the lost writings of wu hsin (sample)
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The Lost Writings
of Wu Hsin
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
2
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
Translation by Roy Melvyn
Copyright 2010 Roy Melvyn
_____
Volume One
Aphorisms for Thirsty Fish
03
Volume Two
The Magnificence of the Ordinary
18
Volume Three
In the Shadow of the Formless
30
Volume Four
Recognition of the Obvious
49
Volume Five
No Great Future Attainment
62
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 3
Volume One
Aphorisms for Thirsty Fish Brief Background
It is widely believed that Wu Hsin was born during the Warring States Period (403-221 BCE), postdating the death of Confucius by more than one hundred years.
This was a period during which the ruling house of Zhou had lost much of its authority and power, and there was increasing violence between states. This situation birthed “the hundred schools”, the flourishing of many schools of thought, each setting forth its own concepts of the prerequisites for a return to a state of harmony. The two most influential schools were that of Confucius and the followers of Mozi ("Master Mo"), the Mohists. The latter were critical of the elitist nature and extravagant behaviors of the traditional culture. The philosophical movement associated with the Daodejing also was emerging at this time. Wu Hsin's style of Daoist philosophy developed within the context defined by these three schools and appears to be most heavily influenced by that latter. In addition, it most clearly contains the seeds of what would
become Ch‟an Buddhism in China or Zen in Japan.
Wu Hsin was born in a village called Meng, in the state of Song. The Pu River in which Wu Hsin
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4
was said to have fished was in the state of Chen which had become a territory of Chu. We might say that Wu Hsin was situated in the borderlands between Chu and the central plains—the plains centered around the Yellow River which were the home of the Shang and Zhou cultures.
Certainly, as one learns more about the culture of Chu, one senses deep resonances with the aesthetic sensibility of the Daoists, and with Wu Hsin's style in particular. If the traditional dating is reliable, Wu Hsin would have been a contemporary of Mencius, but one is hard pressed to find any evidence that there was any communication between them. The philosopher Gao Ming, although not a Daoist, was a close friend and stories abound of their philosophical rivalries.
Wu Hsin‟s work was significant for Daoist
religious practitioners who often took ideas and themes from it for their meditation practice, as an example, Sima Chengzhen's „Treatise on Sitting and
Forgetting‟ (ca. 660 C.E.). He offers a highly refined
view of life and living. When he writes “Nothing appears as it seems”, he challenges the reader to question and verify every belief and every assumption.
Brevity was the trademark of his writing style. Whereas his contemporaries were writing lengthy
tomes, Wu Hsin‟s style reflected his sense that
words, too, were impediments to the attainment of Understanding; that they were only pointers and nothing more. He would use many of the same words over and over because he felt that people
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 5
needed to hear words repeatedly, until the Understanding was louder than the words.
His writings are filled with paradoxes, which cause the mind to slow down and, at times, to even stop. Reading Wu Hsin, one must ponder. However, it is not an active pondering, but a passive one, much in the same way as one puts something in the oven and lets it bake for a while.
He repeatedly returns to three key points. First, on the phenomenal plane, when one ceases to resist What-Is and becomes more in harmony with It, one attains a state of Ming, or clear seeing. Having arrived at this point, all action becomes wei wu wei, or action without action (non-forcing) and there is a working in harmony with What-Is to accomplish what is required. Second, as the clear seeing deepens (what he refers to as the opening of the great gate), the understanding arises that there is no one doing anything and that there is only the One doing everything through the many and diverse objective phenomena which serve as Its instruments. From this flows the third and last: the seemingly separate me is a misapprehension, created by the mind which divides everything into pseudo-subject (me) and object (the world outside of this me). This seeming two-ness (dva in Sanskrit, duo in Latin, dual in English), this feeling of being separate and apart, is the root cause of unhappiness.
The return to wholeness is nothing more than the end of this division. It is an apperception of the unity between the noumenal and the phenomenal in much the same way as there is a single unity between the sun and sunlight. Then, the pseudo-subject is
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6
finally seen as only another object while the true Subjectivity exists prior to the arising of both and is their source.
All five volumes consist of what would appear to be his day-to-day reflections as they spontaneously arose. There is no progression in the pages, no evolution of the concepts put forth. As such, reading pages randomly or from the beginning has the same efficacy. Nor should it be read with haste; a page or two at a time is sufficient to allow for the content to sink in, as a thrown stone falls to the bottom of the lake. In its essence, this Volume One is a collection of hooks; any one of them is sufficient to catch a thirsty fish Translator’s Note
Material of this nature is not served well by language. It may seem that there are anomalies and contradictions. So, it is important to state that the translation of Wu Hsin’s words herein is not purely literal. Instead, it contains an interpretation of what was clearly implied, and this is where the limitation of words is quite evident.
