[Updates & News] [Poetry & Stories] [Theravada Writings] [Zen / Ch'an Writings] [Other Mahayana Writings] [Buddhist Webrings] [Buddhist Links] [About this Page] [Home]
The "Hsin-Ming" or "Song of Mind"
By Niutou Fajung
Note: The original translation by Henrik H. Sorensen was presented for a scholarly audience and thus not made with the intent of being readily approachable for those appraoching Ch'an from a practical perspective. In order to make it more approachable and less academic, I have therefore taken the unusual liberty of editing the translation. Primarily, irrelevant footnotes have been deleted, but some lines have also been slightly changed. If my changes are in any way contrary to the original meaning and intent of the author, I hope that I may be given a chance to correct this mistake --- Anders Honore, webmaster.
The Song of Mind
The nature of the mind is un-born.
Why should it be necessary to know this?
Fundamentally there is not one single phenomenon;
who then can speak about defilement and purity?
There is no end to coming and going,
and no matter how much one seeks,
one will never realize it!
When everything is inactive,
then the bright stillness will manifest by itself.
Before one it will be like emptiness,
and thereby one will know how to dispose with confused doctrines.
Distinguishing clearly the circumstances one will illumine the dark and hidden.
If the One Mind is obstructed,
then all the dharmas (1) will
not have a penetrating effect.
Spontaneously coming and going,
what use is it exhausting oneself?
As life has the mark of the Unborn,
it will illumine the Oneness.
If one wishes to obtain purity of mind,
then one must diligently cultivate no-mind.
To have no mental reflections high and low,
this more than anything else is the marvelous!
One will know the Dharma through non-knowing,
as this non-knowing will know the essentials.
By grasping the mind and maintaining stillness,(2)
one will still not be able to leave behind the sickness (of
clinging).
In life and death one must forget that which one is attached
to,
then there and then the fundamental nature will shine forth.
The highest principle has no explanation,
It can reached without getting rid of anything and without
restraining oneself.
Spiritual penetration and responding to affairs will
constantly take place there and then,
before one there will not be a thing,
and "not a thing" will be a matter of course.
If you do not strive for the Mirror of Wisdom,
then its essence will be wonderously empty of itself.
Thinking arises and thinking goes away,
before and after there is no discrimination.
The latter thought is not produced as the former is cut off by itself.
In the Three Worlds(3) there
is not a thing:
neither mind nor Buddha.
All living beings are of no-mind,
and rely upon no-mind for existence.
Discriminating between worldly and holy will cause vexations in abundance.
Constantly calculating and making plans amounts to searching for the truth while turning one’s back to reality.
If one puts an end to the two extremes (of being and
non-being),
then one will be both bright and clear.
It is not necessary to observe enfantile practices diligently.
Through awareness one will gain knowledge,
and when seeing the net (of samsara) one will turn around and
stop.
In Samaadhi there is nothing to be seen,
for in a dark room there is no movement.
In awareness (hsing-hsing) there is no falsity,
in samaadhi there is clear brightness.
The myriad shapes are all true, all having the majestetic one characteristica.(4)
Going and coming, sitting and standing be grasped.
With no fixed place, who can be said to come and go?
No coming together and no breaking up,
neither slowly nor hasty.
The bright stillness is self so and words speak about it!
If in the mind there is nothing different from the mind,
one does not have to stop desire.
As its nature is empty,
it will disappear if it is allowed to drift on.
Neither pure nor defiled, neither shallow nor deep.
Originally the past is not, and just now,
the present is not!
Just now there is non-abiding and that is the original Mind.
When one does not hold on to the origin, then the origin will be present.
Bodhi originally is,
it is not necessary to maintain it.
Vexations are fundamentally not existing, therefore it is not necessary to do away with them!
The spiritual wisdom shines forth by itself, and the myriad phenomena return (to the source).
Nothing to revert to and nothing to receive.
Cut off opinions and forget about the precepts!
The Four Virtues(5) are
unborn,
and the Three Bodies are fundamentally existing.(6)
The Six Roots(7) face the circumstances and clear perception has nothing to do with consciousness.
Then the mind will have nothing wrong and the ten thousand causes will directly harmonize.
The mind and the feelings are basically of the same source,
they coexist without interfering with each other.
The Unborn is in accordance with phenomena,
together they dwell and rest in the dark.
Enlightenment comes from that which is not enlightened,
therefore enlightenment is non-enlightenment!
Gain and loss are like the two sides of a coin.
Who can then speak about good and bad?
All that is caused,
is originally the product of the Unborn.
The knowing mind is not the Mind,
(the true Mind is something which) neither disease nor medicine
can effect.
In times of confusion just let things go their way,
because when awakening is accomplished,
they will not be different (from your self).
Fundamentally nothing can be grasped;
now what will you throw away?
Speaking of existence is to give in to demons,
for with words empty images arise!
Do not wipe out worldly feelings.
