Tổ Sư Thiền

Buddha! Buddha! Buddha! Impossible to be seen! 
Mind! Mind! Mind! Impossible to be told! 

When the mind arises, Buddha is born. 
When Buddha is gone, the mind vanishes. 
There is never a place where the mind is gone while Buddha remains. 
There is never a time when Buddha is gone while the mind remains. 
If you want to understand the mind of Buddha, and the mind of birth and death, just wait for Maitreya and ask him. 

There was no mind anciently; there is no Buddha now. 
All unenlightened beings, holy beings, human beings, heavenly beings are just like flashes of lightning. 
The mind nature is neither right nor wrong. 
The Buddha nature is neither real nor unreal. 
 

 Phật! Phật! Phật! Không thể thấy 
 Tâm! Tâm! Tâm! Không thể nói. 

 Nếu khi tâm sanh là Phật sanh 
 Nếu khi Phật diệt là tâm diệt. 
 Diệt tâm còn Phật chuyện không đâu 
 Diệt Phật còn tâm khi nào hết? 
 Muốn biết Phật tâm, sanh diệt tâm 
 Đợi đến sau này Di-lặc quyết. 

 Xưa không tâm, nay không Phật 
 Phàm, Thánh, người, trời như điện chớp. 
 Tâm thể không thị cũng không phi 
 Phật tánh chẳng hư cũng chẳng thật. 

Holding a staff, traveling through distant scenes, 
and glancing at the sky and earth, I see the vastness out there.

Oh so high is the cloud in mountain.
Oh so deep is the water in ocean.

When hungry, I eat the rice given from ten directions.
When tired, I sleep at unfamiliar places.

When inspired, I play the holeless flute.
When calm, I burn the incense of liberation.

When weary, I take a rest at the blissful land.
When thirsty, I drink fully the medication of leasure travel.

Qui Son, my neighbor, is taming a water buffalo. 
Ta Tam, in the same boat with me, is singing a song of fishermen. 
 

Trời đất liếc trông chừ sao thênh thang 
Chống gậy rong chơi chừ phương ngoại phương. 

Hoặc cao cao chừ mây đỉnh núi 
Hoặc sâu sâu chừ nước trùng dương. 

Đói thì ăn chừ cơm tùy ý 
Mệt thì ngủ chừ nào có quê hương. 

Hứng lên chừ thổi sáo không lỗ 
Chỗ lặng chừ đốt giải thoát hương. 

Nhọc chút chừ nghỉ đất hoan hỉ 
Khát uống no chừ thang tiêu dao. 

Qui Sơn láng giềng chừ chăn con trâu nước 
Tạ Tam đồng thuyền chừ hát khúc Thương Lang.

When the mind arises, birth and death arise; 
when the mind vanishes, birth and death vanish. 
Originally emptiness – birth and death in nature are void. 
Illusionary manifestation – this unreal body is being gone. 
When you see affliction and bodhi fading, 
hell and heaven will themselves wither, 
the fire oven and the boiling oil will cool soon, 
and the mountain of knives and the tree of swords will break up all. 
The hearers meditate; I don’t. 
The bodhisattvas give dharma talks; I tell the truth. 

Life is itself illusionary, and so is death. 
The four elements are originally empty; where did they emerge from? 
Don’t behave like a thirsty deer chasing the mirage, 
and searching east then west endlessly. 
The Dharma Body neither comes nor goes; 
the True Nature is neither right nor wrong. 
After arriving home, you should not ask for the way anymore. 
After seeing the moon, you need not to look for the finger. 
The unenlightened persons erroneously fear of birth and death.
The enlightened have fully insight, and live at ease. 
 

Tâm mà sanh chừ sanh tử sanh 
Tâm mà diệt chừ sanh tử diệt. 
Sanh tử xưa nay tự tánh không 
Thân huyễn hóa này rồi sẽ diệt. 
Phiền não Bồ-đề thầm tiêu mòn 
Địa ngục thiên đường tự khô kiệt. 
Lò lửa dầu sôi chóng mát lành 
Cây kiếm núi đao liền gãy hết. 
Thanh văn ngồi thiền, ta không ngồi 
Bồ-tát nói pháp, ta nói thật. 

