Xinxin Ming
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Xinxin Ming (alternate spellings Xin Xin Ming or Xinxinming) (
Title translation
"Xinxin" has commonly been interpreted as "faith" or "trust." For example, one translation is "Faith in Mind" (See The Poetry of Enlightenment: Poems by Ancient Ch'an Masters, Ch'an Master Sheng-Yen). While this interpretation may appear to some to be a departure from the traditional view of seeking refuge in the
Another reading of the text allows that Xinxin could be understood as the Truthful Mind, which is always ready and perfect, implying that there is no need to further "perfect" it. Because in the Chinese language today, Xinxin (信心) usually means "trust", "confidence", or "believing mind", it is often forgotten that Xinxin can also be understood as the truthful mind (信實的心).[1]
From the Chan/Zen view, the true mind is perfect as it is and only false views obscure the true mind's inherent perfection. As the text states,
"Any degeneration of your previous practice on emptiness arises because of false perspectives. There is really no need to go after the Truth but there is indeed a need to extinguish biased views." (前空轉變 皆由妄見 不用求真 唯須息見)
Moreover, the passage that follows immediately after explicitly warns against losing the original, true mind (失心):
"Do not dwell in the two biased views. Make sure you do not pursue. The moment you think about right and wrong, that moment you unwittingly lose your true mind." (二見不住 慎勿追尋 才有是非 紛然失心)
Whether translated as Faith in Mind, Believing in Mind, Trust in Mind, or The Truthful Mind, the central message of the Xinxin Ming is the same: to point directly to Mind by giving up one-sided views so we can see the One Suchness of reality as it is.(心若不異 萬法一如)
Authorship
Although Sengcan has been traditionally been attributed as the author, modern scholars believe that the verse was written well after Sengcan's death, probably during the
History
The Xinxin Ming has been much beloved by Chan (Zen) practitioners for over a thousand years. It is still studied in Western Zen circles.[5]
As an early expression of Chan Buddhism, the Inscription on Faith in Mind reveals the Buddhist missionary use of expedient means (
The poem professes the need to take pleasant and unpleasant life experiences with a sense of equanimity. Broadly speaking, the Xinxin Ming deals with the principles and practice of
Excerpts
Opening verse
The opening verse, variously translated, sets out the fundamental principle:
- The best way [Great Way, the Tao] is not difficult
- It only excludes picking and choosing
- Once you stop loving and hating
- It will enlighten itself.
- (trans. D. Pajin)
Alternatively:
- The Perfect Way knows no difficulties
- Except that it refuses to make preferences;
- Only when freed from hate and love,
- It reveals itself fully and without disguise
- (trans. by D.T. Suzuki)[8]
And also:
- There is nothing difficult about the Great Way,
- But avoid choosing!
- Only when you neither love nor hate,
- Does it appear in all clarity.
- (trans. R.H. Blyth, Zen and Zen Classics)
Last verse
The poem ends with:
- 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.
- (trans. Richard B. Clarke)
Alternatively:
- One in All,
- All in One—
- If only this is realized,
- No more worry about your not being perfect!
- Where Mind and each believing mind are not divided,
- And undivided are each believing mind and Mind,
- This is where words fail;
- For it is not of the past, present, and future.
- (trans. D.T. Suzuki)[8]
And also:
- One thing is all things;
- All things are one thing.
- If this is so for you,
- There is no need to worry about perfect knowledge.
- The believing mind is not dual;
- What is not dual is not the believing mind.
- Beyond all language,
- For it there is no past, no present, no future.
- (trans. R.H. Blyth, Zen and Zen Classics)
Bibliography
- Blyth, R. (1960). Zen and Zen Classics, Vol. I. Hokuseido Press ISBN 978-0893462055.
- Clarke, Richard (1973, 1984). Hsin Hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind. Buffalo, New York: White Pine Press.[4]
- Third Ch'an Patriarch Chien-chih Seng-ts'an. "Faith Mind Inscription (Hsin-hsin Ming) Online text". sacred-texts.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2007.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - Dumoulin, Heinrich (1994, 1998). Zen Buddhism: A History, Volume I, India and China, Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall International ISBN 0-02-897109-4
- McRae, John R (1986). The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch'an Buddhism, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 0-8248-1056-2
- Pajin, Dusan (1988). On Faith in Mind, Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. XXVI, No. 2, Hong Kong 1988, pp. 270–288. or here
- Putkonen, Eric (2008). Hsin Hsin Ming: Verses on the Perfect Mind. (interpretation, not a direct translation) Available as a free E-book in PDF format
- Soeng, Mu (2004). Trust in Mind: The Rebellion of Chinese Zen. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-391-5.
- ISBN 0-8021-3065-8.
- Cleary, J. C.; Yoshida, Osamu, trans. (1995). Three Chan Classics (The Faith-Mind Maxim; T 48, no 2010), Berkeley: BDK America. ISBN 1-886439-07-9
Notes
- Buddha naturebeing there all the time. It just waits to be rediscovered.
- ^ Sacred Texts Henrik H. Sorensen translation of "Mind Inscription", the possible original source of Xinxin Ming
- ^ for a fuller discussion on authorship see Sacred Texts Archived February 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISBN 9781893996144.
- ^ See, e.g., Soeng (2004), p. xiii: "The poem ... is one of the most beloved texts of the Zen tradition and one of the most familiar of the early Zen texts."
- ^ The early great proponent of the Buddhist analysis of emptiness was Nagarjuna (c.150–250 AD) (Chinese: 龍樹).
- ^ See Pajin (1988).
- ^ a b Suzuki (1960), pp. 76–82; see also, Soeng (2004), pp. 133, 139, 145, 151, 157, 163, 169.
External links
- The Advaita Show, an audio reading of the Xin Xin Ming
- Music File of Song of the Truthful Mind in MP3 format as well as lyrics are now available for download. Visit: https://www.buddhistdoor.net/features/xin-xin-ming-song-of-the-truthful-mind
- Trust in Mind in "A Collection of Selected Buddhist Texts" by Chung Tai Translation Committee, pages 80–87.
- Collection of English translations of the Xinxin Ming