Two Gathas

Shen-hsiu wrote:

My body's like the Bodhi Tree*

My mind is like a mirror stand

From all dust to keep it free

I wipe it off with a cloth in hand

Hui-neng saw this was not complete understanding and wrote the following in response:

In the state of bodhi there is no tree**

Nor does a mirror need a stand

We have nothing at all originally

So where could dust possibly land?

Study these words. Sit with these words. Master Hui-neng says we don't originally have anything, so asks where could dust land. 

*The tree under which the Buddha realized Awakening.

**Bodhi means "Awakening"

---The poems are translated by Brad Warner---