Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
南 無 本 師 釋 迦 牟 尼 佛
Sutra Opening Gatha
開 經 偈
The Dharma, infinitely profound and subtle,
Is rarely encountered even in a million kalpas.
Now we are able to hear, study, and follow it,
May we fully realize the Tathagata’s true meaning.
無上甚深微妙法 百千萬劫難遭遇
我今見聞得受持 願解如來真實義
Trust In Mind
The Supreme Way is difficult
Only for those who pick and choose.
Simply let go of love and hate;
The Way will fully reveal itself.
The Slightest distinction
Results in a difference as great as heaven and earth.
For the Way to manifest,
Hold not to likes and dislikes.
The contention of likes and dislikes
Is a disease of the mind.
Without realizing the Profound Principle,
It is futile to practice stillness.
Intrinsically perfect like the Great Void,
Without lack, without excess;
In choosing to grasp or reject,
One is blind to Suchness.
Neither pursue conditioned existence,
Nor stay in idle emptiness.
In oneness and equality,
All self-boundaries dissolve.
Trying to still action
Is an action itself.
Still trapped in duality,
How can you recognize oneness?
Failing to penetrate the meaning of oneness,
Neither side will function.
Banishing existence entwines you in existence;
Pursuing emptiness turns you away from it.1.1
The more you talk and think,
The more you go astray;
Cease all speech and thought,
Then everywhere you are with the Way.
To attain the principle, return to the source;
Pursuing reflections, the essence is lost.
Inner illumination, in a moment,
Surpasses idle emptiness.
The appearance of this idle emptiness
Results entirely from deluded views.
No need to search for truth,
Just put to rest all views.
Abide not in dualistic views;
Take heed not to pursue them.
As soon as right and wrong arise,
The mind is bewildered and lost.
Two comes from one,
Hold on not even to one.
When not even one thought arises,
All dharmas are flawless.
Free of flaws, free of dharmas,
No arising, no thought.
The subject disappears with its object,
The object vanishes without its subject.
Objects are objects because of subjects,
Subjects are subjects because of objects.
Know that these two
Are essentially of one emptiness.
The one emptiness unites opposites,
Equally pervading all phenomena. 2.1
Not differentiating what is fine or coarse,
How can there be any preferences?
The Great Way is all embracing,
Neither easy nor difficult.
The narrow minded doubt this;
In haste, they fall behind.
With clinging one loses judgment
And will surely go astray.
Let everything follow its own nature;
The Essence neither goes nor stays.
To follow your true nature is to unite with the Way,
Be at ease and worries will cease.
Fixation of thought is unnatural,
Yet laziness of mind is undesirable.
Not wanting to wear down the spirit,
Why do you hold dear or alienate?
To enter the One Vehicle,
Be not prejudice against the six dusts.
To have no prejudice toward the six dusts
Is to come into true enlightenment.
The wise abide in wu-wei,
The fools entangle themselves.
Dharmas do not differ,
Yet the deluded desire and cling.
To seek the mind with the mind–
Is this not a great error?
In delusion chaos and stillness arise,
In enlightenment there is no desire and aversion.
The duality of all things
Comes from false discrimination. 3.1
Dreams, illusions, like flowers in the sky—
How can they be worth grasping?
Gain and loss, right and wrong–
Abandon these at once.
If your eyes are open
Dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no distinctions,
All dharmas are of One Suchness.
In the profound essence of this Suchness,
One abandons all conditioning.
Beholding the myriad dharmas in their entirety
Things return to their natural state.
As all grounds for distinction vanish,
Nothing can be compared or described.
When what is still moves, there is no motion;
When what is moving stops, there is no stillness.
Since two cannot be established,
How can there be one?
Reaching the ultimate,
Rules and measures are nonexistent.
Achieving a mind of impartiality,
All striving comes to an end;
Doubts are completely cleared,
In right faith the mind is set straight.
Nothing to linger upon,
Nothing to remember.
Clear, empty, and self-illuminating,
The mind exerts no effort. 4.1
This is beyond the sphere of thought,
Which reason and feeling cannot fathom.
In the Dharma Realm of True Suchness,
There are neither self nor others.
To reach accord with it at once
Just practice non-duality.
Non-duality embodies all things,
As all things are inseparable.
The wise everywhere
All follow this teaching.
The Way transcends time and space —
One thought for ten thousand years.
Being nowhere yet everywhere,
All places are right before your eyes.
The smallest is the same as the largest,
In the realm free of delusions.
The largest is the same as the smallest;
No boundaries or marks can be seen.
Existence is precisely nonexistence,
Nonexistence is precisely existence.
If you cannot realize this,
Then you should change your ways.
One is everything;
Everything is one.
If you can realize this,
Why worry about not reaching perfection?
Trust in the non-duality of mind;
Non-duality results from trust in mind.
Beyond words and speech,
It is neither past, present, nor future. 5.1
至道無難,唯嫌揀擇。
但莫憎愛,洞然明白。
毫釐有差,天地懸隔。
欲得現前,莫存順逆。
違順相爭,是為心病。
不識玄旨,徒勞念靜。
圓同太虛,無欠無餘。
良由取捨,所以不如。
莫逐有緣,勿住空忍。
一種平懷,泯然自盡。
止動歸止,止更彌動。
唯滯兩邊,寧知一種。
一種不通,兩處失功。
遣有沒有,從空背空。 1.1
多言多慮,轉不相應。
絕言絕慮,無處不通。
歸根得旨,隨照失宗。
須臾返照,勝卻前空。
前空轉變,皆由妄見。
不用求真,唯須息見。
二見不住,慎勿追尋。
纔有是非,紛然失心。
二由一有,一亦莫守。
一心不生,萬法無咎。
無咎無法,不生不心。
能隨境滅,境逐能沈。
境由能境,能由境能。
欲知兩段,元是一空。
一空同兩,齊含萬像。2.1
不見精粗,寧有偏黨。
大道體寬,無易無難。
小見狐疑,轉急轉遲。
執之失度,必入邪路。
放之自然,體無去住。
任性合道,逍遙絕惱。
繫念乖真,昏沉不好。
不好勞神,何用疏親。
欲趣一乘,勿惡六塵。
六塵不惡,還同正覺。
智者無為,愚人自縛。
法無異法,妄自愛著。
將心用心,豈非大錯。
迷生寂亂,悟無好惡。
一切二邊,良由斟酌。3.1
夢幻空花,何勞把捉。
得失是非,一時放卻。
眼若不睡,諸夢自除。
心若不異,萬法一如。
一如體玄,兀爾忘緣。
萬法齊觀,歸復自然。
泯其所以,不可方比。
止動無動,動止無止。
兩既不成,一何有爾。
究竟窮極,不存軌則。
契心平等,所作俱息。
狐疑盡淨,正信調直。
一切不留,無可記憶。
虛明自照,不勞心力。
非思量處,識情難測。4.1
真如法界,無他無自。
要急相應,唯言不二。
不二皆同,無不包容。
十方智者,皆入此宗。
宗非促延,一念萬年。
無在不在,十方目前。
極小同大,妄絕境界。
極大同小,不見邊表。
有即是無,無即是有。
若不如是,必不須守。
一即一切,一切即一。
但能如是,何慮不畢。
信心不二,不二信心。
言語道斷,非去來今。5.1
Dedication of Merits
回向偈
May the merits of our deeds
Reach every part of the world;
Sentient beings large and small
All attain enlightenment.
Maha-Prajna-Paramita
願以此功德 普及於一切
我等與眾生 皆共成佛道
摩訶般若波羅蜜