Verse 1

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 up 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.

Images by Shuhua Jin

http://www.sjin.co.uk/

Verse 2

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 effort fills you with activity.

As long as you remain in one extreme or the other

you will never know Oneness.

Verse 3

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 options.

Verse 4

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.

Images by Shuhua Jin
http://www.sjin.co.uk/

Verse 5

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 (mind);

the mind (subject) is such because of things (objects).

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 coarse and fine

you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.

Verse 6

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 the clinging (attachment) 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 or going.

Verse 7

Obey the nature of things (your own nature),

and you will walk freely and undisturbed.

When thought is 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?

Images by Shuhua Jin
http://www.sjin.co.uk/