Compounding this problem, I have chosen to incorporate certain words into the translation which may appear to be incongruent relative to the time of
Wu Hsin‟s writing. The clearest example of this
would be my use of the word ego which wasn‟t to
come into being for many of hundreds of years after
Wu Hsin‟s death.
I have done this to best capture the real essence of the intention behind the word. The
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 7
original Chinese word 个人 (ge ren) means the
individual. However, using the individual doesn‟t
capture the sense of separateness that is better conveyed by ego.
The Sanskrit language also provides us with some marvelous insight. In it, the word for mind is manas, which translated literally means that which measures and compares. That says it pretty well. The Sanskrit word for ego is ahamkara; its translation is I
am the doer. Within the context of Wu Hsin‟s message, the conveyance of the idea of I am the doer is vitally important. As such, this and other small liberties that I have taken with the translation feel more than reasonable. RM
~
What follows is A dissertation on the Unspeakable.
It is an attempt to Describe the Undescribable;
To capture with words That which cannot be captured;
The Unutterable. As such, it is destined to fall short.
That having been said, Let us now proceed.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
8
These words are The transmission of Wu Hsin.
Thanks be to Heaven for Granting their approval. They transcend time and
Therefore are beyond time. They will be as valid in Five thousand years as
They are in this moment. In the absence of a resonance, They will have no meaning nor
Create any interest. This resonance cannot be willed into being.
It is either inherent by nature or It is not.
These words come out from A place devoid of
Concepts and doubts. As such, they are not only spontaneous, but
Natural and true. They are not intended to
Create new concepts, But, to instead, Dispel old ones.
The words of Wu Hsin are Not meant for discussion which only
Distorts and pollutes. Take them in and
Move on.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 9
This is the present condition: Birth is the entry to phenomenality.
Death is the exit from phenomenality. All that requires insight is: Who is born and who dies?
Or better stated: What is born and what dies?
~
The attachment to beliefs is The greatest shackle.
To be free is To know that
One does not know.
~
One is what One absorbs
~
It is easier to teach a blind man To paint than it is
To convey What-Is with mere words.
~
The end of questioning is
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
10
The same as The end of seeking.
Further and further explanations Do not provide
That which is sought. Additional information
Does not provide That which is sought.
Drop these activities and Rest in what is
Prior to all mental activity: Awareness.
~
Sound is the same but Its expression
Through various instruments is different. So it is with Being.
~
Half knowledge cannot take one To full wisdom.
Knowledge of the world is inferior to Knowledge of that which
Births the world and is Prior to it.
~ What problems can there be that
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The mind did not create? The solution to problems begins with
The cessation in believing in The content of one’s thoughts.
~
To know that one is, is natural. To know what one is
Requires a diving into the depths of One’s own being.
The pearl rests on the bottom.
~
An event becomes An experience through Personal involvement.
Collecting experiences can be Helpful with the daily aspects of life,
But it is not The road to happiness.
~
It is understood that Sleep is the desire for
A period of rest For the body.
It is less understood that Sleep is the desire for
A period of rest
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
12
Away from the body.
~
The inherent nature of mind is To process thought.
To attempt the cessation of thought Goes against what is natural.
The goal, therefore, is not The cessation of thought. The goal is cessation of
Identification with thought.
~
All this running around, Praying and making offerings so that
The next life will be better than This life.
What silliness! Life after this death is
Not different than, Nor better than
Life before this birth.
~
At the root, There is no difference between Separation and dissatisfaction.
This is so because
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Feeling separate and apart is The primary dissatisfaction.
~
Thoughts intrude, like Unwelcome guests at a party.
Ignored and unfed, They depart.
~
What is called peace by many is Merely the absence of disturbance. True peace cannot be disturbed;
It resides beyond the reach of disturbance.
~
Nothing is as it seems. The common view is that
There is a subjective observer Observing an objective world;
The former separate from The latter.
Nothing is as it seems.
~
When here becomes
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14
Everywhere and Now becomes Always, then
One has succeeded.
~
When one is enthralled with The beauty on the surface of the ocean,
The immensity of its depths can Never be discerned.
~ The Source and Substance of everything
Has no name. When Wu Hsin names it:
The Eternal or The Infinite or
What-Is or That or
The Mystery or The Absolute,
He merely points to It. Make a list of All your pains, Your sorrows,
Your hurts and disappointments. This, too, is Part of It.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 15
There is reading But no reader of this writing
Without an author. The merger of
The reading and the writing is Deep insight and understanding.
