“I have then finished cleansing you altogether. You should thenceforth take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṁgha (Brotherhood), and abide therein.” “As I stand before you, O master,” asked Sêng-ts‘an, “I know that you belong to the Brotherhood, but pray tell me what are the Buddha and the Dharma.” Replied the master, “Mind is the Buddha, Mind is the Dharma; and the Buddha and the Dharma are not two. The same is to be said of the Brotherhood (_saṁgha_).” This satisfied the disciple who now said, “To-day for the first time I realise that sins are neither within nor without nor in the middle; just as Mind is, so is the Buddha, so is the Dharma; they are not two.”[f96] He was then ordained by Hui-k‘ê as a Buddhist monk, and after this he fled from the world altogether, and nothing much of his life is known. This was partly due to the persecution of Buddhism carried on by the Emperor of the Chou dynasty. It was in the twelfth year of K‘ai-huan, of the Sui dynasty (A.D. 592), that he found a disciple worthy to be his successor. His name was Tao-hsin.[4.40] He asked the master, “Pray show me the way to deliverance.” “Who has ever put you in bondage?” “Nobody.” “If so,” said the Master, “why should you ask for deliverance?” This put the young novice on the way to final enlightenment, which he attained after many years’ study under the master. When Sêng-ts‘an thought that the time was ripe to consecrate him as his successor in the faith, he handed him as the token of the rightful transmission of the Law the robe which had come down from Bodhi-Dharma, the first patriarch of Zen in China. He died in A.D. 606. While much of his life is obscure, his thought is gleaned from a metrical composition known as _Hsin-hsin-ming_, or “Inscribed on the Believing Mind,” which is one of the most valuable contributions by the masters to the interpretation of Zen teaching. Here follows a somewhat liberal translation of the poem: Inscribed on the Believing Mind.[f97][4.41] The Perfect Way knows no difficulties Except that it refuses to make preference: Only when freed from hate and love, It reveals itself fully and without disguise. A tenth of an inch’s difference, And heaven and earth are set apart: If you want to see it manifest, Take no thought either for or against it. To set up what you like against what you dislike— This is the disease of the mind: When the deep meaning [of the Way] is not understood Peace of mind is disturbed and nothing is gained. [The Way is] perfect like unto vast space, With nothing wanting, nothing superfluous: It is indeed due to making choice That its suchness is lost sight of. Pursue not the outer entanglements, Dwell not in the inner void; When the mind rests serene in the oneness of things, The dualism vanishes by itself.