Hongzhi's Guidepost

Guidepost for Silent Illumination

Silent and serene, forgetting words,
bright clarity appears before you.
When you reflect it you become vast,
where you embody it you are spiritually uplifted.
Spiritually solitary and shining,
inner illumination restores wonder.
Dew in the moonlight, a river of stars,
snow-covered pines,
clouds enveloping the peak.
In darkness it is most bright,
while hidden all the more manifest.
The crane dreams in the wintery mists.
The autumn waters flow far in the distance.
Endless kalpas are totally empty,
all things completely the same.
When wonder exists in serenity,
all achievement is forgotten in illumination.
What is this wonder?
Alertly seeing through confusion
is the way of silent illumination
and the origin of subtle radiance.
Vision penetrating into subtle radiance
is weaving gold on a jade loom.
Upright and inclined yield to each other;
light and dark are interdependent.
Not depending on sense faculty and object,
at the right time they interact.
Drink the medicine of good views.
Beat the poisoned-smeared drum.
When they interact, killing and giving life are up to you.
Through the gate the self emerges and the branches bear fruit.
Only silence is the supreme speech,
only illumination the universal response. 
Responding without falling into achievement,
speaking without involving listeners,
the ten thousand forms majestically glisten
and expound the Dharma.
All objects certify it, every one in dialogue.
Dialoguing and certifying, they respond appropriately to each other;
but if illumination neglects serenity then aggressiveness appears.
Certifying and dialoguing, they respond to each other appropriately;
but if serenity neglects illumination, murkiness leads to wasted Dharma.
D When silent illumination is fulfilled,
the lotus blossoms, the dreamer awakens,
a hundred streams flow into the ocean,
a thousand ranges face the highest peak....


There's more but mostly about "isn't this great? So spread it everywhere." Bright Way Zen chants it this way and I thought we'd try the same.