The Heart of Zazen

after Reb, Kobun, Dogen, and Hongzhi

In the heart of the ancient practice of zazen
to free and awaken all beings
compassion grows through upright non-thinking,
love blossoms through upright non-hindering.

As your compassion grows through upright non-thinking,
your mind flirts with immediacy.
As your love flowers through upright non-hindering,
your mind's dualities, and fixation on self, fade.

As mind approaches immediacy
defilements and hindrances drop away.
In upright nonthinking and non-hindering,
experience is neither general nor particular.

If your true nature resumes itself,
immediacy evolves with no obstacles.
If your intimate experience is neither general nor particular,
upright effort is without desire.

Clear water all the way to the bottom,
A fish swims like a fish.
Vast sky transparent throughout,
A bird flies like a bird.

Translations and Interpretations
of The Point of Zazen by Dogen (1200-1253 AD)
and The Acupuncture Needle of Zazen by Hongzhi (1091–1157).
(The paraphrase above is by Tokuho Cliff Isberg.)