Magnifying or Contracting

 

Yutang Lin

 

 

Talking about others' right or wrong
           Comparing their adequacy and shortcomings
Usually it is said in Chinese as
           "Magnifying others to look at"
Regarded from the angle of Dharmadhatu as a whole
It would be
           "Contracting Mind's Eye in focusing"

Dharma teaches that we should
           View things as they are
All worldly affairs are views
           Of some people at some time in some locality
If, while viewing things as they are
           Mind could be as expansive and everlasting as the Dharmadhatu
           Without being confined by biased views of some particular time and place
Then Mind's Eye will be clear and penetrating
           And see that indeed there are no worldly affairs
           But only all sorts of psychological knots

A Dharma practitioner should definitely not
           To contract Mind's Eye by focusing and fixing it
           On dusts ungraspable and faded long ago

As long as one could let it all go
Where are the traces and shadows of worldly affairs
Once renounced
           Mind will naturally approximate to
The limitless openness of the Dharmadhatu

Written in Chinese and translated on April 26, 2011
El Cerrito, California