Appreciating a Zen Verse: Countless as Sands, None Attains Awakening — The Fault Lies in Seeking the Path of Words

Deathbed Gāthā

Chan Master Dongshan Liangjie (Tang Dynasty)

Students as countless as Ganges sand, not a single one attains awakening. The fault lies in seeking the path on another’s tongue. To forget form and dissolve all traces is the true aim of practice. Strive with diligence, walk within the empty sky.

“Students as countless as Ganges sand, not a single one attains awakening”: through the ages, Buddhist practitioners have been as countless as ox hairs and grains of Ganges sand, yet those who awaken to the Way are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Why is this? “The fault lies in seeking the path on another’s tongue” — this is the very act of seeking the Dharma outside one’s own mind. The mistake is looking for the path on other people’s tongues, clinging to others’ koan prompts, recorded public cases, and personal experiences, rather than making genuine effort on one’s own mind ground. As the old saying goes:

Do not search far and wide for the Buddha on Vulture Peak; Vulture Peak is nothing but your own heart. Every person has their own Vulture Peak pagoda; Go practice right at its foot.

“Forgetting form and erasing all traces” is the true aim of practice: “forgetting form” means letting go of attachment to the forms of body and mind, shattering the illusion of a separate, permanent self; “erasing all traces” means dissolving all marks of deliberate, contrived effort, leaving no footprints of intentional mental activity, just as a boat glides over water, leaving no ripples.

But how does one attain this? The final line points to the subtlest entry point for practice: “Strive with diligence” means this can’t be won through laziness or negligence; one must be vigorous and unwavering, holding clear, wakeful awareness in every moment, without the slightest slackness. And “walk within the empty sky” means this diligence is not a clinging to fixed, concrete forms: it’s like walking through open void, each step with nothing to lean on, each step leaving no trace. It does not fall into dull, inert emptiness, nor does it get stuck in the realm of deliberate, conditioned action. When we practice all virtuous Dharma actions without attachment to any fixed abode, action is no longer bound action; diligence itself is non-action (wúwéi).