Nomon Tim reflects on the classical Zen teaching poem Faith in Mind (Xinxinming 信心銘) attributed to the 3rd Chan ancestor in China, Sengcan (Seng-ts'an) on the winter solstice.
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Happy solstice. We're a few hours into the longest night of the year. At least we are here in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere it's the longest day and the shortest night today. But it turns out the vast majority of us humans do live in the northern hemisphere. 90% of us.
But all of this doesn't matter much unless you're in a higher latitude like we are at just below the 49th parallel. 49 degrees up. More than half way up the "upper" half of the planet.
Half of the people on the planet live within 20 degrees of the equator - in the equatorial zone. And there the days are pretty much the same length all year round. The solstices and equinoxes don't have a lot of meaning for half of humanity.
Everything's relative and positional isn't it? Everything in it's dharma position.
But right here at this spot of the planet - a long dark night and every day starting tomorrow a little bit longer until June 21st. Personally I really love the shifting day lengths. Sometimes I tell the simple story that I'm willing to put up with the short days in order to "get" the long days as if I get to make trades with the universe like that. But actually if I really settle into how I feel I like the short days and the long days. A day is wonderful, a day whether it's 8 hours of daylight like today (sunrise was at 8am today!) or 16 hours of daylight like it will be on the summer solstice.
Dark and light too are positional and relative. Not the simple opposites are mind might take them for. Interpenetrated. As the Merging of Difference and Unity just reminded us:
In the light there is darkness,
but don’t take it as darkness;
In the dark there is light,
but don’t see it as light.
Light and dark oppose one another,
like the front and back foot in walking.
Isn't that metaphor of the front and back foot wonderful? If you looked down during kinhin you would have seen one foot in front and one foot in back. They are different for that moment. And then they aren't. And now sitting here there is no front foot or back foot at all.
Our practice invites us to be so radically open and curious. Not to settle for dividing things up into this and that; good and day; dark and light; you and me. This is the deep and foundational theme of all of the teachings in Zen.
In the morning sits lately I've been sharing from an early Zen teaching poem "Faith in Mind" or Song of the Trusting Mind - you often hear this referred to by it's Chinese title: Xinxinming can be translated a few different ways. The characters are literally: engraving - mind - faith. It's attributed to the 3rd Chinese Zen ancestor: so Bodhidharma's student Huike's student who was called Seng T'san but we don't really know if he wrote it.
This poem encourages us not to get lost in opposites too. And our preferences for one side or the other. The opening verse is the most famous:
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.
Free from liking light and disliking dark (or the opposite: liking the dark is no different).
And it spends many verses explore and debunking our believe in opposites. Here is a somewhat abridged version of the poem - and if you've been listening on weekday mornings this will sound a little different as I've switched translations to one I like better. I'm going to read it through once and then again with a few comments. My Winter Solstice offering. And then Desiree is going to lead us in a little ceremony she learned from her previous sangha.
Listen with your heart. With your body. With your big mind. Let these words wash over you like a gentle rain. This is very traditional deep Zen stuff from early on.
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 by passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
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.
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.
When the 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 enlightenment.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached,
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relation-less 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 striving ceases.
Doubt and irresolution vanishes
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.
In this world of suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just say when doubt rises "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 and 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.
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.
again with comments
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.
what grabs you attention - how does the mind lean?
the conditioned mind can't be stopped but it can be allowed to flow, don't hold on let preferences be like water flowing instead of stone blocking your way
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.
open up - feel the space - nothing is lacking. The idea that there is something about you that's missing, something about THIS that's not right is a dream of lack. Wake up, let go. Open out.
When you try to stop activity by passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
it's not so simple as stopping - let go of the idea of stopping and going; activity and passivity. more ideas and concepts and oppositions.
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.
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.
When the 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?
this is pretty clear - shush! - don't hang onto your thinking
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 enlightenment.
we don't have to cut ourselves off either - enjoying the senses and ideas is fine - accept the flowing mind. Also a bit of a correction of early Buddhism which had a strong element of cutting of the senses - open out, accept fully - just be.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached,
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relation-less state.
Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion,
both movement and rest disappear.
Yes! at rest which isn't just rest, allowing motion which isn't just motion - what a relief. freedom!
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.
don't get excited about some idea of oneness, or enlightenment, or anything special at all - the true reality is beyond any such concepts or idea.
For the unified mind in accord with the way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubt and irresolution vanishes
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.
ahhhhhhhh……………….
In this world of suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just say when doubt rises "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 and 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.
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.