Sống tự dối sống, chết dối chết 
Bốn đại vốn không, từ đâu khởi. 
Chớ như nai khát đuổi sóng nắng 
Chạy đông tìm tây không tạm nghỉ. 
Pháp thân không đến cũng không đi 
Chân tánh không phải cũng không quấy. 
Đến nhà, nên biết thôi hỏi đường 
Thấy trăng, đâu nhọc tìm tay ấy. 
Kẻ ngu điên đảo sợ sống chết 
Người trí thấy suốt nhàn thôi vậy. 
(Bản dịch HT Thanh Từ)

Thân từ vô tướng xưa nay không 
Huyễn hóa phân chia thành nhị kiến. 

Ta, người như móc cũng như sương, 
Phàm, Thánh như sấm cũng như chớp. 
Công danh phú quí đồng mây trôi 
Năm tháng đời người dường tên bắn. 

Chút tình thương ghét chợt dấy lên 
Khác nào bỏ bột đi tìm bánh. 
Mày ngang mũi dọc cũng như nhau 
Phật với chúng sanh không khác mặt. 

Ai là phàm chừ ai là Thánh 
Nhiều kiếp kiếm tìm không căn tánh. 
Không tâm chẳng thị cũng chẳng phi, 
Chẳng kiến không tà cũng không chánh.

When ignorant, you see emptiness and form appear.
When enlightened, you see form and emptiness vanish.
Form, emptiness, ignorance and enlightenment 
are just one same principle, even anciently and now.

When the false thoughts rise, the three hells appear.
 When the true mind is realized, the five kinds of eyes open.
The mind of Nirvana is serene, serene.
The sea of birth and death is stormy, stormy.

There is neither birth nor death.
There is neither beginning nor end.
Just throw away the dualistic views, 
you will see all things are intertwining without distinction.

(NOTES. The three hells: the hell of fire, the hell of blood, and the hell of swords. 
The five kinds of eyes: human eyes, deva eyes, wisdom eyes, dharma eyes, and Buddha eyes.)
 

Mê đi sanh không sắc 
Ngộ lại chẳng sắc không. 
Sắc không mê ngộ ấy, 
Một lý xưa nay đồng. 

Vọng dấy tam đồ dấy 
Chân thông ngũ nhãn thông. 
Niết-bàn tâm vắng lặng 
Sanh tử biển trùng trùng. 

Chẳng sanh lại chẳng diệt 
Không thủy cũng không chung. 
Chỉ hay quên nhị kiến 
Pháp giới thảy bao dung. 
(Bản dịch HT Thanh Từ)

(GHI CHÚ. Tam đồ: địa ngục lửa, địa ngục máu, và địa ngục đao kiếm.
Ngũ nhãn: nhục nhãn, thiên nhãn, huệ nhãn, pháp nhãn, và Phật nhãn.)
 

Days and months, just like water flowing.
Wealth and power, just like cloud floating.

After the wind and fire shatter apart, 
the young and old will all become dust.
After the souls and spirits* dissolve away from the form, 
body is just like a dream.

Earning a living tosses you daily like a spinning top, 
and throws you onstage to keep catching the shadows.

After the red-crowned crane landed in the royal garden and 
was named as Cuu Cao Literator, it still is red-crowned.
After the red-tailed fish jumped over 
the Vu Mon Gate to become a dragon, it still has the red tail.

Why don’t you turn your head, reflect inwardly, be in accord with the mind essence, and enlighten the conscioussness?
Just step into the path of liberation, complete the perfection of wisdom, and live in normal life with pure mind and its profound manifestations.
 

That is enough: My body is so frail.
That’s not about whether an old crane avoids flocks of chicken.
Thousands of blue, and ten thousands of green scenes 
would lead you astray from the home country.
At a corner of the ocean and at an edge of the sky, 
I am preserving the truth now.
 

Existence arises from emptiness, interconnecting with emptiness.
Existence and existence, emptiness and emptiness – all are the same.
Affliction and bodhi originally don’t differ from each other.
True suchness and false thoughts all are emptiness.
Your body is like a fake scene; and karma, like its shadow. 
Your mind is like the wind; and nature of the mind, like grass ‘bong’ flying about in the wind.
Don’t ask about death, birth, devil and Buddha.
All stars point to the north, and all rivers flow to the east.
 

Forming, varying, and dissolving -- like clouds in the sky, 
your whole life is just a dream.
The night dew washes summer away, and helps lotus budding.
The early wind carries spring along, and greets flower ‘mai’ blooming.
After the moon goes down behind the western mountains, its image vanishes.
Following the river to flow east to the sea, waves don’t turn back.
Once gathering in the yards of wealthy families, 
the sparrows now scatter in all directions after all the wealth is gone --
You see that.
 