~
How many have there been Who have come to Wu Hsin
To ask “Why?” Why is this? or
Why is that? “Why?”
As there are many perspectives, There can be many answers.
Yet, in the end, The best answer to “Why?” is
Why not?
~
It is man Who is in movement
Against the background of immobility. But who moves the moved?
~
We are afloat in
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16
The Great River. All are carried along.
Some swim against the flow. They, too, are carried along.
~
The departure from what is natural is The birthplace of personality.
The world of persons is A solitary place,
Each separate and alone. To achieve peace,
One must retrace the way one came.
~
What is latent and What is dormant are
Not the same. The dormant arises and sets;
The latent ever is.
~
Only the fool Seeks to stop
The shaking of
The moon‟s reflection on the water.
The acceptance of what Cannot be changed
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 17
Paves the way to The changeless.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
18
Volume Two
The Magnificence of the Ordinary Forward
It has been said that should someone find a bright star, they have no right to keep it in their pocket. Instead, they should carry it openly so that its light may shine on all.
These lost writings of the ancient Chinese Wu Hsin are one such star. In Volume One: Aphorisms for Thirsty Fish, Wu Hsin spelled out the reality of being and stripped away the hallucination of the separate, individual doer.
In Volume Two: The Magnificence of the Ordinary, he concentrates much of his writing in describing what it’s like to live from this different point of view. Surprisingly, it is not some cosmic, mind blowing, disassociation from everything. Instead, he suggests that the mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
He presents a view of the world where black is not separate from white. They are two opposite poles of a unitary wholeness. No good without bad, no high without low, etc. What may be good today may be bad tomorrow. Seeing this clearly, one understands it is best to live without judgment.
He also draws a definitive distinction between knowledge and knowing. The former is of things, of
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 19
form, of the world. It is cumulative. The latter is organic, inherent and not contingent on anything. It is the very movement from knowledge to knowing that is the unambiguous affirmation of a life lived naturally and in alignment with What-Is. He describes such a life this way:
Wu Hsin has given up All notions of what he is not: Not the mind, Not the body, Not the senses. He knows that he knows these But is not them. His is a life of ease. No longer habitual, No longer mechanical, Remembering only What needs to be remembered; Doing only What needs to be done, Spontaneously, in every moment.
His words are often terse, yet undeniably potent; provocative and immensely profound. In a sense, each text is hologramatic; a seeming part containing the whole. A single statement within this collection is sufficient to jolt the reader into a new dimension of awareness. He prescribes no process, sets out no path to be followed. Everything unfolds.
He stresses that none of this is something to be acquired. It is not something to be gained which can eventually be lost. It is here and now; it was here
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
20
before and will continue to be here in the future. It is the very Ground of Being and it is available to all without further postponement or delay. He sums this up succinctly in his opening four lines:
The world is a collection of objects. That which perceives the objects Cannot itself be an object. You are That.
There will always be conscious beings wondering about the fact of their being conscious and enquiring into its cause and aim. What am I? Who am I? Such questions have no beginning and no end. And it is crucial to know the answers, for without a full understanding of oneself, both in time and in timelessness, life is an illusion, a projection from the mind, completely enslaved to neurology, genetics and circumstances.
Simplicity and humility are the keynotes of the life and words of Wu Hsin. He espouses no teaching, claiming he has none to offer, no system or philosophy or method to expound. He knows his own real nature, acknowledging that it is no different from another’s.
The key, he suggests, is that the mind must cease its incessant movement and recognize and penetrate its own being, not as being anything in particular, neither here nor there, but just timeless being.
This timeless being is the source of both the primal energy of life and of consciousness. Every human has it, every human is it, but not all know
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 21
themselves as they truly are. Instead they identify themselves with a name, a shape, a personality and the collections and content of their thoughts.
The only way to rectify the error is to understand the modes of the mind and to turn it into an instrument of self-discovery. In earlier times, the mind was originally a tool in the struggle for biological survival. It had to learn the laws and ways of Nature in order to conquer it. That it did, but in the process, the mind acquired the art of symbolic thinking and communication, the art and skill of language. Words became important; ideas and acquired the appearance of reality, the conceptual replaced the real. The result is that man now lives in a world, where verbal pointers are mistaken to be facts.
The most commonly used word is I. The mind includes in it anything and everything relating to its counterpart, the body. To explore the sense of I, to reach its source, is the breakthrough into the real and away from the imagined.
Discontinuous, the sense of I must have a source from which it emanates and returns. As to methods of realizing one’s unity with beingness and life, Wu Hsin is elusive. But for all, the portal, regardless of how one arrives at it, is the sense of am-ness, prior to the notion of I am, as something separate and distinct.
