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In its essence,
the Way is without words.
All this talking and pointing
and carrying on, only signposts.
Gather too many of them
and they’ll weigh you
down. Just be
silent.
Stop searching for
phrases and chasing after words.
Take the backward step and turn the light inward.
Your body-mind of itself will drop off and your
original face will appear. If you want
to attain just this, immediately
practice just this.
When your tasks
are few, naturally your pains are few.
When your words are few, naturally your troubles
are few. When you eat little, naturally you get sick less.
When you have few desires in your heart,
naturally you have few
worries.
When you are deluded
and full of doubt, even a thousand
books of scripture are still not enough.
When you have realized understanding,
even one word is already too much.
Zen is communicated personally,
through mental recognition.
It is not handed on directly
by written words.
You must realize
that what is at stake here
does not reside in words and phrases:
it is like sparks from struck flint, like the brilliance
of flashing lightning. However you mange to deal
with this, you cannot get around losing
your body and life.
Those
who do not feel this
love pulling them like a river,
those who do not drink dawn like a cup
of springwater or take in sunset
like supper, those who do not
want to change, let
them sleep.
This love
is beyond the study
of theology, that old trickery
and hypocrisy. If you want
to improve your mind
that way, sleep
on.
I have
given up on my brain.
I have torn the cloth to shreds
and thrown it away. If you are not
completely naked, wrap your
beautiful robe of words
around you, and
sleep.