Tổ Sư Thiền

 
1
Of a hut in the fields the elder, 
I'm the poorest man on earth! 
Inside the house there's not one thing; 
When I open my mouth it says "empty, empty." 
In the past I had bad friends- 
I saved them all, made them priests; 
Sitting together in harmony, 
I always have them hear of the Mahayana. 
At mealtimes carrying bowls for them, 
I serve them one and all.

2 
People have a one-scroll sutra
Without form and without name.
No man is able to unroll and read it,
And none of us can hear it.
When you are able to unroll and read it, 
You enter the principle and accord with the Birththless.
Not to speak of becoming a bodhisattva,
You don't even need to become Buddha.

3
I've long dwelled in the mountains, 
Having left the castle town. 
My thatch house had three rooms-
Each room was twelve feet long.
In one room lived Skandhas Five, 
In another lived Dusts Six-Four [Elements];₂
I myself lived in the innermost room, 
At ease all day with nothing to do. 
Last night on the moonless twenty-fifth,3
At dusk those two got drunk drinking liquor 
And started to get out of hand. 
They quibbled words in various ways 
Till I couldn't take any more-
So I set my house on fire. 
Skandhas Five turned to ashes and embers; 
Of Dusts Six, not two or one was left. 
Everything I had was completely lost-
Only the bare ground remained.
Now I am stark naked,
Without clothes to cover my body.
I'm no longer troubled by thieves-
Loafing, I sleep at ease....4

4
White-robed, I don't adhere to appearances; 
The true principle arises from Emptiness. 
Because my mind's without obstruction 
Wisdom goes forth to all directions. 
I only consider the lion's roar-
I don't let wild jackals yap! 
Bodhi is said to be most marvelous, 
But I scold it for being a false name.

5
Some people despise old P'ang, 
But old P'ang does not despise them. 
Opening my gate, I await good friends, 
But good friends do not stop by. 
As is my mind's endowed with the threefold learning_ 5
Consciousness-dusts do not mix with it;6
This one pill cures the ten thousand ills-
I've no need for the many prescriptions.

6
Traveling the path is easy, 
Traveling the path is easy! 
Within, without, and in between I depend upon innate Wisdom: 
Innate Wisdom being non-sentient, the dharmas are not born;
Birthless, I enter the true Principle.
Not form, not mind, a single radiance streams forth;
In the mind-ground appears the Udumbara tree7 of Emptiness

7
It is called Wisdom,
And Wisdom is the honored.
Mind and Wisdom interfusing, you penetrate the Origin,
And the ten thousand things likewise return into the Gate of Non-duality.
Existence is not existence- the Principle is always present;
Nothingness is not nothingness- Nothingness is the root of existence.
All Buddhas of the future also will be thus;
Those of today are the same as the ancient World-honored One:
Throughout the three realms8 there is no other Way;
What Buddha imparted to Buddha is being transmitted today.

8
Without no other, within no self. 
Not wielding spear and shield, I accord with Buddha-wisdom. 
Well-versed in the Buddha-way, I go the non-Way. 9
Without abandoning my ordinary man's affairs, 
The conditioned10 and name-and-form all are flowers in the sky:
Nameless and formless, I leave birth-and-death.

9
I have a great robe 
Not of this world's silk. 
It can't be dyed by any color, 
Being crystalline, like white floss. 
No scissors were used to cut it, 
No thread was used to stitch it. 
I keep it always close about me, 
But there's no man who of himself has seen it. 
It shelters a Trichilial Cosmos11 from heat and cold,
Covering over sentient and non-sentient alike. 
Should you be able to obtain this great robe, 
Having donned it, you straightaway enter the palace of the King of Emptiness.

10
Thinking, thinking, with bowed head thinking, thinking and unconsciously sighing,
Both his eyebrows turn toward that Surpassing Land;
He sits among the ten thousand things,
Knowing nothing at all.
If his six consciousnesses resemble his eyebrows,12
He will attain the miraculous.
If his six consciousnesses despise his eyebrows,
He can be said to be a brainless fool.
If he discards his eyebrows,
He'll be scorned by men of the world.
Even though he be a crafty six-consciousness fellow,
In the end he'll become just a beggar.
 

Notes:

1. The selections (25) that follow are representative of the style, content, and variety of P'ang best.
2. The five skandhas and six senses are personified in these two lines. The six senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and perception. The "four" inserted after Dusts Six may simply have been added to fill out the number of characters in the line, or it may refer to the four elements, which are earth, water, fire and air.
3. The 25th day of the lunar calendar.
4. I have omitted the two lines that follow and conclude this verse. Their meaning is not clear, and the verse seems better without them. 
5. Threefold learning: observing precepts (morality), meditation, and wisdom.
6. Consciousness-lusts: the cognitions of the six senses.
7. Udumbara tree: a legendary tree said to flower once every three thousand years.
8. The three realms of desire, form, and formlessness.
9. A reference to Chapter 8 of the Vimalakirti Sutra, where Vimalakirti says to Manjusri: ''When a bodhisattva goes the non-Way this is called being well-versed in the Buddha-way."
10. Skt. samskrta: that which is formed through causes and always produces effects; also, whatever is produced, continues, changes, and is destroyed.
11. A thousand to the third power, i.e., a billion worlds, which are said to constitute the domain of a Buddha. 
12. The word "eyebrows" from here on apparently means one's original nature.