It is through apperceiving the full scope and vastness of this am-ness, that one can realize the primordial and the ultimate.
This dwelling on the sense of being is simple, easy and natural. No preparation is required and no effort, regardless of its intensity, can achieve it. The
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
22
payoff is that one becomes fully conscious while remaining active and is therefore a gift to the entire world. Life goes on, but it is spontaneous and free, meaningful and happy.
Volume Two, The Magnificence of the Ordinary continues Wu Hsin’s elucidation of this natural state. In it, he provides additional pointers to this effortless way of being.
~
The world is a collection of objects. That which perceives the objects
Cannot itself be an object. You are That.
~
Just as honey is not sweetness, The words of Wu Hsin are not
The truth. However, time spent with these words is like
The aftermath of rain. In due course, a sprouting of Understanding will occur and
Will bear fruit at a pace Outside of one’s control.
~
Do not deem
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Wu Hsin to be insane Simply because you cannot hear
The music he dances to. Man is the one who is insane:
His solution to his Need for security is to
Lock himself away in a prison. What could be more secure than
A prison? He passes his time
In a solitary cell labeled “me”. Believing he is now safe and that
No other can harm him, He has exchanged freedom
For security. What is outside
The walls of the prison is the unknown, Possibly not secure,
Not safe, Alien, at times hostile, and
Not at all predictable. Yet what sane man would choose
Prison over freedom? Man is the one who is insane:
He trades the experience of life, Here and now,
For time and attention spent On regretting the past,
Wishing for a better past and Hoping for a brighter future,
For a future that will right What is now deemed not right.
The fragrance of the apple blossoms,
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24
The laughter of a child, The blueness of the sky,
All sacrificed on the altar of Mental preoccupations.
What a waste! Man is the one who is insane:
Yet, quite normal Within societal boundaries.
Numerous methods may lead one to Being more comfortable.
But that is all you get: One who is more comfortable in their prison,
Not one freed from their prison. Nothing gets a person out of their prison
Because the person is the prison.
~
Wu Hsin may say something well; That doesn’t mean he has
Anything to say. What he speaks of is greater than
Anything he can say about it. He will reveal it
In much the same way As a sculptor reveals the image,
By removing chunks from the block.
~
These words are not directed to Any individual,
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 25
Any personality, Any you.
Instead they go to that Which supports the “you”,
Sustains the “you”, Yet is prior to it.
~
If one takes the rear end of a dog From the front end of a dog
One has no dog.
~
Yu Ping watched the moon rise Yu Ping watched the moon set.
He saw the sun rise and the sun set. Day after day: Moon rise, set Sun rise, set.
Noticing that the sun always rose, After the moon set,
Yu Ping wrongly concluded that The setting of the moon was
The cause of the rising of the sun.
~ How can black be known In the absence of white?
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
26
~
The success of one Can only be measured against
The failure of another.
~
To whatever degree Man attempts to control nature,
Nature responds in kind. It cannot be mastered but
It can be destroyed. In so doing,
Man destroys himself.
~ It is the way of energy that
It does not need a governor. Why perpetuate an illusion
By seeking to control anything?
~
All enemies are implicit allies In the game of hatred.
In the absence of either, There is no game.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 27
Perfect archery Has no archer.
~
The strategy of seeking An advantageous position
Over life is The wellspring of sorrow.
~
Wu Hsin did not Come into the world;
Rather, he came out from it.
~
Man and his environment are not Separate and distinct;
Push one and the other moves. This interaction is an Integral process of a Unitary wholeness.
~
At what point does Telling your god
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28
What to do and What you want,
Become tiresome? At what point is this
Seen through For the sham that it is?
~
Time eats every thing.
~
All life is a single event: One moment flowing into the next,
Naturally. Nothing causing everything.
Everything causing everything.
~
How is beginning defined? Is it the birth of the baby or Is it the birth of its mother?
~
What is the world other than Numberless mirrors
Reflecting the light from
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 29
A single source?
~
The Source of being Cannot be conceived.
Only objects are conceived, While the subject remains
Finer than mist. Wu Hsin advises to Stop searching for
What cannot be found and Instead realize that
One’s inherent nature is that of The sought.
~
No amount of study, No attendance in any school Can teach one to be oneself.
Being is everything, Being any thing in particular is
An illusion.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
30
Volume Three
In the Shadow of the Formless
Forward
You hold in your hand a most unique tutorial
on the subject of being. In one sense, it is unique in
that the subject of how-to-be does not receive much
attention. In another sense, its uniqueness rests in the
simplicity and clarity in which the subject is
presented.
