Selections from Faith in Mind
Seng-Ts’an, the third founding teacher
The Great Way is not difficult;
just avoid picking and choosing!
Only when you neither long nor loath
does it clearly reveal itself.
To see its truth
be neither for, nor against.
Conflicts between liking and disliking
are a disease of the mind.
Gain and loss, right and wrong
away with them once and for all!
The Perfect Way, like vast space
lacks nothing, has nothing in excess.
When the mind does not discriminate
all things are as they really are.
Entering the deep mystery of this suchness
releases us from all attachments.
Viewing all things in their oneness
we return to our original nature.
This state wherein all relations have ceased
is indescribable by analogy.
The mind in full accord with the Way
drops off its self-centered preoccupations.
Doubts clear up
true faith prevails.
All is empty, clear,
revealed effortlessly, naturally.
Neither thinking nor imagination
can ever reach this state.
This ultimate reality
retains neither self nor other.
In this non-dual world
all is one, nothing left out
In this unmeasurable truth
one instant is ten thousand years.
Things do not separate into here, or there
infinity is manifested everywhere.
One thing is everything
all things are One.
If you know only this, then
don’t worry about attaining perfect knowledge.
The mind of faith is not divided
Faith and mind are not two
Words fail to describe it
for it is neither of the past, present, nor future.