至道無難
しいどうぶなん / Shidō Bunan
Shidō Bunan (至道無難) Meaning
Meaning
"The supreme Way is not difficult." The line continues, "just avoid picking and choosing." In other words, the truth of life is not hidden or complicated; it becomes clear once we stop constantly sorting things into what we like and what we dislike.
Origin
These are the opening words of the Xinxin Ming ("Inscription on Faith in Mind"), a short classic of Chinese Zen. The full opening reads: "The supreme Way is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing. Simply drop love and hate, and it is clear and open." The poem is traditionally attributed to Sengcan, honored as the Third Patriarch of Zen, though modern scholars debate its authorship. The Tang-dynasty master Zhaozhou often quoted the line, and his exchanges about it appear as cases in the Blue Cliff Record, a famous collection of Zen dialogues, beginning with Case 2.
How it helps with everyday worries
When work feels overwhelming, when a certain person gets under your skin, or when the future feels uncertain, much of the strain often comes from a quiet, nonstop judging in the mind: this should be different, that is unacceptable, I can't stand this. The more fiercely we sort life into good and bad, the more exhausted we become, sometimes more by our own verdicts than by the events themselves. This phrase doesn't ask you to pretend problems away. It simply suggests that if you loosen your grip on preference for a moment, things may look less tangled than you thought. When a difficult coworker says something sharp, try noticing it first as just "these words were said," before labeling it "another awful thing from that awful person." When a task makes you anxious, look at the plain next step instead of grading your chances of failure. Often it is not the situation that makes things hard, but the mind that keeps picking and choosing.
A small practice for today
The next time you catch yourself thinking "I hate this," quietly note "I'm picking and choosing," and hold off on judging for just one breath.