These lost writings of the ancient Chinese Wu
Hsin are completely devoid of compromise. They
challenge the most fundamental assumptions we
make about ourselves and our world and, when
viewed from openness, are truly transformative.
In Volume Three, In the Shadow of the Formless,
Wu Hsin continues his great treatise with some
surprising statements. For example:
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 31
One inherent error is
The preference for
The song of the future over
The seeming blandness of
The present moment.
Another error is
Using the mind
To try to understand
The words of Wu Hsin.
The mind is a tool
Unsuited to this task.
The proper tool is silence.
The seed is in the ground;
The sun will shine;
The rain will fall;
Nothing need be done.
Nothing need be done. After all the words
have been read, after their meaning has been
pondered with new concepts possibly added, nothing
need be done. How hard this is for the Western mind
to accept. “What do I need to do to get it?” is the
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
32
usual question. Here, Wu Hsin provides the
disconcerting answer “Nothing need be done”.
Behind this statement lies the even more
disquieting question “Who is there to do anything?”
Therein, the reader is returned to one of the central
themes of Wu Hsin, that is, that there really is no
such thing as an individual:
There is a belief of separateness,
That you are separate from the rest.
There is nothing you can do
To rid yourself of this belief because
“You” is the belief.
Stated in modern terms, the philosophy of
Wu Hsin could be summed up in this manner: There
is thinking and there is functioning, distinct from
thinking. Thinking reflects the programming for
survival, for continuity, which manifests through the
psychosomatic apparatus. A reference point is
created via the thought me. This me is the sum or
totality of all fears: the fear of pain, the fear of loss,
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 33
and ultimately, the fear of absence. Most of the
thoughts regarding me are repetitious, an extraneous
feedback loop in the nervous system.
Interestingly however, thought is not born in
the brain any more than a radio creates sound. It is
merely transmitted through it. Functioning occurs
through the workings of consciousness and the life-
force. Functioning is effortless and natural. Cells are
replaced, wastes are eliminated, what needs to be
done gets done.
There is an aware-presence-energy. Giving
attention to thought perpetuates the programming.
Giving attention to the functioning, the aware-
presence-energy, facilitates the de-programming. The
"I/me" is latent in the apparatus at birth, as the
flower is latent in the seed. The preliminary
programming is installed genetically.
At some point between 18-24 months,
sufficient memories, both pleasant and unpleasant,
have accumulated thereby triggering the "I/me" or
self consciousness to arise. Seeing itself as separate
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
34
and insecure causes the activation (boot) of the
programming as a means of protection.
It is perpetually modified and adjusted
(upgraded) by the experiences of the apparatus and is
further “tweaked” by the moment-by-moment
adjustments made by the endocrine system. From
that point forward, the hardware (soma) receives the
input from the environment. It is processed by the
software (psyche) which provides the output
([re]action). There is no individual, as such, doing
anything. Everything that happens is the cause of
everything that happens. There is no center to
infinity.
I strongly doubt that Wu Hsin would want
readers to take him at his word. Instead, he would
ask that each investigate the matter deeply within
oneself. Search for the individual, locate the
operating center. This is the lasting challenge of one
of the most profound teachers of all time.
~
Using the flutist’s flute
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 35
Does not make one
A flutist.
Wu Hsin has no tools,
No method to render.
He speaks of how it was for him,
Not implying that it will be
Likewise for another.
~
Wu Hsin has no intended outcome in
The offering of these words,
Just as water is unconcerned
Whether or not
It quenches thirst.
~ All individuals die.
Only those
Who are no longer individuals
Live forever.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
36
One inherent error is
The preference for
The song of the future over
The seeming blandness of
The present moment.
Another error is
Using the mind
To try to understand
The words of Wu Hsin.
The mind is a tool
Unsuited to this task.
The proper tool is silence.
The seed is in the ground;
The sun will shine;
The rain will fall;
Nothing need be done.
~
You believe that
There is nothing greater than
Your God.
Wu Hsin says
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 37
There is nothing greater than
Your God and
I am that Nothing.
~
The reconciliation of
The feeling of separateness with
The reality of unity is
The enlightened view.
That which provided
The feeling of separateness
Takes it away.
There is nothing to be done.
~
What is derived from effort
Relates to the physical realm only.
What is derived from effortlessness, is
True knowing.
Not a knowledge of things, but
A knowing of What-Is.
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38
Just as a spider
Spins a web out from itself,
So does each man spin his world
Out from himself.
Seeing this is
The beginning of the end.
~
Everywhere one looks,
One sees aspects of
A single unity.
