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 and 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.