A Gāthā of Zen Master Lung-men Fo-yen


Delusion means to be deluded about awakening,
Awakening means to be awakened to delusion.
Delusion and awakening are the same essence--
Once you awaken you will know this.

In delusion you take south for north
And grasp at this observation as being real.
Actually north is originally the same as south--
Upon awakening you will no longer doubt it.

If you delve into the conditions of delusion,
You cannot find the place where they arise.
Should you suddenly awaken to the right direction,
Where can delusion go?

Delusion is just delusion,
It is you yourself who wrongly assign value.
Through the mistaken attention of the samsāric mind,
You vainly accept doctrinal tenets.

If you penetrate through delusion and falsity disappears,
Your joy will be limitless.
The slaying of the brigand, ignorance,
Happens in an instant.
Within that instant,
You arcanely pervade the chiliocosm.

If there is immediate cognition,
The three time periods become an empty mystery.
Since beginningless time,
All things exist now today.
For the rest of time,
You need search no further.

The present thought is thoughtless,
The numinous light is brilliant.
As the numinous brilliance shines ever bright,
The mind's awareness is difficult to block.

The numinous source reaches clear to the blue sky
And enters all phenomena in creation.
When ocean seal samādhi manifests clearly,
You will be unconcerned about activity or rest.


[These verses express an idea that is central to Zen -- that awakening and understanding can be realized fully within the period of one thought moment. (That is, Zen is a complete and sudden approach.) The first stanza explains that delusion and awakening derive from the same basic source. The second and third stanzas explain this same equality. The fourth stanza gives a different explanation of the characteristics of delusion. The fist stanza to the end explain the nature of enlightenment, meaning the results to be expected from the awakening experience. See CYKM, Fol. 26b,12-27a.2]

Quoted in Tracing Back the Radiance - Chinul's Korean Way of Zen - by Robert E. Buswell Jr., pages 178-179


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