The only teaching that you should be concerned about,
is how to do away with ideas!
Ideas will be annihilated by no-mind,
and mental states will be cut off by non-activity.
There is no use trying to verify emptiness,
spontaneously it will shine forth!
Extinguishing both life and death,
the profound Mind enters the principle.
Just open your eyes and behold the forms,
letting your mind go along with the arising circumstances.
If the mind abides in no-circumstances,
then the circumstances abide in no-mind.
Then when the mind is about to annihilate the circumstances,
they will go along with the annihilation.
The mind will be quiet and the circumstances just the same.
One will neither have to let go nor to hold on.
When circumstances go along with the mind they will be
extinguished,
and the mind which follows circumstances is nothingness.
Both abide in the un-born,
still purity and empty brightness!
Awakening appears like a shadow in the mind’s water,
which is constantly clear.
The nature (or disposition) of the virtuous is like stupidity,
for it does not set up any separation between this and that.
They are not moved by either grace or dishonour,
and do not choose a (fixed) place to dwell.(8)
If all causes are put to rest,
then one will cease to worry about them!
If one does not discriminate,
then an eternal day can be like a night,
and an eternal night can be like a day.(9)
When seen from the outside it seems as if one is wayward and
stupid,
however within,
the mind is vacant and in communion with reality.
Adverse conditions will not move one,
and one will have the power of an accomplished being.
There will be neither seer nor the seen,
then that non-seeing will be perpetually manifested.
Penetrating everything,
constantly being everywhere.
Thinking will cause confusion,
and confusion will give rise to all kinds of emotions.
If by grasping the mind one tries to stop agitation,
then with this movement the mind will be even more active.
The myriad phenomena have no base,
there is only the One Door.
This is the door of neither entering nor leaving,
of neither stillness nor disturbance.
The wisdom of ’Sraavakas and Pratyeka-buddhas can not fathom this.
In reality not one thing exists,
the wonderful wisdom alone remains.
Circumstances are fundamentally empty.
It is not something which the mind can exhaust.
True enlightenment is non-enlightenment,
and real emptiness is not empty!
All the Buddhas of the Three Times(10) teach this doctrine.
This teaching is like a particle of dust,
worlds as numerous as sandgrains in the Ganges are contained
therein!
If one does not occupy oneself with everything,
then the peaceful mind will have nowhere to abide.
The peaceful mind will be non-abiding,
and the empty brightness will manifest by itself!
The quiet stillness is un-born,
and one will be free to roam in all directions.
Whatever one does there will be nothing to obstruct one.
In motion and in rest,
all will be equal.
The sun of prajnaa is still,
the light of samaadhi is bright;
(They are) the bright park of no mark (laksana) and the clear
city of nirvaana.
In all causes one should be un-mindful of the fruit;
it can be likened to the quality of the spiritual samaadhi.
Do not set up platforms for teaching;
but take a peaceful nap in an empty house.(11)
One will find happiness in the Way,
with plenty of space to roam about in True Reality.
Nothing to do, nothing to obtain,
and depending upon nothing,
the self will manifest.
The Four Virtues and the Six Paraamitaas(12) all belong to the path of the One Vehicle.
When the mind in this way is not produced,
then all the phenomena also will not be wrong.
Knowing that life is un-born,
before one it will constantly remain thus.
Those with wisdom will know this,
but no amount of words can explain this kind of awakening!
NOTES:
1. The various Buddhist methods and teachings.
2. A type of meditation practice common in the Northern Ch’an School of Shenhsiu (605-706 A.D.). This method is called shou-hsin (observing the mind).
3. 1) The world of desire, 2) the world of form and 3) the world of no-form (the formless world).
4. The one characteristic or the one mark is suchness.
5. 1) Permanence, 2) joy, 3) personality and 4) purify. These Four Virtues were expounded by the Buddha in the "Mahaaparinirvaana Suutra’. (T 374). They are attributes of the Buddha Nature.
6. l)Dharmakaaya, 2)Sambhogakaaya, 3)Nirmaanakaaya.
7. 1)Eye, 2) ear, 3) nose, 4) tongue, 5)body and 6) mind (consciousness).
8. This is a very orthodox "Indian" description of the correct behavior of a Buddhist ascetic. It is said that some of the Niu-t’ou masters roamed about living in the woods never settling down in a temple. The master Niao-k’e Tao-lin (741-824) is one such example. [The statement may have two-fold meaning, in referring to non-abiding as taught in for example the Diamond Sutra - webmaster]
9. The meaning here is not quite clear to the translator.
11. This is tandem with the statement in note 8.
12. The Six Paaramitaas: 1) Daana (the perfection of giving) , 2) ’siila (the perfection of the discipline) , 3) ksaanti (the perfection of patience), 4) viirya (the perfection of zeal or perseverance) , 5) dhyaana (the perfection of meditative absorbtion) and 6) prajnaa (the perfection of trancendental wisdom).