"Words !! The WAY is Beyond Language...For in It there is no Yesterday...No Tomorrow...No Today!"

Thus ends the 'Hsin Hsin Ming'. 

Master Hsu Yun
The Timeless Mind of a Modern Buddha

An Epochal composition of the Third Zen Patriarch.  It's been a comforting Friend throughout my life.  I can't remember where I heard it first.

Ram Dass quoted from it often, and included it in set of recordings he put our called ' Love, Serve, Remember'.

It also used to be beside the counters of many spiritual bookstores.  A little yellow, phamplet-sized book on sale for one dollar!

It's so small as to be out of print today as a stand alone glyph, although available on the Internet. Here's my favorite translation"

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood,
the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.

Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things and such
erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

When you try to stop activity by passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.

Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things
is to miss their reality;
To assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.

The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

To return to the root is to find meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment,
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.

Do not search for the truth;
only cease to cherish opinions.
do not remain in the dualistic state.
Avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace of this and that,
of right and wrong,
the mind-essence will be lost in confusion.

Although all dualities come from the One,
do not be attached even to this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
nothing in the world can offend.
And when a thing can no longer offend,
it ceases to exist in the old way.

When no discriminating thoughts arise,
the old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish,
the thinking-subject vanishes:
As when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.

Things are objects because of the subject (mind):
the mind (subject) is such because of things (object).
Understand the relativity of these two
and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.
In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
and each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.

To live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult.
But those with limited views are fearful and irresolute:
the faster they hurry, the slower they go.
And clinging (attachment) cannot be limited:
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.  Just let things be in their own way
and there will be neither coming nor going.
Obey the nature of things (your own nature)
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.

When the thought is in bondage the truth is hidden
for everything is murky and unclear.
And the burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefit can be derived
from distinctions and separations?

If you wish to move in the One Way
do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
is identical with enlightenment.

The wise man strives to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.

There is one Dharma, not many.
Distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.

Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment
there is no liking and disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams or flowers in air –
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong,
such thoughts must
finally be abolished at once.

If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things are as they are,
of single essence.

To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached,
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.

Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion,
both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality,
no law or description applies.

For the unified mind in accord with the way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage:
Nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.

All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with no exertion of the mind’s power.
Here thought, feeling,
knowledge and imagination are of no value.

In this world of suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just say when doubt rises “not two”.
In this “not two” nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.

No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension
or diminution in time and space:
In it a single thought is ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, emptiness there,
but the infinite universe
stands always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.

So too with Being and non-Being.
Don’t waste time in doubts and arguments
That have nothing to do with this.

One thing, all things,
move among and intermingle without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,
because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.

Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.

by Sosan, Third Zen Patriarch, 6th Century AD

Not much one can say after that. Except that, mere 'intellectual assent' to a work is probably not as valuable as a lifetime's worth of cultivation.

Sadly, I look back on a lifetime of confusion.

I mostly let my emotions, my 'needs', my karmas, or Whatever-It-Was, direct me down a confused and pretty worldly way.

For THOSE choices I cannot ultimately blame Sidi, Aisha, or anybody else but me.

I was exposed to a very qualified Dharma Teacher very early, but had not done the requisite preparation to make use of the Teachings

It turns out there's no substitute for morality, virture, and intensive personal 'Cultivation', along the lines of this, my OTHER favorite Zen composition.

Yet, here I am STILL COMPLAINING...'When 'mist and dew disperse!' (see below)

The 'Song of the Skinbag' was penned by Venerable Hsu Yun (Empty Cloud), a most remarkable Patriarch whose purported 120 year lifespan led from the Nineteen Century in China, when the Dharma had fallen into corruption and mere 'Sutra-chanting', and unto the rise of the Chinese Communist Party.

His autobiography is a Spiritual Treasure of mankind.  It's published as "Empty Cloud" by Charles Luk, and used copies are still available, although pricey, on the Internet.

It was written in the Master's 19th year.

