Song of Enlightenment | The Sword of Wisdom

Have you not seen the idle man of Tao who has nothing to learn and nothing to do,
Who neither discards wandering thoughts nor seeks the truth?
The real nature of ignorance is Buddha-nature;
The illusory empty body is the Dharma body. After realizing the Dharma body, there is not a thing;
Original self-nature is the innate Buddha.
The five skandhas ─ the empty comings and goings of floating clouds;
The three poisons ─ the vacant appearing and disappearing of water bubbles. When the real is experienced, there is neither person nor dharma.
In an instant the avici karma is destroyed.
If I lie to deceive sentient beings,
May my tongue be ripped out for kalpas uncountable as dust and sand. With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Ch’an,
The six paramitas and myriad means are complete within that essence.
In dreams there are clearly six paths of sentient beings;
Upon awakening the great chiliocosm is completely empty.
There is no sin or merit, no loss or gain.
Do not look for anything in this Nirvanic nature;
Originally a dusty mirror which has never been polished,
Today it must be taken apart and analyzed. Who has no thoughts? Who has no births?
If the unborn is real, there is nothing not born.
Ask the mechanical wooden puppet
When it will attain Buddhahood through practice. Put down the four elements, do not cling to anything;
In this Nirvanic nature, feel free to eat and drink.
All phenomena are impermanent; all are empty.
This is the complete enlightenment of the Tathagata. Surely this is the true vehicle.
One who disagrees is swayed by emotion.
Going directly to the root is the seal of the Buddha;
No point searching for branches or plucking leaves. The mani pearl is unknown to people;
You can find it in the Tathagata-garbha.
The functions of the six senses are both empty and not empty,
One perfect light with form yet formless. Purify the five eyes to achieve the five powers.
Only after realization can one comprehend.
To see the image in a mirror is not difficult.
How can one grasp the moon in the water?
Always acting alone, walking alone,
Together the enlightened travel the Nirvana road.
The tune is ancient, the spirit pure, the style poised,
The face drawn, the bones hardened; people take no notice. The penniless Buddhist monks say they are destitute;
Though they have nothing, they are not poor in Tao.
Poverty shows in the ragged robes they always wear.
The priceless treasures of the Tao are stored in their minds. These priceless treasures have endless functions;
There is no hesitation in helping others.
The three bodies and four wisdoms ore complete in essence;
The eight liberations and six psychic powers are the mind-ground seal. For the great ones, one breakthrough accomplishes all;
For the middling and inferior, the more they hear, the less they believe.
You only have to discard the dirty garments within;
No need to flaunt your diligence to others. When criticized by others, let them wrong you;
They will tire themselves trying to burn the sky with a torch.
When I hear abuse, it is like drinking ambrosia;
Melt it, and suddenly one enters the inconceivable. If we regard criticism as merit,
The critics will become reliable friends.
Do not hate those who slander you;
How else can you manifest the unborn power of compassion? Thoroughly understanding both basic principles and teaching,
Samadhi and wisdom are complete and clear without stagnating in emptiness.
Not only do I accomplish this now;
The essence of uncountable Buddhas is just the same. Speak without fear,
As the lion roars,
All animals hearing it cringe in fright.
Losing his composure, the fragrant elephant gallops;
With quiet joy, the heavenly dragon listens. Travelling over rivers and oceans or crossing mountain stream,
Seeking teachers, asking the way to investigate Ch’an,
Since I recognize the path of Ts’ao Ch’i,
I realize all those do not relate to birth and death. Walking is Ch’an; sitting is Ch’an;
Speaking or silent, moving or still, the essence is undisturbed.
Remain composed even if facing a sharp weapon,
Be at ease even if given poison.
My teacher only met Dipankara Buddha
After training in forbearance for many kalpas.
Continuing rounds of birth and death,
Samsara prolonged without interruption;
Since sudden enlightenment I understand the unborn,
Thus I have no concern for honor or shame. Living in a hermitage deep in the mountains,
On a lonely peak under a thick pine tree.
