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Saturday, December 5, 2015

Song of Enlightenment (trans. of classic Chan verse by Yongjia Xuanjue)

Abandoning study
Foregoing action
Remaining idle
And following the Dao
Neither avoiding delusion
Nor seeking out truth

Ignorance is
Our real state of nature
In the Buddhist faith
Our temporal bodies once emptied
Become a sacred place

In our sacred body we
Awaken utterly dispossessed
Returning to the origin
In a simple state of grace

The five realms of experience
Are empty and fleeting
Like clouds drifting by
And so too our passions
Which dissipate like steam
Over a boiling cauldron


Looking at things as they really are
Not merely as fancied under human law
In an instant everything can be extinguished
Or consigned to hell on earth

If this sounds like nonsense
Or a deceit upon all living things
Then yank out my tongue
And pile it high with gravel and dust 
For an eternity

For just as suddenly when
We awaken to Suchness
In a meditative state we attain completely
The Six Perfections and
Ten thousand good deeds

It’s as if we are dreaming 
That’s how clearly we come to see 
The Six Paths of Reincarnation
And only after Awakening thus
Do we confront true Emptiness
Devoid of all Ten Thousand things


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永嘉大师证道歌



绝学无为闲道人     不除妄想不求真
无明实性即佛性     幻化空身即法身
法身觉了无一物     本源自性天真佛
五蕴浮云空去来     三毒水炮虚出没
证实相 无人法       刹那灭却阿鼻业
若将妄语诳众生     自招拔舌尘沙劫
顿觉了如来禅        六度万行体中圆
梦里明明有六趣    觉后空空无大千


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