The Song of the Skin Bag, the skin bag is sung.
Before the empty eon it had neither name nor form,
After the Buddha with awe-inspiring voice it became a hindrance.
Three hundred and sixty tendons are linked within the body
Enclosed by four and eighty thousand pores.
Divided it splits into heaven, earth and man,
United it combines the four elements.
It supports heaven, props up earth,
But what of its mettle?
Understand cause and effect, discern the times
Survey the stupidity of past and present.
Because of wrong clinging to illusory forms,
Parents are involved and wife and children loved.
By vain indulgence in delusion karma is left behind,
The Song of the Skin Bag, the skin bag is sun.
Drinking wine and eating meat upset the mind-nature,
Indulgence in pleasure and desire leads to utter ruin.
When officialdom is strong to oppress the innocent
And readers artful against their consciences, how long
Will their wealth and power last, their pride and their extravagance?
The poor and lowly will not so last while there is cruelty and violence.
Discrimination between self and others leads to inequality,
Destroying living beings as worthless things.
Thinking and discerning cause desire, stupidity and hatred,
While becoming lost in heresies invites self-destruction.
Killing, stealing, adultery and lying have no end,
And rude behavior to others increases attachment and aversion.
To scold the wind and curse the rain is disrespectful to the gods,
While depression comes from ignorance of birth and death.
When leaving a cow’s womb to enter a mare’s belly
Who will sing of or lament your change of form?
Many evil acts without a good deed will make
Aimless and toilsome your transmigration.
Entering the three evil realms, falling into hell
Causes suffering to animals and hungry ghosts.
The ancient sages would oft repeat their warning,
Likewise the morning bell and drum at eve are to change your heart.
Good and evil karma bring certain retribution,
Escape then, worldly men, from the five periods of impurity.
The Song of the Skin Bag, the skin bag is sun;
If the owner of form is not entangled by it,
For illusory matter to interdependence owes its name -
He can readily turn his mind within To contemplate in sovereign ease.
With no desire for fame and for wealth no craving,
Cut off all liking and from the world retire.
With no love for wife and no affection for children
Enter a monastery to keep the discipline.
Look for learned teachers, seek out their teaching.
On Chan practice and meditation to o’er-lap the three worlds.
Store what you see and hear, forsake all causal clinging
To escape for ever from the worldly way.
By taming the six senses and stopping all your thoughts,
With neither self nor other, no trouble will remain,
Unlike worldly men who sigh when mist and dew disperse.
With one robe to cover you and food enough
To satisfy your hunger, keep yourself in shape.
Give wealth away, sacrifice your body and life
Without a second thought, as when you spit or sneeze.
Keep pure the discipline, be without fault
And correct in your deportment.
Be not angry
When insulted, bear no hatred when you are beaten,
Forget all derision by enduring the unendurable.
Without deviation, without interruption
Hold forever the one thought of Amitabha.
Let there be no dullness, no confusion,
But like the fir and cypress defy the bitter cold.
Doubt no more the Buddha, doubt no more the Dharma;
With innate wisdom look clearly into what you see and hear,
Bore the paper, cut the hide and go back
To the source, for self-liberation means
Returning to the spring and source of reality.
There is neither ‘non-existence’ nor emptiness
Exposed is the potentiality divine, wondrous and inconceivable.
When you reach here all grievance ends.
Hurrah, for now you realize the goal.
With the ten titles of Buddha you will teach a myriad worlds.
Aha, that same leaking shell is now
The omnipresent Buddha-body.
Clearly good and evil karmas are infallible, so why
Rely on falsehood instead of practicing the truth?
When the absolute is split the two extremes appear,
The spirit mind turns into heaven and earth.
Kings and ministers are noble owing to their past karmas,
None are rich or noble, poor or humble without previous cause.
Where there is birth - there will be death,
Why grumble since this is known to everyone?
For wife, children (and self), for happiness and wealth
All prospects are spoiled by anger and desire.
For what fame or gain did I trifle
Away my last nineteen springs?
Frustrations of a thousand, nay ten thousand kinds
Harass and make your life yet more unbearable.
When you grow old with failing sight and snow-white hair
You will have vainly passed a lifetime ignorant of virtue.
From day to month, from month to year in vain will you
Regret that months and years turn like a wheel.
Who is an immortal in this world of ours?
’Tis better to revere once more the cloud of compassion
And on a famous mountain or in some renowned place
To live at ease in transcendental bliss.
Do not you know how fast the temporary flies?
Respectfully ponder a few expedient sentences,
Recite Amitabha’s name, see clearly into birth and death,
Then enjoy happiness beyond the reach of others.
Practice Chan, seek out its aim; the pure
And the spiritual are only this.
With clear tea and vegetarian food the mind
Errs not, enjoying Dharma night and day.
Forsake both self and other, relinquish ‘you’ and ‘I’,
Treat friend and foe alike forgetting praise and censure.
When the mind is free from hindrance and disgrace
Do Buddhas and Patriarchs regard its Oneness as being without use?
The World-Honored One renounced his love to climb the snowy mountains,
While Avalokitesvara left home to become a son of the Buddha.
In the days of Yao and Shun lived Zhao and Yu,
When the throne was offered to Zhao he washed his ears.
Remember Zhang Zi-fang and Liu Cheng-Yi
Who cast away their glory, retiring from the world.
In this period of termination when troubles lie ahead,
Why do you not awaken to vie with the ancestors?
To indulge in ignorance, committing the ten evils
Exhausts your ingenuity and wins the world’s contempt.
Wars, epidemics, droughts and floods are frequent,
Death, famine and strife succeed each other and
When weird tales prevail misfortune follows.
’Midst earthquakes, landslides and tidal waves
What will you do in order to escape?
Evil acts in past transmigrations
Cause present falsehood and frustration.
When poor and in trouble virtue should first be cultivated,
Then in a monastery worship with virtuous heart the King of the Law,
Repentance and reform from past wrong deeds improve your lot.
Call on learned teachers, seek your experience to seal,
First learn, then leave both birth and death to realize the
Mindnature,
Impermanence exposed reveals eternity.
Path lies in path within your practice.
The saints and sages left clear sayings to reform the world,
Slight not then the teaching of the Tripitaka.
With earnestness and deep sincerity
I urge all human beings to be righteous
Take not my words as idle nor forget them,
For self-cultivation leads to perception of self-nature.
Hasten your practice, be ever zealous,
For the sowing of Bodhi is the direct cause of awakening.
The nine stages after rebirth in the Lotus are testified by the Buddha,
An Amitabha will take you to the Western Paradise.
Lay down your bag of skin, leap on the Vehicle Supreme.
This is the Song of the Skin Bag, hearken to it friends!

By Master Hsu Yun , 1860 (His Ninteenth Year)

Harken to it, indeed!