How can the seer, therefore,
Believe itself to be separate?
Is not the one who sees
Merely another aspect of
That which is seen?
~
Although feeling lost is an illusion,
It is the first step in
Finding That which can
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 39
Never be lost.
Being is the seed of manifestation in which
All actions happen.
Just as a forest of trees is
Contained in a single seed,
So all of life is in
The seed of being.
Who, therefore, is doing anything?
~
Different instruments produce
Different sounds constituting
The melody of life.
The incense stick is lit.
It burns until
It is completely finished.
What remains is
The lighter of the stick.
He who sees the stick in himself and
Understands what Wu Hsin has said,
Has done very well.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
40
~
Thoughts are like
The promises of politicians and
Should be treated accordingly.
What is this body but
An animated corpse?
The investigation of the animator
Yields the knowing of which
Wu Hsin speaks.
~
The music is latent in
The flute just as
The child is latent in
The mother.
See that you have
Brought your world with you.
Then, let it go.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 41
Giving attention to What-Is and
Not giving attention to
What appears to be, is
The key to opening
The prison door.
~
There may be many receptacles that
Hold the river water.
Yet, the quality of the water
Remains unchanged.
To identify with the receptacle is
The only error.
~
All seeking is for
The cessation of pain.
When the seeker is gone,
The pain is gone.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
42
Trace your good luck
Back to its source or
Trace your bad luck
Back to its source and
You will discover that
The Source is the same.
From the One
Comes the Many.
As a baby nurses at
Its mother’s breast,
One must nurse at
The source of life’s sustenance
So that one may discover
The essence of being.
~
Being natural is
Being sacred.
Movement away from there is
Movement toward unhappiness.
The position is quite simple:
The One manifests as
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 43
The Many.
The water taken from the river is of
The same quality as
The water in the river although
It may appear in
A different vessel.
~
If one sees oneself as
The center of everything with
The power to shape things
To suit one’s desires, then
One has become
One’s god.
~
A dog does not know
He is a dog.
He only knows
He is.
If only man
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
44
Could be so fortunate.
~
Identification with a body is
The birth of the person,
The individual.
The personality then acts
To protect the body from
That which is
Other than itself.
When this false identification is
Seen through,
That which one truly is
Manifests and shines.
~
Deep understanding,
True understanding is permanent.
The pickle never
Returns to being a cucumber.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 45
~
Until the boundary between
Inner and outer dissolves,
All changes are only minor.
~
In the cessation of duality,
Oneness is revealed.
There can be no
Being one with…
There is only being.
~
In ancient times,
Before there were individuals,
There were no problems.
Then, the individuals
Turned this against that and
Problems arose.
Identification with a body is
Merely a habit,
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
46
Taught to the child
Early in its life.
Breaking this habit is like
A chick breaking its shell.
What a wondrous world awaits.
~
To depart from a vast no-thing
To become a small some-thing is
The pinnacle of foolishness.
Living spontaneously leaves
No time to think.
This is true living.
~
Choice is an illusion.
The individual having choice or
Not having choice is
Also an illusion.
What is an illusion?
It is when things are not
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 47
As they seem.
Once a realignment occurs,
One watches
What is happening
Without believing that
One is making it happen.
The body does what it chooses;
It wakes without permission,
Gets ill without permission.
Dies without permission.
All of this is to say,
A role is played;
Nothing more.
~
Those who have re-cognized
Their true condition
Welcome whatever comes, thereby
Living life to its fullest.
The person is
A phenomenon in time.
Being is eternal.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
48
~
Devotion to a teacher is
Far less important than
Devotion to a teaching.
True stillness,
Stillness without someone
Trying to be still, is
The solvent in which
All individual conditioning
Can be dissolved.
What remains is a neutrality,
An acceptance of What-Is.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 49
Volume Four
Recognition of the Obvious
Forward
Trying to grasp the teachings of Wu Hsin is
like trying to grasp the wind in the palm of your
hand. While they are as refreshing and fragrant as a
fresh breeze, they can also be as devastating as a
wildfire.
Wu Hsin doesn’t provide answers to the
questions of life because life is its own answer. It is
what-is. It moves, it flows, it breathes itself into and
through everything.
Instead, the writings of Wu Hsin expose,
without com-promise, the fundamental
misconception that there is something called an
individual that needs to find something else outside
of itself. Admittedly, the sense of being a separate
individual feels very real and affects every part of that
apparent experience. Wu Hsin makes it abundantly
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
50
clear; however, that this is a state of contracted
energy, a sense of having lost something unnamable.
It would therefore seem that the source of all
unhappiness is the individual not getting/finding
what it wants. Yet, this is not the problem. Wu Hsin
ponders:
All suffering is personal.
