May 12, 2007...8:31 pm
Hsin-hsin Ming - The First and Most Influential Zen Poem - By Third Ch’an Patriarch Chien-chih Seng-ts’an
Hsin-hsin Ming 信心銘
By Third Ch’an Patriarch Chien-chih Seng-ts’an
Faith Mind Inscription
The title of the Hsin-hsin Ming may be explained in the following way:
信
Hsin means “belief” or “faith.” This is not the faith in the ordinary sense, it is a belief that comes from firsthand experience, a faith which arise out of supreme knowledge and wisdom of enlightenment. This “believing” is an affirmation that all existence or reality is essentially the Buddha mind, which is our true nature. Hsin is the conviction that at the bottom of all phenomena lies the One Mind, the Buddha mind, which is one with our real nature, the Buddha-nature.
心
Hsin literally means “heart.” It means mind, not the deluded mind of the ignorant but the Buddha-mind. Hsin is the mind that merge with the all-encompassing One Mind.
銘
Ming literally means “inscription.” It means written expression or record. Ming also means warnings or admonitions.
Hsin-hsin Ming is one of the earliest and most influential Zen writings. It is usually referred to as the first Zen poem. It consists of 116 unrhymed four-character1 verses2 (lines), total 584 characters3. The Hsin-hsin Ming was composed in shih4 form. Shih was the principal poetic form in use in the early period, it is first used in the Book of Odes5 (Shih-ching, Shiky). Like the early shih, the Hsin-hsin Ming consists of lines that are 4-characters in length, but contrary to most shih, no end rhyme is employed in the poem.
As a characteristic of shih, one line usually constitutes a single syntactical unit. Since one character represents one syllable, and since classical Chinese is basically monosyllabic, this means that there are usually four words to a line. Lines tend to be end-stopped, with few run-on lines, so that the efffect is of a series of brief and compact utterances.
This concise form of four characters a line is shorter than the general run of Chinese verse, which usually has five or seven characters per line. Economy, even starkness of expression is a characteristic of the Hsin-hsin Ming. It is more of a verse than poetry and its brevity is one of the peculiar characteristics of this famous work. Its contents is closer to the Buddhist stras than poems. In fact, the Hsin-hsin Ming can be regarded as a stra. Many verses are like a short Zen saying and therefore can be taken as if they are a single-sentence Zen maxim. The original text was not divided in stanzas. Some translators divided the poem in different ways, with or without adding numbers to them.
The Hsin-hsin Ming has an important place In Ch’an Buddhist tradition. The poem has been very influential in Zen circles and many important commentaries were written on it. The opening stanza, “The best way is not difficult. It only excludes picking and choosing,” is quoted by many Zen masters as well as in the classical Zen works such as the Blue Cliff Records6. Along with the following influential poems, it is considered as a poem which reveals the essence of Zen philosophy:
The Original Text
The Text with Japanese “Current Characters” (Ty Kanji)
In the following text, the obsolete characters in the original text are replaced with newer, simplified characters used in contemporary Japanese.
言但若極無十要非一契両泯一眼夢迷法六不任執大一境無二二前帰多一止莫円違毫至 三
語能不大在方急思切心既其如若幻生無塵好性之道空由咎由見空根言種動逐同順釐道 祖
道如如同不智相量不平不所体不虚寂異不労合失体同能無一不転得多不帰有太相有無 僧
断是此小在者応処留等成以玄睡華乱法悪神道度寛両境法有住変旨慮通止縁虚争差難
非何必不十皆唯識無所一不兀諸何悟妄還何逍必無斉能不一慎皆随転両止勿無是天唯 大
去慮不見方入言情可作何可爾夢労無自同用遥入易含由生亦莫由照不処更住欠為地嫌 師
來不須辺目此不難記倶有方忘自把好愛正疏絶邪無万境不莫追妄失相失弥空無心懸揀 信
今畢守表前宗二測憶息爾比縁除捉悪著覚親悩路難象能心守尋見宗応功動忍余病隔択 心
信一有極宗不真虚狐究止万心得一将智欲繋放小不欲能一纔不須絶遣唯一良不欲但 銘
心即即小非二如明疑竟動法若失切心者取念之見見知随心有用臾言有滞種由識得莫
不一是同促皆法自尽窮無斉不是二用無一乖自狐精両境不是求返絶没両平取玄現憎
二切無大延同界照浄極動観異非辺心為乘真然疑麁段滅生非真照慮有辺懐捨旨前愛
不一無忘一無無不正不動帰万一良豈愚勿昏体転寧元境萬紛唯勝無従寧泯所徒莫洞
二切即絶念不他労信存止復法時由非人悪沈無急有是逐法然須却処空知然以労存然
信即是境万包無心調軌無自一放斟大自六不去転偏一能無失息前不背一自不念順明
心一有界年容自力直則止然如却酌錯縛塵好住遅党空沈咎心見空通空種尽如静逆白
Inscribed On the Believing Mind
Translated by Daisetsu Teitar Suzuki
至道無難 The Perfect Way knows no difficulties
唯嫌揀擇 Except that it refuses to make preference:
但莫憎愛 Only when freed from hate and love,
洞然明白 It reveals itself fully and without disguise.
