"Sutra of the Altar of the Jewel of Law" by the 6th Chan Patriarch Huineng 惠能 (Liuzu Dashi Fabaotan Jing 六祖大師法寶壇經; short: Tanjing　- "Platform Sutra" or "Altar Sutra"), Ｔ２００８	Chapters of the Tanjing
	Exemplarious translation: ５．〈坐禪〉 師示眾云。此門坐禪。元不著心。亦不著淨。亦不是不動。若言著心。心元是妄。知心如幻。故。無所著也。若言著淨。人性本淨。由妄念故。蓋覆真如。但無妄想。性自清淨。起心著淨。卻生淨妄。妄無處所著者是妄。淨無形相。卻立淨相。言是工夫。作此見者。障自本性。卻被淨縛。善知識。若修不動者。但見一切人時。不見人之是非善惡過患。即是自性不動。善知識。迷人身雖不動。開口便說他人是非長短好惡。與道違背。若著心著淨。即障道也。師示眾云。善知識。何名坐禪。此法門中。無障無礙。外於一切善惡境界。心念不起。名為坐。內見自性不動。名為禪。善知識。何名禪定。外離相為禪。內不亂為定。外若著相。內心即亂。外若離相。心即不亂。本性自淨自定。只為見境思境即亂。若見諸境心不亂者。是真定也。善知識。外離相即禪。內不亂即定。外禪內定。是為禪定。菩薩戒經云。我本元自性清淨。善知識。於念念中。自見本性清淨。自修自行。自成佛道。 Sitting in meditation The great teacher taught the assembly of his disciples: "The sitting in meditation I am telling you of, does not require a total concentration on the mind, neither requires it a of total pureness, nor does it mean not to move at all. If you talk about concentrating your mind: your mind is something vane, like it is a vain attempt to undertand the mind; therefore it is not possible to concentrate on it. If you talk about pureness, you must know that human nature is pure from its origin, and ignorant thoughts about it only cover its original pureness. Without ignorantly minding about human nature, it keeps its original pureness. Trying to pursue purity by concentrating one's mind on it, will lead to ignorance about this pureness. Fancy thought actually have no proper place in the mind - only concentration and minding about the nature causes them. Pureness has also no original shape of appearance, but if you want to give it a concrete appearance, you can tell it 'accomplishment' or 'skill' (gongfu). Having this insight, you are able to resist the human nature of yourself and are bound instead by an appearance of pureness that you did not have before. With a deep knowledge of this, you will, if you perform a real no-movement, by looking at any person, not see or be concerned if he/she is good or bad, has faults or advantages, or if he did mistakes. This is the no-movement out of your own human nature. With a deep knowledge of this, a misguided person will, although he does not move, tell you about any person's goodness or badness, strengths and weaknesses, as soon as he opens his mouth. This is exactly the opposite of the way of the Buddha. Concentrating on one's own mind, searching for pureness, is an impediment to reach the way of the Buddha." Translated by Ulrich Theobald.