Hsin Hsin Ming

or
On Trust in the Heart

by Seng-Ts’an

translated by Richard B. Clarke

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

*

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 very effort fills you with activity
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other you will never know Oneness

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 opinions

*

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

When no discriminating thoughts arise, the old mind ceases to exist
When thought objects vanish, the thinking-subject vanishes

Things are objects because of the subject; the mind is such because of things
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

*

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 clinging 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 nor going

*

Obey the nature of things [your own nature], and you will walk freely and undisturbed
When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and unclear,

and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness
What benefits can be derived from distinctions and separations?

If you wish to move in the One Way, do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas
Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with true Enlightenment

The wise man strives to no goals but the foolish man fetters himself
There is one Dharma, not many; distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant

To seek Mind with the mind is the greatest of all mistakes.

*

Rest and unrest derive from illusion; with enlightenment there is no liking and disliking
All dualities come from ignorant inference

They are like dreams or flowers in the air: foolish to try to grasp them
Gain and loss, right and wrong: such thoughts must finally be abolished at once

*

If the eye never sleeps, all dreams will naturally cease
If the mind makes no discriminations, the ten thousand things are as they are, of single essence

To understand the mystery of this One-essence is to be released from all entanglements
When all things are seen equally the timeless Self-essence is reached

No comparisons or analogies are possible in this causeless, relationless state

Consider movement stationary and the stationary in motion: both movement and rest disappear
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist
To this ultimate finality no law or description applies

*

For the unified mind in accord with the Way all self-centered striving ceases
Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible

With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind’s power

Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value
In this world of Suchness there is neither self nor other-than-self

*

To come directly into harmony with this reality just simply say when doubt arises, ‘Not two.’
In this ‘not two’ nothing is separate, nothing is excluded

No matter when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth
And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space; in it a single thought is ten thousand years

*

Emptiness here, Emptiness there, but the infinite universe stands always before your eyes
Infinitely large and infinitely small: no difference, for definitions have vanished and no boundaries are seen

So too with Being and non-Being
Don’t waste time in doubts and arguments that have nothing to do with this

*

One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction
To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection

To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind

*

Words!

The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today