In the absence of the person,
Where can suffering alight?
No amount of effort can ever bring anything
other than more me searching for that which the me
doesn’t have, the end result only serving to reinforce
the reference center: me. In Volume Four, Recognition of
the Obvious, Wu Hsin illuminates that all hopes of
attainment, all efforts at becoming, ultimately avoid
that which me most fears … its own absence.
This message is so simple it totally confounds
the mind. Almost instantaneously, the mind says
“Yes, but…………what about this, what about
that?” There is no 'yes, but'. You can't say 'yes' and
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 51
continue with 'but'. If the 'yes' is a real 'yes', that
releases the thing into nothingness and it is finished.
If you say 'but', you are giving continuity to that dead
structure of thought, past experience and future
hope.
Wu Hsin puts it this way:
What is keeping one from being in one’s natural state?
One is constantly moving way from oneself.
One wants to be happy;
One is dissatisfied with one’s experiences of life.
One wants new ones.
One wants to perfect oneself,
To change oneself.
Trying to be something other than what one is, is
The going away from oneself.
It is the resistance to What-Is.
The desire to alter this you, is
The only energy that sustains it.
In the absence of this energy,
You cannot continue;
Then, the natural state shines effortlessly.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
52
Appearances notwithstanding, it is really as
simple as that. What is unnatural may obscure what is
natural. But it doesn’t negate it. When you look at an
Escher picture, it may all of a sudden seem to turn
inside out. Nothing has changed in the picture, but
something has shifted in your perception of it. At this
point you could say everything has changed, or
nothing has changed.
To see through these things, requires
investigation. This is the real gift of Wu Hsin, the
challenge to investigate the validity of all concepts
and all beliefs. It is here that the seeing through takes
place and the clarity occurs. Yet, this clarity also has
its price:
One can’t have a piece of It.
It is all or nothing.
One must make room;
It requires a lot of space.
Everything must go.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 53
~
The first thought is I.
It is the root-thought,
The foundation upon which
All else is built and from which
All other thoughts have their origin.
The arrival of the I-thought and
The arrival of the world
Occur simultaneously.
Neither exists without the other.
This is Wu Hsin’s open secret.
Those that make it their own
Move beyond struggle and strife,
Pleasure and pain.
To discard this is to
Throw away the diamonds with the ice.
~
Awareness is the primal constant.
On it, worlds are built and
Individuals are imagined.
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54
~
Clarity is the great neutralizer.
~
Thinking is not the natural state.
Perceiving thought is the natural state.
The pure perceiving is prior to
The imposition of a perceiver.
~
There are some
Who are afraid of
Stepping outside of their huts,
Afraid of what they’ll find.
More are there
Who are afraid of
Stepping outside of their minds.
Afraid that they’ll find nothing when
They look back.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 55
~
One can feel miserable on
A beautiful beach.
One can feel ecstatic
While in jail.
The outer need not
Dictate the inner.
When the wall between the two dissolves,
That which sources both is revealed.
~
When man wants to
Run away from the potential
Contained within him,
He creates his god to aspire to.
Wu Hsin declares:
They are not two.
~
The personal world is
A reflection of the person.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
56
What madness it is
To fault the reflection!
Can an image be changed without
Changing the face?
~
It is only ideas that
Create the notion of separation.
When it is seen that
Everything rises and sets in you,
What can you be separate from?
~
The vision of unity is
The end of all things personal.
There is no event that
Delivers this unity vision.
Who could it occur to?
With nobody here and
Nobody there,
Everything is as it should be.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 57
~
All disappointment,
All disillusionment is
An invitation to investigate
Who is disappointed;
Who is disillusioned?
~
The work of this moment is
Watching the work of this moment.
~
Focusing on the plot of the book
Does not bring one
Closer to the author.
~
Where the where is not,
When the when is not,
I am.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
58
~
In every experience,
The expression is
The objective part, which is changing.
The background is
The subjective part;
The unchanging field.
~
That which is by its nature restless
Can never find peace.
Peace of mind is
The mind’s fantasy.
~
When it is seen that
An empty cup is receptive and
A full cup cannot receive,
Those with wisdom choose emptiness.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 59
~
To be natural
Requires no learning.
~
Stop pretending that what isn’t is
Superior to What-Is.
It isn’t.
~
Either one is
Responsible for everything or
One is responsible for nothing.
The end result is the same.
~
Wang asked Wu Hsin:
“When shall I achieve this clarity?”
Wu Hsin replied,
“When the when is dead”.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
60
~
Ignorance is the
Ignoring of what is
Clear, present, and obvious.
