Song of Zazen (Zazen Wasan)

Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku's Zazen Wasan.


Sentient beings are originally Buddhas.
Like water and ice.
There is no ice without water,
No Buddhas outside sentient beings.
Yet sentient beings don't know how close it is,
And search for it far away. How sad!
It's like dying of thirst
In the middle of a fount of water;
Or a rich man's son
Wandering like a lost beggar.
We are bound to the realm of samsara
Because ignorance keeps us in darkness.
Walking in darkness,
When will we escape from birth and death?
The Zen of the Great Vehicle
is beyond all superlatives.
Charity, precepts, all the other virtues,
Chanting, repentance, training, and
All good works
Have their source in Zen.
Sit sincerely in meditation just once,
And it erases layers of evil karms.
No longer in the valley of hell,
The Pure Land is so close.
Reverently listen to this teaching
Just one time,
Praise and rejoice in it,
And boundless good fortune will be your.
Better yet, dedicate yourself
Directly to enlightening your own nature;
Once self-nature equals no nature,
You'll be free of this empty chatter.
Open the gate of cause and effect
And walk straight ahead without delay.
Use no-form as form,
Wander without settling down.
Use no-thought as thought,
Sing and dance with the Buddha's Law.
Open the vastness of unobstructed repose,
Bask in the brilliance of complete wisdom.
At this very moment, what do we need to seek?
Nirvana is before our eyes.
This place is the Lotus Land,
This body is that of the Buddha.