DHARMA SPRING

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  The suffering of the Wheel is relentless
  back and forth stirring up the dust
  the ant patrol on its endless round
  the Six Paths are nothing but confusion
  changing heads and switching faces
  doesn't free you from your self
  bring this hell of darkness to an end
  don't let your mind grow dim

-from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
Red Pine (trans)

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  Here's a message for the faithful
  what is it that you cherish
  to find the Way to see your nature
  your nature is naturally so
  what Heaven bestows is perfect
  looking for proof leads you astray
  leaving the trunk to search among twigs
  all you get is stupid

--from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
Red Pine (trans)

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  A tree grew here before the grove
  its age is twice as great
  the shifting earth has gnarled its roots
  wind and frost have parched its leaves
  people scorn its withered outside
  no one sees its fine-grained heart
  but when its bark is stripped away
  what remains is real

-from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
Red Pine (trans)

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  Before the cliffs I sat alone
  the moon shone in the sky
  but where a thousand shapes appeared
  its lantern cast no light
  the unobstructed spirit is clear
  the empty cave is a mystery
  a finger showed me the moon
  the moon is the hub of the mind

-from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
 Red Pine (trans)

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  Someone asked, “What is my heart-mind?”
  Changsha replied, “All the worlds in the universe are your heart-mind.”
  “If that’s so, then there’s really no particular place for my body to be.”
  “That’s exactly the place for your body to be,” said Changsha.
  “Where is that?”
  “The great ocean, vast and deep.”
  “I don’t understand.”
  “Dragons and fish play freely, leaping and diving.”

-from Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy Ferguson

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  Someone asked, "What is the great way?"
  Changsha said, "It doesn't exclude you."
  The person asked, "Who is the teacher of all buddhas?"
  Changsha said, "For the incalculable eon, who has ever concealed this?"

-from Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy Ferguson

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  A monk asked, "What is the true monk's eye?"
  Changsha said, "So vast and wide that you can't leave it."
  Changsha also said, "Those who become buddhas and ancestors can't leave it. The six realms of transmigration can't leave it."
  The monk said, "I don't understand what it is that they can't leave."
  Changsha said, "In the day, see the sun. In the night, see the stars."
  The monk said, "I don't understand."
  Changsha said, "The lofty mountains are colored green upon green."

-from Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy Ferguson

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  Changsha entered the hall and addressed the assembly: "I say to you that all worlds pervading the ten directions are the true monk's eye. All worlds pervading the ten directions are the true monk's complete body. Pervading all worlds in the ten directions is your own brilliant light. All worlds in the ten directions are within your own light. And throughout all worlds in the ten directions there is not a being that is not you. This is what I've taught you when I've said that all the buddhas, dharmas, and sentient beings of the three worlds are the great light of wisdom. But even before this light was propagated, what is the place where you existed? Before this light was propagated, before buddhas and before sentient beings, from where did the mountains, rivers, and the great earth come forth?"

-from Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy Ferguson

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When I look deeply
into the real form of the universe,
everything reveals the mysterious truth of the Tathagata.
This truth never fails:
in every moment and every place
things can't help but shine with this light.

-from Torei Zenji's Bodhisattva's Vow

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  Someone asked Yangshan, "Can the dharmakaya expound the dharma?"
  "I'm not able to expound it," replied Yangshan, "but there is someone else who can."
  "And where is this person who can expound it?" the questioner continued.
  Yangshan pushed forward his headrest.

from Entangling Vines, Thomas Yuho Kirchner (trans)

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