Allow me to share this wonderful text attributed to Sēngcàn, the 3rd Chinese Zen Patriarch, who lived in the Sui Dynasty prior to the heyday of Zen, which is generally accepted to have been the Tang & Song Dynasties. This text has Laozi running all through it. The Chinese appears to be written for recitation or chanting, however it’s not easy to make the English read smoothly from couplet to couplet. I’ve done my best and I think it’s good enough. Wuji & Taiji together: “Not-Two!”
Accessing Dao is not difficult
just don’t pick & choose
Without like & dislike
the chamber is naturally clear & bright
But make the smallest distinction
and set apart Heaven & Earth
If we wish to perceive the Original
don’t keep for & against
For & against mutually contend
serving to afflict the heart
If we don’t understand this mysterious point
it is futile to seek tranquility
Complete union with supreme emptiness
is without deficiency, without excess
But choose to accept or reject
then it is not so
Do not pursue entanglements
yet don’t dwell stuck in vacuity
Cultivate Oneness with a peaceful heart
thusly obliterating self-exhaustion
Stilling movement to return to stillness
only generates more movement
Only stuck in two sides
we cannot know cultivation of Oneness
Not accessing cultivation of Oneness
dwelling in duality, we forsake merit
Denying existence, we drown in existence
succumbing to vacuity, we get stuck in vacuity
The more we talk, the more we think
the further we wander astray
Cut off talking, cut off thinking
then there is nowhere we cannot access
Return to the root and get the point
but pursue appearance and lose the lineage
In a flash return the radiance
and successfully transcend vacuity
Transcending vacuity, shift & transform
with each & every fantastic appearance
It is no use to seek reality
just wait for appearance to cease
Dwell not in dual appearance
carefully avoid chasing & seeking
Make right & wrong
and the heart gets lost in confusion
Duality comes from the One
the One does not guard itself
The heart of the One is unborn
ten-thousand dharmas are no hindrance
No hindrance, no dharmas
no birth, no heart
“This” surrenders when “that” is extinguished
“that” is banished when “this” drops
“That” depends on “this”
“this” depends on “that”
If we wish to know these two
their origin is vacant Oneness
In vacant Oneness these two are equal
together they contain ten-thousand forms
Do not distinguish coarse & fine
extinguish one-sided views
The great Dao has a wide body
not easy, not difficult
Small views deceive like a fox
they wander quickly yet respond late
Grasp them and lose our parameters
certain to enter deviant ways
Just let things be as they are
and the body neither departs nor abides
Trust our nature to merge with Dao
at ease, troubles disappear
Overly studying distorts reality
sinking into dimness and ineptitude
It is inept to labor the spirit
Why neglect our kin?
If we wish to obtain the One Vehicle
do not dislike the Six Dusts
Not disliking the Six Dusts
stay aligned with correct awareness
Sages stay with wuwei
fools bind themselves
Dharma is not some unusual dharma
it is fantasy to cherish anything
Stirring up the heart’s desire
is this not a great mistake?
Confusion gives birth to isolation and upheaval
awakening is without good & evil
Every “thing” has two sides
overflowing beyond the brim
Dreams, illusions, vacant flowers
why labor to grasp them?
Gain & loss, right & wrong
release them at once
If the eye never sleeps
all dreams dissolve of themselves
When the heart makes no distinctions
the ten-thousand dharmas are as One
As the One Original Body
sever and forget all karmic entanglements
View the ten-thousand dharmas as equal
reverting and returning of themselves
Thereby obliterating their position
unable to hold to their locale
Stilling movement, there is no movement
Moving stillness, there is no stillness
Without the presence of duality
how can the One thusly exist?
In the end, all extremes are exhausted
nothing survives this path
Commit the heart to equanimity
and all phenomena come to rest
Foxly deceit is purged and exhausted
restoring trust and rectitude
Every “thing” doesn’t last
losing all recollection
Empty, bright, self-illuminating
no labor of the heart
Not dwelling on any thoughts
knowledge & emotion cannot fathom this
In the true Dharma realm
there is no self, no other
If we want immediate accord
just say “not-two”
In “not-two”, everything is the same
nothing is not contained
Sages of the ten directions
all enter into this lineage
The lineage does not rush or delay
one moment’s thought is ten-thousand years
Nothingness is located nowhere
pervading the ten directions, yet right before our eyes
The extremes of small & large alike
sever and forget all distinctions
The extremes of large & small alike
see no borders manifest
Existence is nothingness
nothingness is existence
It may seem not so
but we must not hold onto appearance
One is everything
everything is One
So surely indeed
why worry without end?
Trust the heart to “not-two”
as not-two trusts the heart
Words and speech sever Dao
it is not going, coming, or present
Translation by Nameless Stream (無名川), 2019