The Way of Meditation Blog
Bringing Ancient Wisdom Into The Modern World
Pointing To The Original Mind
Bankei • May 17, 2019
by Zen Master Bankei
The original mind is unborn and imperishable
Earth, water, fire and wind
Are temporary lodgings for the night
Don’t attach to this
Ephemeral burning house
You yourselves light the fire, kindle the flames
In which you’re consumed
Keep your mind as it was
When you came into the world
And instantly this very self is a living Buddha
Ideas of what’s good,
what’s bad
Are all due to yourself
In winter, a bonfire
Spells delight
But when summertime arrives
What a nuisance it becomes!
And the breezes
You loved in summer
Even before the autumn’s gone
Already have become a bother
Throwing your whole life away
Sacrificed to the thirst for gold
But when you saw your life was through
All your money was no use
Clinging, craving and the like
I don’t have them on my mind
That’s why nowadays I can say
The whole world is truly mine!
Earth, water, fire and wind
Are temporary lodgings for the night
Don’t attach to this
Ephemeral burning house
You yourselves light the fire, kindle the flames
In which you’re consumed
Keep your mind as it was
When you came into the world
And instantly this very self is a living Buddha
Ideas of what’s good,
what’s bad
Are all due to yourself
In winter, a bonfire
Spells delight
But when summertime arrives
What a nuisance it becomes!
And the breezes
You loved in summer
Even before the autumn’s gone
Already have become a bother
Throwing your whole life away
Sacrificed to the thirst for gold
But when you saw your life was through
All your money was no use
Clinging, craving and the like
I don’t have them on my mind
That’s why nowadays I can say
The whole world is truly mine!
Since, after all this floating world
Is unreal
Instead of holding onto things in
Your mind, go and sing!
Only original mind exists
In the past and in the future too
Instead of holding onto things in
Your mind, let them go!
Having created
the demon mind yourself
When it torments you mercilessly
You’re to blame and no one else
When you do wrong
our mind’s the demon
There’s no hell
To be found outside
Hating hell
Longing for heaven
You make yourself suffer
In a joyful world
You think that good
Means hating what is bad
But what’s bad is
The hating mind itself
Fame, wealth, eating and
drinking, sleep and sensual delight –
Once you’ve leaned these Five Desires
They become
Your guide in life
Notions of what one should do
Never existed from the start
Fighting about what’s right, what’s wrong
That’s the doing of the false “I”
When your study
Of Reality is through
You find
You haven’t anything new
If you think the mind
That attains enlightenment
Is “mine” Your thoughts will wrestle, one with the other
These days I’m not bothering about
Getting enlightenment all the time
And the result is I wake up in the morning feeling fine!
Praying for salvation in the world to come
Praying for your own selfish ends
Is only piling on more and more
Self-centeredness and arrogance
Die — then live
Day and night within the world
Once you’ve done this, then you can
Hold the world right in your hand!
If you search for the Pure Land
Bent upon your own reward
You’ll only find yourself
despised By the Buddha after all!
People have no enemies
None at all right from the start
You create them all yourself
Fighting over right and wrong
Clear are the workings of cause and effect
You become deluded, but don’t know
It’s something that you’ve done yourself
That’s what’s called self-centeredness
Though the years may creep ahead
Original Mind itself can never age
This mind that’s
Always just the same
Wonderful! Marvelous!
When you’ve searched
and found at last
The one who never will grow old
— “I alone!”
The Pure Land
Where one communes at peace
Is here and now, it’s not remote
Millions and millions of leagues away
When someone tosses you a tea bowl
— Catch it!
Catch it nimbly with soft cotton
With the cotton of your skillful mind!
Is unreal
Instead of holding onto things in
Your mind, go and sing!
Only original mind exists
In the past and in the future too
Instead of holding onto things in
Your mind, let them go!
Having created
the demon mind yourself
When it torments you mercilessly
You’re to blame and no one else
When you do wrong
our mind’s the demon
There’s no hell
To be found outside
Hating hell
Longing for heaven
You make yourself suffer
In a joyful world
You think that good
Means hating what is bad
But what’s bad is
The hating mind itself
Fame, wealth, eating and
drinking, sleep and sensual delight –
Once you’ve leaned these Five Desires
They become
Your guide in life
Notions of what one should do
Never existed from the start
Fighting about what’s right, what’s wrong
That’s the doing of the false “I”
When your study
Of Reality is through
You find
You haven’t anything new
If you think the mind
That attains enlightenment
Is “mine” Your thoughts will wrestle, one with the other
These days I’m not bothering about
Getting enlightenment all the time
And the result is I wake up in the morning feeling fine!
Praying for salvation in the world to come
Praying for your own selfish ends
Is only piling on more and more
Self-centeredness and arrogance
Die — then live
Day and night within the world
Once you’ve done this, then you can
Hold the world right in your hand!
If you search for the Pure Land
Bent upon your own reward
You’ll only find yourself
despised By the Buddha after all!
People have no enemies
None at all right from the start
You create them all yourself
Fighting over right and wrong
Clear are the workings of cause and effect
You become deluded, but don’t know
It’s something that you’ve done yourself
That’s what’s called self-centeredness
Though the years may creep ahead
Original Mind itself can never age
This mind that’s
Always just the same
Wonderful! Marvelous!
When you’ve searched
and found at last
The one who never will grow old
— “I alone!”
The Pure Land
Where one communes at peace
Is here and now, it’s not remote
Millions and millions of leagues away
When someone tosses you a tea bowl
— Catch it!
Catch it nimbly with soft cotton
With the cotton of your skillful mind!
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