Being · Prologue
It is not someone who exists; existence itself is becoming.
A note on the word zai. The Chinese word 在 (zai) means to be, to be here, to be at a place; it also marks something going on right now, as in “the water is boiling.” In this translation it is usually rendered “being.” The scripture and the volume titles keep the Chinese sound.
The Opening Scripture: Zai
《在》
Zai
在在，非可见之在，乃是不在之真在。
Zai zai: not a being that can be seen, but the true being even of not-being.
在无入，而无处不在；
Being has no entrance, and so there is nowhere it is not;
在无住，而无时不在。
being does not stay, and so there is no time it is not.
是名，在在。
This is called zai zai.
在问者，在在处处，皆是幻在。
For one who asks after being, being in every place is an illusory being.
在非在在，非在是在。
Being is not a being set above being; what is not, is being too.
殊不知，
Yet it is not known:
问时即离，歇处即在。
the moment one asks, one has left; where the asking rests, one is.
见无可见，即见在在。
To see that there is nothing to see is to see zai zai.
千寻万觅，无二无别，是以在即在。
A thousand searches, ten thousand seekings: not two, not apart. And so being is being.
故此在中：
So, within being:
在生灭之呼吸，在缘起之交响。
being is in the breath of arising and ceasing; being is in the chorus of things arising together.
在有，在在无之极；
In what is, and at the far edge of what is not;
在是，在在非之央；
in what is so, and at the center of what is not so;
在迷，在在悟之芯；
in confusion, and at the core of awakening;
在得，在在失之矿。
in gaining, and in the deep ore of losing.
以在周遍，故在无不是。
Because being is everywhere, there is nothing that is not being.
在在者，依在即是在。
Zai zai: leaning on being is being.
在即在在，在在非在，不在之在。
Being is zai zai; zai zai is not being set apart; the being of not-being.
入在忘在，无入无忘。
Enter being, forget being: no entering, no forgetting.
非离非即，随在而在。
Neither apart nor merged: being as each being is.
嘘——
Hush—
在在。
Zai zai.
本在。
Benzai.
永在。
Yongzai.
……在。
… Zai.