If the cloth fits, wear it.
~
As soon as your god is assigned attributes,
It becomes merely another object in
A world of objects.
Only the non-objective god is
The true subject.
~
The desire for salvation is
The elixir of fools.
The only saving one needs is to be
Saved from one’s imagination.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 61
The way the world appears is
Dependent on which side of the window
One is looking from.
~
If the person is
Merely an appearance, then
Who cares?
~
Until one becomes clear about
The true source of happiness.
All looking for it is folly.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
62
Volume Five
No Great Future Attainment
Forward
There really isn’t anything to add to what I
have written in the previous Forwards. In this final
volume, Wu Hsin continues his onslaught on the
seemingly known while providing new insights into
the mystery called Awareness.
One aspect that does not receive a lot of
attention is that the reader should approach Wu Hsin
with unwavering trust. Set aside all notions of what is
already known and evaluate this message on the
merits of its resonance with the reader. The math
teacher is not questioned that 2+2 =4; it is taken as a
priori. The same attitude is required here.
Otherwise:
Wu Hsin may talk for years on end.
However, he can never convince a blind man of
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 63
The beauty of a rainbow.
~
Ignorance disguised in new vocabulary does not
Make for understanding.
~
This life that is taken so seriously,
What is it really?
Is it anything more than that small dash between
The date of birth and
The date of death?
~
What constitutes the sense of I am this is
Constantly changing while
What constitutes the sense of I am is unmoving.
The shift in the attention from
The former to the latter is
The perfume of lucid sight.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
64
~
When objectification ceases,
Time ceases,
Space ceases,
The need for these media ceases.
~
Is life better understood by
Looking at it more closely, or by
Stepping back further from it?
Standing back from the seeming seer is
The distance needed to bring perspective.
~
A wise man never overcomes adversity.
He circumvents it.
~
Wu Hsin and you were both present at
The birth of the sky.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 65
He remembers,
You do not.
~
Anything in time cannot be eternal.
That which stands outside of time is
Eternity itself.
Hearing its call is
The end of time.
~
A thought appears.
Is there someone thinking or is it
Only the echo of a knock on the door
Reverberating through an empty house?
~
Despite how it seems.
A rooster’s crowing does not cause
The sun to rise.
Lucidity discriminates between
The apparent and the real.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
66
~
Bridging the gap between
Your god’s will and your own is
The revelation of What-Is.
~
Security is the freedom from
The need for security.
~
Clouds appear and disappear,
The sky remains unfazed.
~
Individual effort to affect circumstances
Obscures life’s magic.
~
The one one knows,
One is not.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 67
When the one not-yet-known is known,
No further knowing is required.
~
The propriety of any action
Exists only in
The mind of the actor.
It may be deemed appropriate by some and
Inappropriate by others.
It may be deemed appropriate today and
Inappropriate tomorrow.
Wu Hsin does not squander his time judging.
~
There is no going within to
A within that cannot be located.
Imaginations cannot be ended with
More imaginations.
~
A flawed perspective breeds
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
68
A flawed view.
~
One never sees things as they are.
One sees things as one is.
~
All beliefs are woven;
True knowledge is bedrock.
Small doubt precedes small clarity.
Great doubt precedes great clarity.
~
All objects, whether
Physical or mental are
Pointers to that which perceives them.
To see this is to be this.
~
If one is not
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 69
Trying to get to some place,
One cannot become lost.
~
There is a beginning and an end to
All things objective.
That which perceives them has no beginning
Nor any end.
Being birthless,
It is deathless.
~
The arrival of clarity is
The losing of
What was never one’s own.
~
The body is insentient.
No different than a stone.
That which perceives via the body is not
The body.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
70
It is that which enlivens the body.
It is both the witness and
The substance of all experience.
It is That.
~
Thoughts are not the problem.
Ownership of thoughts is the problem.
~
The individual and the world are
Co-created moment by moment in imagination.
Appearing together and
Disappearing together in
That which never appears or disappears.
~
Wu Hsin has no teaching.
Wu Hsin points to what Wu Hsin is,
What one is, and
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 71
The absence of difference in the two.
In this, all teachings are contained.
~
The ones who have been
Seeking for the longest time are
The ones who refuse to
Let go of the seeking.
~
The power of the ocean is
The support of every wave.
Can there be any wave in
The absence of the ocean?
~
The vision of the mind is
The vision of the world.
~
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
72
What distinguishes
A wise man from the common man is that
The wise man does not need tomorrow.
He doesn’t even want it;
Now is enough.
~
The world appears in your light.
With the light in abeyance,
Nothing is.
The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin 73
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