The wind of Zen is neither preceding nor succeeding.
Original essence is suchness -- just suchness in nature.
In Thieu That Cave, Bodhidharma sat for nine years without a word. 
At Hoang Mai midnight, the Fifth Patriarch symbolically gave dharma transmission to Hue Nang.
If your mind has no thought, don’t worry about the karma of speech anymore; 
there is no need to choose among words.
Replying to the honorable lay leader Tran, 
the night cry of a wild goose echoes through foggy skies.
 

 Thiền phong không trước cũng không sau 
 Bản thể như như sẵn vậy nào. 
 Thiếu Thất chín năm không một tiếng 
 Hoàng Mai đêm giữa tạm riêng truyền. 
 Tâm cơ chẳng dính tơ hào niệm 
 Khẩu nghiệp nhọc gì chọn lựa lời. 
 Vì bảo Nguyên quân Trần Xử Sĩ 
 Nhạn khuya một tiếng, hết đêm mù. 

(Bản dịch HT Thanh Từ)

I am all alone taming the mud ox, 
pulling its nose string, and keeping it on the path constantly.
Coming to Tao Khe, I will set the ox free.
Do you see endless waves are traveling and rolling the round ball?

(NOTES. * The ox is a symbol for the mind. When the mud ox runs into a river and dissolves away, all thoughts vanish and the emptiness nature of the mind will be realized.)
 

My first love of travel over lakes and seas is still fresh.
Like an arrow and like a weaver’s shuttle, the days and months fly fast.
The cool wind and bright moon are enough for me to live.
I have so much with green mountains and blue waters here -- 
sailing a boat over rippling waves in the morning, 
and playing a bamboo flute to breeze the fog in the afternoon.
There is not a trace now from Ta Tam, 
who left only an empty boat on a ridge of sand. 
 

Don’t need to live in royal luxury or in deep forests.
Eventually, you can calm your mind in any place.
People all see a thousand mountains shining.
Who hears the monkey’s deep voice from deep caves?

 Chẳng cần cửa tía, chẳng cần rừng 
 Rốt cuộc chỗ nào chẳng an tâm. 
 Thế nhân trọn thấy ngàn non sáng 
 Mấy kẻ lắng nghe tiếng vượn trầm.
(Bản dịch HT Thanh Từ)

When the wind blows the water, the waves appear;
When the fire reaches the wood, the flame flares up.
Now you know the four elements have no boundaries.
Keep pace with the flow, despite the mountain of swords.
 

I now live in a deep rural village,
far away from the aura of Master.
Like the stars of dawn and dusk, Master and I drift apart;
However, my mind always stays with Master 
as in a mirror appearing a couple of phoenix.
Expressing gratefulness to Master for teaching me the Way,
I have since leisurely sung the song of the Unborn. 
Now quietly putting words into a poem of praise, 
I respecfully make offering to the dharma seat.

I live clumsily here, always keeping in mind the four great debts. Despite I’d had awkward thoughts, Master showed me the essence of thoughts. 
My mind now is simple; alone, I now keep an inch of direct mind.
 

Here the scenery of Phuoc Duong --
where the Zen breeze cools off,
the fence tilts wildly, the young bamboo shoots grow thinly, 
the gate remains serene, and the cypress trees stand still.
While it’s not time for the sages to appear, 
this primeval forest is where the rare animals stay hidden.
Someday the Buddha sun will rise, 
the cherry trees will bloom, 
and the gate will shine bright in the light of spring. 
 

The dharma body is serene and extinguishing; 
however, your physical body is here.
Sitting still at night, you enter the world of dream.
Though not traveling the way of Patriarch Zen,
you are a regular attendee at the palace of Dharma King.
If you are lazy to take a holy stride on the unborn way, 
you will impurely be born again as earthly or heavenly beings. 
If you meet an enlightener and hear the profound meaning, 
you will see yourself as walking on Thien Tan Bridge and watching the circus monkeys. 
 

With brush as rod, ink as bait, and reason as boat 
-- amid the wind and waves, he sails over the sea of study.
I now praise Tri Vien, who swings a rod 
and dreams of catching a big dragon in the year of the mule.*

(NOTES. * The twelve-year animal cycle has not anything related to the mule. Tue Trung made fun of his friend Tri Vien, who believed that the Way could be learned from books.)
 

Stop searching for Thieu That and Tao Khe.
The essence of mind is always luminous, never dusky.
The ancient moon illuminates, discriminating neither near nor far.
 The lofty wind breezes, discriminating neither high nor low.
Affected by environment color, the autumn light is either black or white.
Despite muddy water, the lotus flower blooms fragrantly and rosily.
Just sing the profound song from your original mind.
Don’t search elsewhere – despite East, West, South and North.
 

