By 僧璨 Seng Tsan (Third Patriarch of Zen)
English interpretation by Eric Putkonen
離揀擇 Letting Go
至道無難，唯嫌揀擇。但莫憎愛，洞然明白 The Great Way is not difficult, for those who have no preferences. Let go of longing and aversion, and it reveals itself.
毫厘有差，天地懸隔。欲得現前，莫存順逆 Make the smallest distinction, however, and you are as far from it as heaven is from earth. If you want to realize the truth, then hold no opinions for or against anything.
違順相爭，是為心病。不識玄旨，徒勞念靜 Like and dislike, is the disease of the mind. When the deep meaning of the Way is not understood, the intrinsic peace of mind is disturbed.
圓同太虛，無欠無餘。良由取捨，所以不如 As vast as infinite space, it is perfect and lacks nothing. Indeed, it is due to your grasping and repelling, that you do not see things as they are.
無二法 Nonduality
莫逐有緣，勿住空忍。一種平懷，泯然自盡 Do not get entangled in things, do not get lost in emptiness. Be still in the oneness of things, and dualism vanishes by itself.
止動歸止，止更彌動。唯滯兩邊，寧知一種 When you try to stop motion to achieve quietude, the very effort fills you with activity. As long as you hold on to opposites, you will never know the One Way.
一種不通，兩處失通。遣有沒有，從空背空 Those who do not understand the Way, will assert or deny the reality of things. Deny the reality of things, you miss its deeper reality; Asset the reality of things, you miss the emptiness of all things.
多言多慮，轉不相應。絕言絕慮，無處不通 The more you think about it, the further you are from the truth. Cease all thinking, and there is nothing that will not be revealed to you.
歸根得旨，隨照失宗。須臾返照，勝卻前空 To return to the root is to find the essence, but to pursue appearances is to miss the Source. The moment you are enlightened, you go beyond appearances and emptiness.
前空轉變，皆由妄見。不用求真，唯須息見 Changes that seem to occur in the empty world, appear real only because of ignorance. Do not search for the truth, only cease to cherish opinions.
任運自在 Effortless Freedom
二見不住，慎莫追尋。才有是非，紛然失心 Do not hold to dualistic views, avoid such habits carefully. If there is even a trace of right and wrong, the mind is lost in confusion.
二由一有，一亦莫守。一心不生，萬法無咎 Although all dualities arise from the One, do not cling even to this One. When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way, everything is without fault.
無咎無法，不生不心。能隨境滅，境逐能沉 When things can no longer be faulty, it is as if there are no things. When the mind can no longer be disturbed, it is as if there is no mind. When thought-objects vanish, the thinking-subject vanishes. When the mind vanishes, objects vanish.
境由能境，能由境能。欲知兩段，元是一空 The arising of other gives rise to self, giving rise to self generates other. Know these seeming two facets, as one emptiness.
一空同兩，齊含萬象。不見精粗，寧有偏黨 In this Emptiness, the two are indistinguishable, and each contains in itself the whole. When no discrimination is made between this and that, how can you prefer one to another?
大道體寬，無易無難。小見狐疑，轉急轉遲 The Great Way is all-embracing, not easy, not difficult. Those who rely on limited views are fearful and irresolute, the faster they hurry, the slower they go.
執之失度，必入邪路。放之自然，體無去住 Clinging, they go too far, even an attachment to enlightenment is to go astray. Just let things be in their own way as they are, and there is neither coming nor going.
任性合道，逍遙絕惱。系念乖真，昏沉不好 Be in harmony with the Way, and you will be free of disturbances. Tied by your thoughts, you lose the truth, become heavy, dull, and unwell.
不好勞神，何用梳親？欲取一乘，勿惡六塵 Not well, the mind is troubled. Then why cling to or reject anything? If you wish to move in the One Way, do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
六塵不惡，還同正覺。智者無爲，愚人自縛 Indeed, to accept them fully, is identical with true Enlightenment. The wise attaches to no goals, but the foolish fetter themselves.
法無異法，妄自愛著。將心用心，豈非大錯 There is but one Dharma, not many. Distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant. Using mind to stir up the mind is the original mistake.
迷生寂亂，悟無好惡。一切兩邊，良由斟酌 Peaceful and troubled derive from thinking. Enlightenment has no likes or dislikes. All dualities come from ignorant inference.
夢幻空華，何勞把捉。得失是非，一時放卻 They are like unto dreams or flowers in the air, the foolish try to grasp them. Gain and loss, right and wrong, abandon all such thoughts at once.
眼若不眠，諸夢自除。心若不異，萬法一如 If the eye never sleeps, all dreams will naturally cease. If the mind makes no discriminations, all things are as they are, of One-essence.
一如體玄，兀爾忘緣。萬法齊觀，歸復自然 To understand the mystery of this One-essence is to be released from all entanglements. When all things are seen without differentiation, you return to the origin and remain what you are.
止動無動，動止無止。兩既不成，一何有爾 Consider the movement in stillness and the stationary in motion, both movement and rest disappear. When such dualities cease to exist, even Oneness itself cannot exist.
究竟窮極，不存軌則。啓心平等，所作俱息 This ultimate state is not bound by rules and descriptions. For the Realized mind, at one with the Way, all doing ceases.
狐疑盡净，正信調直。一切不留，無可記憶 Doubts and irresolution vanish, and the Truth is confirmed in you. With a single stroke you are freed from bondage, nothing clings to you and you hold onto nothing.
虛明自照，不勞心力。非思量處，識情難測 All is void, clear, and self-illuminating, with no need to exert the mind. Here thinking, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value.
真如法界，無他無自。要急相應，唯言不二 In this world of as it really is, there is neither self nor other. To swiftly accord with that, only express nonduality.
不二皆同，無不包容。十方智者，皆入此宗 In this nonduality nothing is separate, nothing is excluded. The enlightened of all times and places have personally realized this truth.
宗非促延，一念萬年。無在不在，十方目前 The Truth is beyond time and space, one instant is eternity. Not here, not there, but everywhere always right before your eyes.
極小同大，忘絕境界。極大同小，不見邊表。 有即是無，無即是有 Infinitely large and infinitely small, no difference, for definitions have vanished, and no boundaries can be discerned. So too with existence and non-existence.
若不如是，必不須守。一即一切，一切即一 Don’t waste time in arguments and discussion, attempting to grasp the ungraspable. One thing and everything, move among and intermingle without distinction.
但能如是，何慮不畢。信心不二，不二信心 To live in this Realization, is to not worry about perfection or non-perfection. To put your trust in the Way is to live without separation, and in this nonduality you are one with the Way.
言語道斷，非去來今 Words! Words! The Way is beyond language. Words never could, can not now, and never will describe the Way.
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