Eighty thousand doors are completed in the snap of the fingers,
In a flash three kalpas are extinguished.
What do numbers, expressions, and their negations
Have to do with my spiritual awakening?


It is not perishable and cannot be praised,
Its substance is like limitless space.
Without leaving where it is, it is constantly clear.
When seeking, you know it cannot be found.
It cannot be grasped, nor can it be discarded;
It is obtained only in the unobtainable.


Speaking in silence, silent in speech,
The door of giving is wide open without obstruction.
If someone asks what basic principle I interpret,
I will say it is the power of Mahaprajna.


Others do not know whether I am right or wrong,
Even devas cannot fathom whether I oppose or agree.
I have practiced for many kalpas;
I am not deceiving you as some idlers are.


Setting up the Dharma banner, establishing the basic principle,
Ts'ao Ch'i clearly followed the Buddha's decree.
The first one to pass on the lamp was Mahakasyapa;
In India it was transmitted through twenty-eight generations.