The Infinite Mirror: Commentaries on Two Chan Classics by Chan Master Sheng Yen

Author:Chan Master Sheng Yen [Yen, Chan Master Sheng]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2006-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

THE SONG OF THE PRECIOUS MIRROR SAMADHI

by Tung-shan Liang-chieh (807-869)

It is this very Dharma

The Buddha and Patriarchs secretly transmitted.

Now that you have it

Protect it well.

Like a silver bowl full of snow

Or an egret hidden against the bright moon

They are similar but not identical.

When mingled their difference can be recognized.

The meaning does not lie in words,

Yet those who are ripe must be taught.

As soon as you act it is a dead issue,

So consider their varying attainments.

Rejecting words or clinging to them are both mistakes,

Like a blazing fire, useful but dangerous.

If it is only expressed in language

The precious mirror will be stained.

At midnight it is truly bright;

By daylight it no longer shows.

It serves as the law which governs all things;

Use it to uproot all suffering.

Though it is not a way of action

Still, it is not without words.

As before the precious mirror,

The form and refection gaze on each other.

You are not it,

But it is just you.

Just as an infant

Is equipped with five sense organs.

It neither comes nor goes,

It neither arises nor abides.

P’o-p’o H’o-h’o –

A phrase without meaning.

You can never get the substance of it

Because the language is not correct.

Doubling the Li trigram makes six lines.

The outer and inner lines mutually interact.

Stacked, they become three pairs;

At most they can transform into five.

Like the five aromas of the hyssop plant

Or the five branches of the vajra scepter.

The exact center subtly harmonizing,

Drumming and singing simultaneously.

Penetrate the goal and you will fathom the way.

In order to lead there must be a road.

To be wrong is auspicious;

Do not oppose it.

Natural and subtle,

It is neither ignorance nor enlightenment.

Causes and conditions have their time and season,

Tranquil and illuminating.

It is so small it enters the spaceless,

So large it is beyond dimension.

If you are off by a hair’s breadth

Then you would be out of harmony.

Now there is sudden and gradual (enlightenment)

In order to establish the fundamental guidelines.

When the fundamental guidelines are clear

They become the rule.

Realization of the basic principle is the ultimate standard,

Genuine, constant, yet flowing,

With still body but racing mind,

Like a tethered horse or a mouse frozen by fright.

Past sages pitied them

And liberated them with Buddhadharma.

Following their upside-down ways

They took black for white.

When inverted thinking disappears,

They realize mind of their own accord.

If you want to merge with the ancient track

Then contemplate the ancients.

At the completion of the Buddha path

Ten kalpas of contemplation will be established.

Like a tiger’s lame foot,

Like a shoeless horse,

Because there is a defect

You seek the jeweled bench and priceless halter.

Because you are astonished

You realize you were like the brown or white ox.

Hou-i used his skill

To hit the target at a hundred paces.

As soon as the arrow hits the mark

Of what further use is his skill?

When a wooden man breaks into song,

A stone woman gets up to dance.

Since this cannot be understood by reasoning

How can it be analyzed?

The minister serves his lord;

The son obeys his father.

If he does not obey, he is not filial;

If the minister does not serve, he is not loyal.

To cultivate in hiding, functioning in secret,

Like a fool, like a dolt;

If only you are able to persist,

You will be called a master among masters.

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