毫釐有差 A tenth of an inch’s difference,
天地懸隔 And heaven and earth are set apart:
欲得現前 If you want to see it manifest,
莫存順逆 Take no thought either for or against it.
違順相爭 To set up what you like against what you dislike -
是爲心病 This is the disease of the mind:
不識玄旨 When the deep meaning [of the Way] is not understood
徒勞念靜 Peace of mind is disturbed and nothing is gained.
圓同太虚 [The Way is] perfect like unto vast space,
無欠無餘 With nothing wanting, nothing superfluous:
良由取捨 It is indeed due to making choice
所以不如 That its suchness is lost sight of.
莫逐有縁 Pursue not the outer entanglements,
勿住空忍 Dwell not in the inner void;
一種平懷 When the mind rests serene in the oneness of things,
泯然自盡 The dualism vanishes by itself.
止動歸止 When you strive to gain quiescence by stopping motion,
止更彌動 The quiescence thus gained is ever in motion;
唯滯兩邊 As long as you tarry in the dualism,
寧知一種 How can you realize oneness?
一種不通 And when oneness is not thoroughly understood,
兩處失功 In two ways loss is sustained -
遣有沒有 The denial of reality may lead to its absolute negation,
從空背空 While the upholding of the void may result in contradicting itself.
多言多慮 Wordiness and intellection -
轉不相應 The more with them the further astray we go;
絶言絶慮 Away therefore with wordiness and intellection,
無處不通 And there is no place where we cannot pass freely.
歸根得旨 When we return to the root, we gain the meaning;
隨照失宗 When we pursue external objects, we lose the reason.
須臾返照 The moment we are enlightened within,
勝卻前空 We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us.
前空轉變 Transformations going on in an empty world which confronts us,
皆由妄見 Appear real all because of Ignorance:
不用求眞 Try not to seek after the true,
唯須息見 Only cease to cherish opinions.
二見不住 Tarry not with dualism,
慎莫追尋 Carefully avoid pursuing it;
纔有是非 As soon as you have right and wrong,
紛然失心 Confusion ensues, and mind is lost.
二由一有 The two exist because of the one,
一亦莫守 But hold not even to this one;
一心不生 When the one mind is not disturbed,
萬法無咎 The ten thousand things offer no offence.
無咎無法 When no offence is offered by them, they are as if not existing;
不生不心 When the mind is not disturbed, it is as if there is no mind.
能隨境滅 The subject is quieted as the object ceases,
境逐能沈 The object ceases as the subject is quieted.
境由能境 The object is an object for the subject,
能由境能 The subject is a subject for an object:
欲知兩段 Know that the relativity of the two
元是一空 Rests ultimately on the oneness of the void.
一空同兩 In the oneness of the void the two are one,
齊含萬象 And each of the two contains in itself all the ten thousand things:
不見精麁 When no discrimination is made between this and that,
寧有偏黨 How can a one-sided and prejudiced view arise?
大道體寛 The Great Way is calm and large-minded,
無易無難 Nothing is easy, nothing is hard:
小見狐疑 Small views are irresolute,
轉急轉遲 The more in haste the tardier they go.
執之失度 Clinging never keeps itself within bounds,
必入邪路 It is sure to go the wrong way:
放之自然 Let go loose, and things are as they may be,
體無去住 While the essence neither departs nor abides.
任性合道 Obey the nature of things, and you are in concord with the Way,
逍遙絶惱 Calm and easy and free from annoyance;
繋念乖眞 But when your thoughts are tied, you turn away from the truth,
昏沈不好 They grow heavier and duller and are not at all sound.
不好勞神 When they are not sound, the soul is troubled;
何用疏親 What is the use of being partial and one-sided then?
欲取一乘 If you want to walk the course of the One Vehicle,
勿惡六塵 Be not prejudiced against the six sense-objects.
