Teachings From Ancient Vietnamese Zen Masters – 184
77 At Ease with Birth and Death
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.
TUỆ TRUNG THƯỢNG SĨ (1230 - 1291)
(COMMENT: Tue Trung was not a monk, but he was a prominent Zen
master. His poetry is so beautiful and powerful. Just like Zen itself.)
