The Mind of Absolute Trust by Seng-Ts'an, 3rd Zen Patriarch

An Eternal Now SG

I find this great and thought of sharing with the forum, it's a priceless work by the 3rd Zen Patriarch and I think this translation is quite well done.

http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmSengTsan.htm

Seng-Ts'an

Seng-Ts'an was a Buddhist layman over forty years of age when he came to the second Patriarch, Hui-k'o, with a request that the master purify him of his sins. The response (see Hui-k'o on the Other Ch'an Masters page) inspired Seng-Ts'an to become a monk under Hui-k'o, leading to his enlightenment and succession as Patriarch. He died in 609, leaving us the priceless stanzas titled Hsin Hsin Ming, which are variously identified in English as Inscribed on the Believing Mind, On Trust in the Heart and The Mind of Absolute Trust. The full text appears in the column to the right, with other translations of sections appearing below. You'll see that he's giving directions on living in the Way, or Tao.

Hsin Hsin Ming
Inscribed on the Believing Mind

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the minds essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

*

(to be continued...)

An Eternal Now SG

The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things
is to miss their reality;
to assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find the meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth;
only cease to cherish opinions.

*

(to be continued, pasted from URL above)

An Eternal Now SG

Do not remain in the dualistic state;
avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace
of this and that, of right and wrong,
the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One,
do not be attached even to this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
nothing in the world can offend,
and when a thing can no longer offend,
it ceases to exist in the old way.

When no discriminating thoughts arise,
the old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish,
the thinking-subject vanishes.
Things are objects because of the subject;
the mind is such because of things.
Understand the relativity of these two
and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.
In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
and each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.

*

An Eternal Now SG

To live in the Great Way
is neither easy nor difficult,
but those with limited views
are fearful and irresolute;
the faster they hurry, the slower they go,
and clinging cannot be limited;
even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way,
and there will be neither coming nor going.

*

An Eternal Now SG

Obey the nature of things [your own nature],
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden,
for everything is murky and unclear,
and the burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefits can be derived
from distinctions and separations?
If you wish to move in the One Way,
do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
is identical with true Enlightenment.
The wise man strives to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many;
distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.

*

sinweiy SG

excellent....this are all in line with my topic on the 'understanding 'to leave and not to leave the worldly' ..esp the last part from 6th patriarch Hui Neng . Smile

/\

An Eternal Now SG

Yes Smile

An Eternal Now SG

Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment there is no liking and disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams or flowers in the air:
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong:
such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.

*

An Eternal Now SG

If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things
are as they are, of single essence.
To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.

Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion:
both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.

*

neutral_onliner SG

profound

An Eternal Now SG

For the unified mind in accord with the Way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
with a single stroke we are freed from bondage;
nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with no exertion of the minds power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination
are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.

*

An Eternal Now SG

To come directly into harmony with this reality
just simply say when doubt arises, Not two.
In this not two nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space;
in it a single thought is ten thousand years.

*

bohiruci SG

what is the Way ?

what is "I"

from what does "I" leads on ..

technically mind-boggling question

Seng Tsan was deeply influenced by the Diamond Sutra

He was the 3rd Patriach is the tumultous era of 6 Dynasties

the progress of chinese Buddhism was in a serious stoppage due to warring situations

An Eternal Now SG

From whence does the thought 'I' arise? Smile I think this is indeed this is a very fundamental question... but it does not require an answer from thought. Turn the mind inwards to its origin... because you can only be the truth, you cannot know it as an object. Thoughts arise and dissolve in our True Mind.

True Mind

There are not many arts to Zen study: it just requires knowing your own true mind. Now observe that within this body the physical elements combine temporarily, daily heading for extinction: where is the true mind?

The flurry of ideas and thoughts arising and passing away without constancy is not the true mind. That which shifts and changes unstably, sometimes good, sometimes bad, is not the true mind. That which wholly depends on external things to manifest, and is not apparent when nothing is there, is not the true mind.

Suppose you turn the light of awareness around to look within, and sense tranquility and oneness; do you consider this the true mind? You still do not realize that this tranquility and calm oneness are due to the perception of the false mind: there is subjective mind perceiving and the object perceived. This tranquility and oneness belong to the realm of inner states. This is what is meant by the Heroic Progress Sutra when it says, "Inwardly keeping to tranquility is still a reflection of discrimination of objects." How could it be the true mind?

So if these are not the true mind, what is the true mind? Try to see what your true mind is, twenty four hours a day. Don't try to figure it out, don't try to interpret it intellectually, don't try to get someone to explain it to you, don't seek some other technique, don't calculate how long it may take, don't calculate your own strength, just silently pursue this inner investigation on your own: "Ultimately what is my own true mind?"

An Eternal Now SG

Emptiness here, Emptiness there,
but the infinite universe stands
always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small:
no difference, for definitions have vanished.
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Dont waste time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.

*

An Eternal Now SG

One thing, all things:
move among and intermingle,
without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,
because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.

*

An Eternal Now SG

Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.

~ End ~