Sosan – The 3rd Zen Patriarch (a.k.a. Seng-ts’an) November 27, 2007
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Courses,Meditations,Philosophy,Psychology , trackbackThis is another exceprt from my new Oriental Psychology Distance Learning Course
About Sosan
There is little information about the life of the Third Patriarch. His birthplace and birth date are unknown. According to the Denko-roku (“The Transmission of the Lamp”), written by Keizan Zenji (1268-1325), he was a layman over forty years of age suffering from leprosy when he met the 2nd Patriarch, Hui-k’o (Japanese: Eka), for the first time in 551 AD. Being deeply impressed with this layman’s capacity for the Dharma, Hui-k’o shaved the future 3rd Patriarch’s head and named him Sengts’an (Jewel of the Community). He was gradually cured of his illness and, after they had been practicing together for two years, Hui-k’o gave him the traditional robe and bowl signifying the
transmission of the Dharma.
Note
In Module 5, students will explore the metaphysical causes of disease. Do not forget to reflect on this when contemplating Sosan’s leprosy and his cure.
It is said that during the infamous Buddhist persecution in 574, Sosan was forced to feign mental illness in order to escape execution, and that finally he went into hiding for ten years on Mount Huankung. His mere presence there is said to have pacified the wild tigers, which until that time had caused great fear among the local people. The authorship of Hsin-Hsin-Ming (Japanese – Shinjinmei) is attributed to Seng-ts’an (Sosan). It is one of the earliest Ch’an writings. It expounds on the basic principles of Chan Buddhism (Zen) in poetic form and suggests a strong Taoist influence.
The Hsin-Hsin-Ming begins with a famous sentence, which comes up again and again in Ch’an Buddhism (Zen) literature (for instance, in Pi-Yen-Lu): “The venerable way is not difficult at all; it only abhors picking and choosing.” In this early Ch’an poem, the fusion, typical for later Ch’an (Zen), of the mutually congenial teachings of Mahâyâna Buddhism and Taoism, appears for the first time (The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion, page 311).
A Few Comments on Hsin-Hsin Ming (a.k.a ‘The Book of True Faith’)
The title of the Hsin-Hsin Ming may be explained in the following way:
Hsin means “belief” or “faith.”
This is not faith in the ordinary sense. It is an understanding that comes from firsthand experience, a faith that arises out of supreme knowledge and the wisdom of enlightenment. This understanding is an affirmation that all existence or reality is essentially the Buddha mind, which is our true nature.
Hsin is also the conviction that at the root of all phenomena lies the One Mind, the Buddha Mind, which is one with our real nature, the Buddha-nature.
Hsin literally means heart.
It means Mind, not the delusional mind, but the Buddha-Mind. Hsin is the mind that merges with the all-encompassing One Mind.
Ming literally means ‘inscription’.
It also means written expression or record and infers the meaning of warnings or admonitions.
The famous Hsin Hsin Ming (Japanese: Shin Jin Mei) is known as the first Zen poem. It consists of 146 four-word lines, directly and vividly expressing the Zen spirit in a simple, compact form. An outstanding characteristic of the poem is that it is written in genuine Chinese without using any Sanskrit or Pali Buddhist terms.
The main themes expressed in the Hsin Hsin Ming derive from Two Entries and Four Acts, one of the few authentic writings of the great Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma, who brought Buddhism from India to China in the sixth century. The roots of Bodhidharma’s work can be traced to the Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra, written sometime before the 3rd century AD in India.
Translation of the ‘Book of True Faith’ (Hsin Hsin Ming)
The following translation of Sosan’s masterpiece is by Richard B. Clarke.
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 mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
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
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.
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,
as when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.
Things are objects because of the subject (mind);
the mind (subject) is such because of things (object).
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.
To live in the Great Way
is neither easy nor difficult,
but those with limited views
and fearful and irresolute: the faster they hurry, the slower they go,
and clinging (attachment) 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.
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 benefit 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.
This is one Dharma, not many: distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.
Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment there is no liking and disliking.
All dualities come from
ignorant inference.
They are like dreams of flowers in the air:
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong:
such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.
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.
For the unified mind in accord with the Way
all self-centered straining ceases.
Doubts and irresolution’s 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 mind’s power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination
are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just simply say when doubt arises, ‘Not two.’
In this ‘no two’ nothing is separate,
nothing 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.
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.
Don’t waste time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.
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.
Words! The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.
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Comments»
It’s an incredible poem. Lucid, simple and profound.
I especially like that it does not devalue the senses – the tradition I grew up in (evangelical Christianity) is notoriously guilty of this (as is some Buddhism I’ve read).