Hsin Hsin Ming

Verses on The Mind of Absolute Trust,

By Seng T'san

 

Satisfying the deepest longing

at the heart isn’t difficult – 

just practice letting go

of grasping and avoiding,

and recognize what remains

as your own native happiness.

When we cling to differences,

heart and mind conflict.

If you want to end the inner war,

don’t be for or against.

The argument with oneself

is the primal disease of the mind.

 

Relentless suffering.

Not awake to the deeper principle,

we persist in disturbing our natural harmony. 

Luminous spaciousness, empty and full --

that's the mind of least resistance,

the mind of carefree humility.

Habitually craving and avoiding,

we can’t allow mind’s true nature,

Clear Light, to reveal itself.

Don’t get bewildered by things;

don’t lose yourself in what changes.

Be at peace in the immaculate

transparency of all arising;

stop trying to be

a knower.

When we don’t live as Tao Itself,

boundless and non-dwelling,

we part ways with our natural happiness,

confusing ourselves with borrowed

schemes and dogmas, claims

and superstitions.

Believing the world is real, we're

ignorant of its deeper reality.

Denying the world is real, we're

blind to the selfless innocence

of all forthcoming things.

Open those eyes!

The more we think about it all,

the farther we are from the truth.

Dropping off both body and mind,

there’s nowhere we can’t go.

Returning to the heart, we’re welcomed home;

chasing appearances,we lose their source.

In one moment of unbiased clear seeing,

we can transcend both form and emptiness.

Don’t keep searching for truth;

just let go of all opinions,

and truth will find you.

For the mind surrendered,

all selfishness dissolves.

Free of doubt, fearless in love,

we can trust the universe

completely.

Nothing to gain, nothing

to lose - all is empty,

brilliant, perfect

in itself.

In the world of all-as-is,

there is no self, no non-self.

If we want to speak plainly,

the best we can point to is

"not-two." 

At the heart of surrender

there’s no separation,

nothing to add

nor subtract:

no lost nor found,

no bondage nor liberation,

no here nor there,

no this nor that -- 

the awakened awaken

to this truth, as

this truth.

The tiny is as large as the vast

when conceptual distinctions vanish.

The vast is as small as the tiny,

when mental limitations dissolve.

Being is an expression of non-being,

non-being is no different from being.

Until we understand this truth,

we won’t see anything clearly.

One is all, all is one -- 

when this becomes self-evident,

what interest in stages or categories

can occupy one's attention any longer?

Preachers become obsolete.

The mind of absolute trust is beyond

all thought, all striving, all motive

to know, to cling, or to turn away.

It is non-dwelling mind,

perfectly at home, at peace,

for within it there is no past,

no future, no present --

only what is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhapsody on a Discourse from Symeon the New Theologian

As we fall deeper into That which is already perfect, the One Who is without form or shape – Source Itself -- may manifest Itself in form and shape in order to experience Itself as that. Nor does the only One cause the Light to come to us and be present with us in solitary quietude only. But how? This One comes in a definite form indeed, though it is a Divine One.

Yes, the Divine does not shine in an incomprehensible, inaccessible, and formless light only, but also appears in a particular pattern or likeness, in the simplicity of ordinary creation, so as to come to know Itself in the living pulse and Radiance of Itself, and to submerge itself in the love It Is, all for the very sake of Love. Source is Love, and Love must Love.

We cannot possibly say or express more than this. Still, This One appears clearly and is consciously known and clearly seen, though invisible while even visible. Source sees and hears invisibly and, just as Love speaks, beloved to beloved, face to face, heart and soul to heart and soul - so the One Who by nature is God speaks to and through those whom by grace It has begotten as gods, in order to reveal Itself to Itself. They in turn become the Lover Who loves so fervently that they become like mirrors in infinite reflection of each other, with not a trace of self between.

Thereupon, your heart may find itself merged in the form of an effulgent light of deep peace and radiant joy. However comforting, this light is but the prelude of the immortal and primordial light; it is the reflected brightness of Source. When this Glory appears, every selfish thought will vanish and every stricture of the soul be loosened, even as every bodily clinging is released.

The eyes of the heart are utterly purified and see That to which all mystics testify. Then the soul sees, as in a clear and spotless mirror, even its slightest failures, and in such vision is brought down to the gentle abyss of humility.

Next, as it perceives the greatness of the glory, it is filled with all joy and gladness; it is struck dumb with amazement at this wonder beyond all hope and tears of heart-felt bliss pour forth. Thus of the old the new emerges, and original innocence is reborn. In this unceasing river of beatitude  all praise flows, though circumstances follow the natural course of coming into view and passing back into that from which they emerged - the primordial ocean of being itself. In deed and truth, all activities of nature are seen at last as naught but This One, the very Living One, 'I Am that I Am'. Even now, this is no secret to the Heart!

One who is united thusly, merged in the ineffable Light of unconditional Love, sees things of which I am not able to write. The mind beholds marvelous visions and is wholly illuminated and becomes as of light, yet is unable to conceive of them or describe them. This mind is itself light and sees all things as light, for it is not other than the light Itself.

One perceives the light in their soul and is in ecstasy. In such ecstasy one sees it from afar, but as they return to themselves they find themselves again in the midst of the light. They are thus altogether at a loss for words and concepts to describe what they have perceived in their vision.

The light already shines in the darkness, both by day and by night, both within and without. It shines on us without change, without alteration, without form. It speaks, works, lives, gives life, and changes into light those whom it illuminates. We bear witness that "God is light," and those to whom it has been granted to recognize this have all beheld the Lord as light.

Those who have received the Divine have received the Divine as light, because the light of Its glory goes before It, and it is impossible for It to appear without light. Just as one who looks at the sun cannot but fill their eyes with light, so too one who always gazes intently into their heart cannot fail to be illumined.