On Trust in the Heart
From Zen: a way of life, by Christmas Humphreys
The perfect way knows no difficulties Except that it refuses to make preferences; Only when freed from hate and love It reveals itself fully and without disguise; A tenth of an inch’s difference, And heaven and earth are set apart. If you wish to see it before your own eyes Have no fixed thoughts either for or against it.
To set up what you like against what you dislike - That is the disease of the mind: When the deep meaning (of the Way) is not understood, Peace of mind is disturbed to no purpose.
The Way is perfect like unto vast space, It is indeed due to making choice That its Suchness is lost sight of.
Pursue not the outer entanglements, Dwell not in the inner Void; Be serene in the oneness of things, And dualism vanishes by itself.
When you strive to gain quiescence by stopping motion, The quiescence thus gained is ever in motion; As long as you tarry in dualism, How can you realize oneness?
And when oneness is not thoroughly understood, In two ways loss is sustained: The denying of reality is the asserting of it, And the asserting of emptiness is the denying of it.
Wordliness and intellection - The more with them, the farther astray we go: Away, therefore, with wordliness and intellection, and there is no place where we cannot pass freely.
When we return to the root, we gain the meaning; When we pursue external objects we lose the reason. The moment we are enlightened within, We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us.
Transformations going on in an empty world which confronts us Appear real all because of ignorance: Try not to seek after the true. Only cease to cherish opinions.
The Mind of Absolute Trust
from a literal translation by Robert F. Olson
The Great Way isn’t difficult for those who are unattached to their preferences. Let go of longing and aversion, and everything will be perfectly clear. When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction, heaven and earth are set apart. If you want to realize the truth, don’t be for or against. The struggle between good and evil is the primal disease of the mind. Not grasping the deeper meaning, you just trouble your mind’s serenity. As vast as infinite space, it is perfect and lacks nothing. But because you select and reject, you can’t perceive its true nature. Don’t get entangled in the world; don’t lose yourself in emptiness. Be at peace in the oneness of things, and all errors will disappear by themselves.
If you don’t live the Tao, you fall into assertion or denial. Asserting that the world is real, you are blind to its deeper reality; denying that the world is real, you are blind to the selflessness of all things. The more you think about these matters, the farther you are from the truth. Step aside from all thinking, and there is nowhere you can’t go. Returning to the root, you find the meaning; chasing appearances, you lose their source. At the moment of profound insight, you transcend both appearance and emptiness. Don’t keep searching for the truth; just let go of your opinions. For the mind in harmony with the Tao, all selfishness disappears. With not even a trace of self-doubt, you can trust the universe completely. All at once you are free, with nothing left to hold on to. All is empty, brilliant, perfect in its own being. In the world of things as they are, there is no self, no non-self. If you want to describe its essence, the best you can say is "Not-two."
For the mind in harmony with the Tao, all selfishness disappears. With not even a trace of self-doubt, you can trust the universe completely.
In this "Not-two" nothing is separate, and nothing in the world is excluded. The enlightened of all times and places have entered into this truth. In it there is no gain or loss; one instant is ten thousand years. There is no here, no there; infinity is right before your eyes. The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished; the vast is as small as the tiny, when you don’t have external limits. Being is an aspect of non-being; non-being is no different from being. Until you understand this truth, you won’t see anything clearly. One is all; all are one. When you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom? The mind of absolute trust is beyond all thought, all striving, is perfectly at peace; for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.