Six Renderings of the Self Tung-Shan Saw in the Stream

While looking at his reflection in a stream, Chinese poet Tung-Shan had his satori, and wrote one of Zen's most famous poems. Here are four scholarly translations, followed by a fifth bull's-eye rendering in English by poet and novelist Jim Harrison of what transpired in that glance into the mirroring water. Then, for laughs, there's an 'interlinear' version by yours truly that brings my teacher Bawa to bear on that moment of permanent discovery:

Beware of seeking [the Truth] by others,
Further and further he retreats from you;
Alone I go now all by myself,
And I meet him everywhere I turn.
He is no other than myself,
And yet I am not he.
When thus understood,
I am face to face with Tathatâ."
(Essays in Zen Buddhism – Third Series 238)



Long seeking it through others,
I was far from reaching it.
Now I go by myself;
I meet it everywhere.
It is just I myself,
And I am not itself.
Understanding this way,
I can be as I am.(Two Zen Classics 267)



Do not seek from another,
Or you will be estranged from self.
I now go on alone,
Finding I meet It everywhere.
It now is I,
I now am not It.
One should understand in this way
To merge with suchness as is.
(Transmission of Light 38)



Don't seek from others,
Or you'll be estranged from yourself.
I now go on alone—
Everywhere I encounter It.
It now is me, I now am not It.
One must understand in this way
To merge with being as is.
(Transmission of Light 167)



And the winner is:

Earnestly avoid seeking without,
Lest it recede from you.
Today I am walking alone,
Yet everywhere I meet him.
He is no other than myself,
But I am not now him.
It must be understood this way
In order to merge with Suchness.

And here's my stab at it:

Don't fall for the trap of an outside,
Or you'll keep thinking truth beckons from afar.
You thought you were walking the path alone
until you ran into an old friend.
No need for introductions
or you will mistake him for someone else.
A simple look is acknowledgement
of all you have, and are, in common.