I would meditate contentedly in a monk’s hut,
At ease in this tranquil place. After enlightenment no need for further effort;
All dharmas of activity are varied.
Giving alms with attachment bestows merit for heavenly birth,
Like shooting an arrow into space. Once its power is expended, the arrow falls,
Bringing discontent in the next life.
How can this compare to the true door of non-action,
Through which one leaps straight into the Tathagata ground? Once you get to the root, don’t worry about the branches,
Like pure crystal containing a precious moon.
Since you have realized this all-giving pearl,
Benefit for yourself and others will never end. The moon shines on the river, the breeze stirs the pine,
What is there to do on a long pleasant night?
Buddha-nature and the precepts jewel are sealed in the mind-ground.
Fog, dew, and rosy clouds are now my garments. The dragon-subduing alms bowl and the staff that wards off tigers,
With the jangling of its two metal rings,
Are not outer forms of keeping the precepts,
But rather are holding the Tathagata’s staff and treading his path. Not seeking the true, not rejecting the false,
Realize that both are empty and formless.
There is no form, no emptiness and no non-emptiness;
This is the true mark of the Tathagata. The mirror of mind reflects without interference;
Its vastness and clarity radiate through countless worlds.
Various phenomena all manifest themselves;
To a perfectly illumined one there is neither inside nor outside. Attaching to emptiness, denying cause and effect,
Brings calamities beyond measure.
Rejecting existence and grasping emptiness is the same mistake,
Like jumping into a fire to avoid drowning. If you discard the illusory mind and grasp the true principle,
This mind of grasping and discarding becomes clever.
Not understanding this, practitioners engage in cultivation,
Just as one mistakes a thief for his own son. Loss of Dharma Wealth and the extinction of merits,
All are caused by the mind consciousness.
Through the Ch’an door, understand the cutting off of mind,
And suddenly enter the powerful view of the unborn. The great hero uses the sword of wisdom;
This prajna blade blazes like a diamond.
It not only destroys the mind of the outer paths,
But long ago frightened away the heavenly demons. Sound the Dharma thunder; beat the Dharma drum;
Spread the clouds of compassion and scatter ambrosia.
Where the elephant king treads the favors are boundless,
The three vehicles and five natures are awakened. The pinodhi grass in the snow mountains is unmixed;
I often enjoy the pure ghee it produces.
One nature perfectly pervades all natures;
One Dharma includes all dharmas.
One moon appears in all waters;
The moons reflected in all waters are one. The Dharma body of all Buddhas enters my nature;
Which is the same as the Tathagata’s.
One stage encompasses all stages,
Not form nor mind nor karmic act.
Eighty thousand doors are completed in the snap of the fingers,
In a flash three kalpas are extinguished.
What do numbers, expressions, and their negations
Have to do with my spiritual awakening? It is not perishable and cannot be praised,
Its substance is like limitless space.
Without leaving where it is, it is constantly clear.
When seeking, you know it cannot be found.
It cannot be grasped, nor can it be discarded;
It is obtained only in the unobtainable. Speaking in silence, silent in speech,
The door of giving is wide open without obstruction.
If someone asks what basic principle I interpret,
I will say it is the power of Mahaprajna. Others do not know whether I am right or wrong,
Even devas cannot fathom whether I oppose or agree.
I have practiced for many kalpas;
I am not deceiving you as some idlers are. Setting up the Dharma banner, establishing the basic principle,
Ts’ao Ch’i clearly followed the Buddha’s decree.
The first one to pass on the lamp was Mahakasyapa;
In India it was transmitted through twenty-eight generations.
The Dharma flowed east and entered this land
Where Bodhidharma was the First Patriarch.
Six generations transmitted the robe, as heard throughout the land,
And those who later attained the Tao cannot be counted. The truth does not stand, the false is originally empty.
When both existence and non-existence are swept away, not empty is empty.
The twenty empty doors teach non-attachment.
The nature of all Tathagatas is one; their substance is the same. The mind is a sense organ; dharmas are its object.
The two are like marks on a mirror.