You learners hesitate in front of so many directions.
Polishing a tile to make a mirror only wastes your time.
You should stop relying on other people’s entrances.
A ray of spring light makes flowers blooming everywhere.
 

Sitting still at home, and having no words, 
I leisurely view a plume of smoke hovering over Con Luan Mountain. 
Feeling relaxed, and having no thoughts in mind,
I don’t give care for either Zen or controlling thoughts.
 

I love so much the green cypress planted years ago.
Don’t complain that the steep ground tilts the cypress.
Don’t wonder that there is not a pillar made from this cypress wood yet.
Wild grass and field flowers are full in front of my eyes.
 

Having lived with desires has made us suffering.
Throw away all dust now, break free from the world of desires now.
Drop your hands, then go beyond to the land of Buddha and patriarchs.
Once and for all, make all clean – once and for all.
 

The great way is not difficult; don’t say it’s difficult.
Turning your head, and transforming your mind lead you further astray.
Using mind to search for mind is like getting hooked.
Just like a fish jumping over the bamboo rod.
 

The ultimate mind has neither appearance nor form.
Even bright eyes like dragon’s jewels can not see it.
Do you want to see the true face of the ultimate mind?
Ha ha! Just hear the third watch drum at noon.
 

Coming to Qui Son inspiredly, I have a best friend now.
Living in the wild, I enjoy taming the ox.
The King has the kindness vast as the ocean;
however, I am happy with the water and grass here in springtime.
 

Coming at the gate of the temple just few moments, 
I swayed the brush vertically and horizontally, and finished the Zen poem fast.
The new year is coming, and the brush is so sharp.
Buddha of the three realms is not like this.
 

Waking up from the dream, now you have to watch carefully.
For adequate conditions, things will appear 
before your eyes; Beware of twilight.
Even those who’ve obtained the five kinds of eyes 
still would mistake a bell for a jar.
 

The staff I hold every day is able
to suddenly become a tiger or a dragon.
I handle it gently, because raising high the staff 
could shatter mountains and rivers, 
and because swinging it could blur the sun and the moon.
Now the three-foot Song Lam Staff is nowhere to be seen,
and the six-ring Dia Tang Staff is hard to be found.
Despite the worldly paths are so rough and rocky, 
this old man has no anxiety to get over.
 

My head is feeling burnt; my forehead, getting bruised; 
and my body, wearing the golden mandarin suit.
I’ve lived the life of a humble horse for five years and then seven years.
If you are truly extraordinary, why don’t you 
drop all things at once to soar beyond at once?
 

My eyes are full of the light reflected from mountains and rivers, but my brush can not show the autumn light.
The one-flow Tao Khe Stream is cool, 
and the thousand-year Hung Nhi Mountain is full of green cypress trees. 
A lantern could shatter the diamond lock, 
and the entrance pillars could swallow prickles.
If you want to know the true meaning, 
just look at Tan La, where the sun shines bright at midnight.

(NOTES. Tao Khe is the place where Huineng first gave dharma talks. Hung Nhi Mountain is where Bodhidharma sat in retreat. Tan La is the ancient name of Korea, a country lying east of China – also, implying the direction the sun rises in the morning.)
 

Constantly, the rats gnaw the string from which my life is dangling.
I now return, and live my old age in the land of forest and mountain.
A thatched house with a wooden stick door – that’s where I dwell in joy.
Neither right nor wrong – my mind rests in freedom.
 

When a thought arises, then your mind arises.
When your mind forgets thinking, then all thoughts vanish.
If you want to know the true meaning, 
see that a stone tiger is biting a golden goat.
Snap your fingers, and see heaven and earth appear;
Give a cough, and hear mountains and rivers shake. 
Temporarily, the rain and wind are swirling.
When a rooster crows, the fifth watch of the night comes.
 

The precious body of Amitabha Buddha is in your mind.
The dharma body is everywhere – North, South, East, West.
I see high in the sky only a lonely moon
that shines bright here the vast ocean of the Pure Land in this autumn night.
 

Take a turn, make a jump, and leap out of the fire circle.
Entering the eye of emptiness, all things are truly emptiness.
The three realms appear vastly, and the mind shines clearly.
The moon sets in the West, and the sun rises in the East.
 

Floating on a long river, my small boat is paddled through, 
away from the waterfalls and cliffs.
I hear from afar the cry of a wild goose. 
The wind of autumn arises and breezes over everywhere.