六塵不惡 When you are not prejudiced against the six sense-objects,
還同正覺 You in turn identify yourself with Enlightenment;
智者無爲 The wise are non-active,
愚人自縛 While the ignorant bind themselves up;
法無異法 While in the Dharma itself there is no individuation,
妄自愛著 They ignorantly attach themselves to particular objects.
將心用心 It is their own mind that creates illusions -
豈非大錯 Is this not the greatest of self-contradictions?
迷生寂亂 Ignorance begets the dualism of rest and unrest,
悟無好惡 The enlightened have no likes and dislikes:
一切二邊 All forms of dualism
妄自斟酌 Are ignorantly contrived by the mind itself.
夢幻虚華 They are like unto visions and flowers in the air:
何勞把捉 Why should we trouble ourselves to take hold of them?
得失是非 Gain and loss, right and wrong -
一時放卻 Away with them once for all!
眼若不睡 If an eye never falls asleep,
諸夢自除 All dreams will by themselves cease:
心若不異 If the mind retains its oneness,
萬法一如 The ten thousand things are of one suchness.
一如體玄 When the deep mystery of one suchness is fathomed,
兀爾忘虚 All of a sudden we forget the external entanglements:
萬法齊觀 When the ten thousand things are viewed in their oneness,
歸復自然 We return to the origin and remain what we are.
泯其所以 Forget the wherefore of things,
不可方比 And we attain to a state beyond analogy:
止動無動 Movement stopped is no movement,
動止無止 And rest set in motion is no rest.
兩既不成 When dualism does no more obtain,
一何有爾 Even oneness itself remains not as such.
究竟窮極 The ultimate end of things where they cannot go any further,
不存軌則 Is not bound by rules and measures:
契心平等 The mind in harmony [with the Way] is the principle of identity identity
所作倶息 In which we find all doings in a quiescent state;
狐疑盡淨 Irresolutions are completely done away with,
正信調直 And the right faith is restored to its native straightness;
一切不留 Nothing is retained now,
無可記憶 Nothing is to be memorized,
虚明自照 All is void, lucid, and self-illuminating,
不勞心力 There is no stain, no exertion, no wasting of energy -
非思量處 This is where thinking never attains,
識情難測 This is where the imagination fails to measure.
眞如法界 In the higher realm of True Suchness
無他無自 There is neither ‘other’ nor self’:
要急相應 When a direct identification is asked for,
唯言不二 We can only say, ‘Not two.’
不二皆同 In being not two all is the same,
無不包容 All that is is comprehended in it:
十方智者 The wise in the ten quarters,
皆入此宗 They all enter into this absolute faith.
宗非促延 This absolute faith is beyond quickening [time] and extension [space].
一念萬年 One instant is ten thousand years;
無在不在 No matter how things are conditioned, whether with ‘to be’ or ‘not to be’,
十方目前 It is manifest everywhere before you
極小同大 The infinitely small is as large as large can be,
忘絶境界 When external conditions are forgotten;
極大同小 The infinitely large is as small as small can be,
不見邊表 When objective limits are put out of sight.
有即是無 What is is the same with what is not,
無即是有 What is not is the same with what is:
若不如此 Where this state of things fails to obtain,
必不相守 Be sure not to tarry.
一即一切 One in all,
一切即一 All in one -
但能如是 If only this is realized;
何慮不畢 No more worry about your not being perfect!
信心不二 The believing mind is not divided,
不二信心 And undivided is the believing mind -
言語道斷 This is where words fail,
非去來今 For it is not of the past, future, or present.
Author of the text
鑑智僧
Chien-chih Seng-ts’an (Wade-Giles)
Jianzhi Sengcan (Pinyin) Jian4zhi4 Seng1can4
Kanchi Ssan (Japanese)
Seng-ts’an (Jap. Ssan), d. 606?; the third patriarch (soshigata) of Ch’an (Zen) in China; the dharma successor (hossu) of Hui-k’o and the master of Tao-hsin.
Another Verse Attributed to Chien-chih Seng-ts’an
Another poetical composition attributed to Chien-chih Seng-ts’an is found in The Masters and Disciples of the Lanka (Lengchia Shih-tzu Chi, Ryga Shijiki). This is a poem on “The Mysterious.”
One Reality only -
How deep and far-reaching!
The ten thousand things -
How confusingly multifarious!
The true and the conventional are indeed intermingling,
But essentially of the same substance they are.
The wise and the unenlightened are indeed distinguishable,
But in the Way they are united as one.
Desirest thou to find its limits?
How broadly expanding! It is limitless!
How vaguely it vanishes away! Its ends are never reached!
It originates in beginningless time, it terminates in endless time.
Translated by D.T. Suzuki (Manual of Zen Buddhism)
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