Once the dust is rubbed off, the light begins to appear.
When both mind and dharmas are forgotten, this is true nature. Oh, in this evil world in the Dharma-ending age,
Sentient beings have little fortune and are hard to discipline.
Far away from the time of the sages, perverted views run deep.
When demons are strong and Dharma is weak, fears and dangers abound.
When they hear the teaching of sudden enlightenment of the Tathagata,
They cannot but want to destroy it, to smash the tiles.
That which acts is the mind, that which receives retribution is the body;
No need to put the blame on others.
If you want to escape continuous karma,
Do not slander the Tathagata’s wheel of right Dharma. There are no other trees in a sandalwood forest.
The lion lives in luxuriant dense thickets.
He strolls along in the quiet woods,
All other animals and birds keep their distance. A crowd of animals follows the lions,
Who can roar at the age of three.
If a wild fox challenges the Dharma King,
It is like a monster opening his mouth for a hundred years. The teaching of complete sudden enlightenment is not to be used as a favor.
All unsettled doubts must be debated until clear.
Not that I, a mountain monk, want to be presumptuous,
But cultivation may make you fall into the pit of cessation and permanence. Wrong is not wrong; right is not right;
The slightest deviation veers a thousand miles off course.
If right, the dragon maiden becomes Buddha at once;
If wrong, the monk Suraksatra falls alive into hell. Since an early age I have accumulated knowledge,
Studying the sutras, shastras, and commentaries.
Discriminating between names and forms without rest,
I only troubled myself counting the sands in the sea. I was severely reproached by the Tathagata:
What is the benefit of counting others’ treasures?
l realized the futility of my dalliance;
For many years I busied myself in the world in vain. With evil capacity and mistaken understanding,
One cannot penetrate the Tathagata’s principle of complete
sudden enlightenment.
Hinayana monks, though diligent, forget the mind of Tao.
Outer path practitioners may be clever, but they lack wisdom. The ignorant and the foolish think
That the fist exists separately from the pointing finger.
Mistaking the finger for the moon, they practice uselessly;
They only fabricate strange illusions in the realms of sense and object.
Not perceiving a single dharma: this is Tathagata.
Only then can one be called the Supreme Observer. With this realization karmic obstacles are innately empty.
Without realization, past debts must be paid off.
If one is unable to take the royal feast even when hungry,
How can he be healed even if he meets the king of doctors? Practicing Ch’an in the desire realm manifests the power of knowledge,
Indestructible as a lotus grown in a fire.
Though Pradhanasura broke the main precepts, he awakened to the unborn;
He long ago reached the Buddha state and remains there still. Even when one preaches fearlessly as the lion roars,
The minds of the perverse and obstinate only harden.
They continue to break the main precepts and obstruct Bodhi
And cannot see the secret the Tathagata reveals. Two monks broke the precepts against licentiousness and killing.
With his shallow knowledge, Upali exaggerated the sin.
The great Vimalakirti instantly removed their doubts,
Like a hot sun that melts ice and snow. The power of the liberated is inconceivable,
With wonderful functions more numerous than the Ganges sands.
They would not refuse to make the four offerings
To one who can accept ten thousand ounces of gold.
To have body broken and bones reduced to dust is not enough to repay
The words that enlighten, transcending countless eons. The king in Dharma is the most superior;
The realization that countless Tathagatas are all alike.
Now I show you this all-giving pearl;
Believers are all in accord (with Dharma).
They clearly see that there is not a thing,
Neither person nor Buddha.
The numerous worlds in the great chiliocosm are bubbles in the sea,
All sages and saints are like lightning flashes.
Even if an iron wheel whirls on your head
Perfectly clear samadhi and wisdom are never lost. The sun may turn cold and the moon may turn hot,
But the demons cannot destroy the true teaching.
When an elephant marches gloriously forward,
How can a praying mantis bar its way? The elephant does not follow the rabbit’s path;
The enlightened are not bound by trivial restraints.
Do not slander heaven when you observe it through a reed,
For those who do not yet know, I am giving you the key.

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