"The Unborn," by Zen Master Bankei

A New Interpretation of "The Unborn"  by Zen Master Bankei

Note to the reader: After reading Norman Waddell's translation of "The Unborn," I exchanged references such as "Buddha Mind," "Satori," and "Heart Sutra" with non-Buddhist terms, and therefore I rewrote some sentences for coherence.

Enlightenment is unconcerned with either birth, life events or death. As evidence of this, when looking at things, you're able to see and distinguish them all at once. And as you are doing that, if a bird sings or a bell tolls, or other noises or sounds occur, you hear and recognize each of them too, even though you haven't given rise to a single thought to do so. Everything in your life, from morning until night, proceeds in this same way without your having to depend upon thought or reflection. But most people are unaware of that; they think everything is a result of their deliberation. That is a great mistake! 

The enlightened mind and the minds of ordinary men are not two different minds. Those who strive earnestly in their practice because they want to attain enlightenment (“Self” knowledge), or those who want to increase their mental knowledge (“me” knowledge), are likewise greatly mistaken. Everyone who recites mantras or does spiritual practice have heard through hearsay that the "Self" is unborn and undying. But they haven't sounded the source of the Unborn. They still have the idea that they can find their way to enlightenment by using reason and discrimination. As soon as the notion to seek enlightenment or to attain the "way" enters your mind, you've gone astray from the source of “me.”  Anyone who tries to get enlightened thereby falls out of the source and into secondary matters. You are always already enlightened to begin with, always already what you seek.  There is no way for you to become enlightened now for the first time!  Within this original, there isn't even a trace of illusion. Nothing, I can assure you, ever arises from within it. If you harbor the least notion to become better than you are or the slightest inclination to seek something, you turn your back on what is already prevalent, the “Isness” of “I am.  There is neither joy nor anger in the clear mind you were born with - only the illuminative wisdom that enlightens all things.