Hsing Hsing Ming (a Zen writing regarding non-duality)

A few excerpts from the Zen writing: Hsing Hsing Ming - Faith Mind Inscription. Seems to relate to the "3rd Gear" and Non-dual.
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The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is 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 to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
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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.
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Obey the nature of things (your own nature),
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When 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?
____
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination
are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.

Complete version: dharma-rain.org/StillPoint/archives/grap..._8_03/hsin2ming.html

Khara, Thank you for sharing this. It is perfect for this morning. metta, Constance

The Third Patriarch's Faith-Mind Poem [Hsin-Hsin Ming] is an excellent guide to practice, even though it can be easily misunderstood.

For example, consider the Chinese word "hsin", which means in Western terms both "heart" and "mind". This has confounded attempts at adequate translation. The first translation I ever read was by Charles Luke, a highly-advanced Chinese practitioner, who gave it the title "Have Faith in Your Mind."

The word "faith" has many connotations. For one, it suggests something other than mere thought. For another, it suggests something like belief, or uncritical acceptance. I believe these connotations can sometimes be misleading in terms of one's actual practice. What you happen to believe, or choose to have faith in, are relatively superficial when compared to what you actually FEEL.

You are alive in the body right now. Once you get past the beginner's level of practice, you inevitably notice that your body courses with energy. Where that energy flows, or is blocked, or concentrates is a direct result of your practice. And your practice is fundamentally about where you focus your attention, because energy follows attention. You will tend to put your attention on what you FEEL to be attractive.

FEEL the heart of light and love. Quite literally, at the heart (which has more than one node or center; more about that another time).

This is the true meaning of faith. This is prior to the thinking mind or even the world, manifest (here) or unmanifest (formless). As the Third Patriarch said:

"Here thought, feeling* knowledge, and imagination
are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self."
*[Wrong word! - G.]

Just so. But what is "Suchness"? Can you define it? Maybe not. But I'm certain that you know what it FEELS like.

I am regularly drawn to this text. The whole text has a flow that builds and climaxes with the last two versus where the stick that stirs the fire is consumed.

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.