On Pursuing That Which Leaves No Tracks

From the beginning

there is nothing to be sought.

Already within

is the complete solution.

 

There is no sense in travelling.

No sense in seeking to get

from a learned teacher

the wisdom you already possess.

 

No sense in austerity

mindlessly sitting

sifting and searching

for another's insights.

 

No sense in adopting ceremonies,

rituals, oblations,

doing good just to feel good

trying to reach a destination hidden in the heart.

 

No sense in walking

to reach a goal that isn't there.

No sense in thinking

to solve a problem that doesn't exist in thought.

 

All you have to do

This minute

is to stop -

turn the mind upon itself.

 

Draw your sense within

Turn yourself inside out:

Gazing into the lake of awareness

Let what is there emerge from its lair.

 

Let what is there

invade your breathing.

Let what is there

pulsate in your heart.

 

Let what is there

warm your loins, spin in your skull.

What is this anguish of seeking in the future

that which is already lying in the palms of your hands?

 

Right now - you have it. Hold it close.

Look directly behind your own face.

Grasping the monster firm let him be

or he'll ride you out again along the paths of time.

 

And let it all go!

Fall!

Gone gone altogether gone!

See within the Universe ringing in your ears.

 

Time and space

are simply the ring

through which the Tiger

jumps.

 

Text by John Crook after study of the Platform Sutra. Approx 1975. Slightly revised 2001.