The Great Way (Beginner's Mind Poem) - Hsin Hsin Ming- Faith Mind Poem from the Zen tradition

The Great Way is not difficult

for those who have no preferences.

When Love and Hate are both absent,

everything becomes clear and undisguised.

Make the smallest distinction however

and heaven and Earth
are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth

then hold no
opinions for or against anything.

To set what you like against
what you dislike

is the disease of the Mind.

When the deep meaning of things

is not understood

the mind's essential peace is disturbed

to no avail.

The Way is perfect,

like vast space,

where nothing is lacking
and nothing is in excess.

Indeed, it is due to our choosing,

to accept or reject, that we do not
see the true nature of things.

Live neither in the entanglements
of outer things,

nor in inner feelings of emptiness.

Be serene in the Oneness of things

and such erroneous views
will disappear by themselves.

When you try to stop activity
to achieve passivity

your very effort fills you with activity.

As long as you remain in
one extreme or the other

you will never know Oneness.

Those who do not live in the single way

fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.

To deny the reality of things
Is to miss their reality.

To assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.

The more you talk

and think about it, the further astray

you wander from the truth.

Stop talking and thinking

and there is nothing
you will not be able to know.

To return to the root

is to find the meaning,

but to pursue appearances
is to miss the source.

At the moment of inner enlightenment

there is a going beyond
appearance and emptiness.

The changes that appear to occur

in the empty world we call real

only because of our ignorance.

Do not search for the truth.

Only cease to cherish opinions.

Do not remain in the dualistic state.

Avoid such pursuits carefully.

If there is even a trace of this and that,

of right and wrong,

the Mind Essence
will be lost in confusion.

Although all dualities come from the One,

do not be attached even to this One.

When the Mind exists
undisturbed in the Way

nothing in the world can offend,

and when a thing can no longer offend

it ceases to exist in the old way.

When no discriminating thoughts arise

the old mind ceases to exist.

When thought objects vanish

the thinking subject vanishes.

As when the Mind vanishes, objects vanish.

Things are objects because of the subject.

The mind is such because of things.

Understand the relativity of these two

and the basic reality;

the unity of emptiness.

In this emptiness

the two are indistinguishable

and each contains in itself
the whole world.

If you do not discriminate between course
and fine

you will not be tempted to prejudice

and opinion.

To live in the Great Way

is neither easy nor difficult,

but those with limited views

are fearful and irresolute.

The faster they hurry

the slower they go

and clinging cannot be limited.

Even to be attached to the
idea of Enlightenment

is to go astray.

Just let things be in their own way

and there will be neither
coming nor going.

Obey the nature of things

and you will walk freely and undisturbed.

When thought is in bondage

the truth is hidden,
for everything is

murky and unclear,

and the burdensome practice of judging

brings annoyance and weariness.

What benefit can be derived

from distinctions and separations?

If you wish to move in the One Way

do not dislike even the
world of senses and ideas.

Indeed to accept them fully

is identical with true enlightenment.

The wise person strives toward no goals

but the foolish person fetters themselves.

There is one Dharma not many.

Distinctions arise from the
clinging

needs of the ignorant.

To seek mind with the discriminating mind

is the greatest of all mistakes.

Rest and unrest derive from illusion.

With Enlightenment

there is no liking and disliking.

All dualities come from
ignorant inference.

They are like dreams
or flowers in air;

foolish
to try to grasp them.

Gain and loss,

right and wrong;

such thoughts must finally
be abolished at once.

If the eye never sleeps

all dreams will naturally cease.

If the Mind makes no discriminations

the ten thousand things are as they are;

of single essence.

To understand the mystery

of this One Essence is to be released

from all entanglements.

When all things are seen equally

the timeless self essence is reached.

No comparisons or analogies
are possible in this

causeless, relationless state.

Consider movement

stationary and the stationary in motion

and both movement and rest disappear.

When such dualities cease to exist,

Oneness itself cannot exist.

To this ultimate finality

no law or description applies.

For the unified mind,
in accord with the Way,

all self-centered striving ceases.

Doubts and irresolutions vanish

and life in true
faith is possible.

With a single stroke we
are freed from bondage.

Nothing clings to us
and we hold to nothing.

All is empty,

clear, self-illuminating, with
no exertion of the mind's power.

Here thought, feeling, knowledge
and imagination are of no of no value.

In this world of suchness

there is neither self
nor other than self.

To come directly into harmony
with this reality

just simply say when doubt arises:
"not two".

In this "not two" nothing is separate,

nothing is excluded.

No matter when or where

Enlightenment means entering this truth.

And this truth is beyond extension
or diminution in time or space.

In it a single thought
is ten thousand years.

Emptiness here,

emptiness there.

But the infinite universe stands
always before your eyes.

Infinitely large and infinitely small-

no difference.

For definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.

So too with being and non-being.

Don't waste time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.

One thing, all things,

move among and intermingle

without distinction.

To live in this realization is to be
without anxiety about non-perfection.

To live in this faith is the
road to non-duality

because the non-dual is one
with the trusting mind.

Words!

The way is beyond language,

for in it there is no yesterday,

no tomorrow,

no today.