams, delusions, flowers of air, --
- Why are we so anxious to have them in our grasp?
- Profit and loss, right and wrong, --
- Away with them once for all!
- If the eye does not sleep,
- All dreaming ceases naturally.
- If the mind makes no discriminations,
- All things are as they are.
- In the deep mystery of this "Things as they are",
- We are released from our relations to them.
- When all things are seen "with equal mind",
- They return to their nature.
- No description by analogy is possible
- Of this state where all relations have ceased.
- When we stop movement, there is no-movement
- When we stop resting, there is no-rest.
- When both cease to be,
- How can the Unity subsist?
- Things are ultimately, in their finality,
- Subject to no law.
- For the accordant mind in its unity,
- (Individual) activity ceases.
- All doubts are cleared up,
- True faith is confirmed.
- Nothing remains behind;
- There is not anything we must remember.
- Empty, lucid, self-illuminated,
- With no over-exertion of the power of the mind.
- This is where thought is useless,
- This is what knowledge cannot fathom.
- In the World of Reality,
- There is no self, no other-than-self.
- Should you desire immediate correspondence (with this Reality)
- All that can be said is "No Duality!"
- When there is no duality, all things are one,
- There is nothing that is not included.
- The Enlightened of all times and places
- Have entered into this Truth.
- Truth cannot be increased or decreased;
- An (instantaneous) thought lasts a myriad years.
- There is no here, no there;
- Infinity is before our eyes.
- The infinitely small is as large as infinitely great;
- For limits are non-existent things.
- The infinitely large is as small as the infinitely minute;
- No eye can see their boundaries.
- What is, is not,
- What is not, is.
- Until you have grasped this fact,
- Your position is simply untenable.
- One thing is all things;
- All things are one thing.
- If this is so for you,
- There is no need to worry about perfect knowledge.
- The believing mind is not dual;
- What is dual is not the believing mind.
- Beyond all language,
- For it there is no past, no present, no future.