This poem, On Believing in Mind, has a special place in my heart. Years ago,
I knew a man by the name of John Brzstoski who was a member of a Quaker meeting
I was attending. He was an art teacher in a local high school, a professor of
art at a university in the area and also
had a position in a museum concerning their collection of Tibetan Buddhist art.
He himself was a Buddhist and I always found something especially inspiring
about him.
One day I asked him how I could learn more about Buddhism. He told me to
memorize the following writing by Sengstan, known as the Third Chinese Patriarch of Chan (Zen),
On Believing
in Mind. He said
that much of it might seem obscure to me but that if I continued to reflect on
its meaning, over the years it would become clearer.
This particular translation of On Believing in Mind, the one John suggested
I memorize, is taken from The Manual on Zen Buddhism by D. T. Suzuki.
Well I did memorize it and recited it at least
irregularly through the years and like John said, through studying On Believing
in Mind and through my regular meditation and prayer practice slowly, ever so slowly, there indeed was a
growing clarity. As a result of my own experience, I would suggest that anyone feeling so moved, to reflect on this poem and possibly even memorize it.
On Believing in Mind
1. 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;
A tenth of
an inch's difference,
And heaven
and earth are set apart;
If you wish
to see it before your own eyes,
Have no
fixed thoughts either for or against it.
2. To set up
what you like against what you dislike—
This is the
disease of the mind;
When the
deep meaning [of the Way] is not understood
Peace of
mind is disturbed to no purpose.
3. [The Way]
is perfect like unto deep space,
With nothing
wanting, nothing superfluous;
It is indeed
due to making choice
That its
suchness is lost sight of.
4. Pursue
not the outer entanglements,
Dwell not in
the inner void,
Be serene in
the oneness of things,
And [dualism]
vanishes by itself.
5. When you
strive to gain quiescence by stopping motion,
The
quiescence thus gained is ever in motion;
As long as
you tarry in the dualism.
How can you
realize Oneness?
6. And when Oneness
is not thoroughly understood,
In two ways
loss is sustained:
The denying
of reality is the asserting of it,
And the
asserting of emptiness is the denying of it.
7. Wordiness
and intellection --
The more with
them the further astray we go;
Away therefore
with wordiness and intellection,
And there is
no place where we cannot pass freely.
8. When we
return to the root, we gain the meaning;
When we
pursue external objects, we lose the reason.
The moment
we are enlightened within.
We go beyond
the voidness of a world confronting us.
9.
Transformations going on in an empty world which confronts us
Appear real
all because of ignorance;
Try not to
seek after the true,
Only cease
to cherish opinions.
10. Abide
not with dualism,
Carefully
avoid pursuing it;
As soon as
you have right and wrong,
Confusion
ensues, and Mind [The Mind = the Way = the One = Emptiness] is lost.
11. The two
exist because of the One,
But hold not
even to this One;
When a mind
is not disturbed,
The ten
thousand things offer no offence.
12. No
offence offered, and no ten thousand things;
No
disturbance going, and no mind set up to work:
The subject
is quieted when the object ceases,
The object
ceases when the subject is quieted.
13. The
object is an object for the subject,
The subject
is a subject for the object;
Know that
the relativity of the two
Rests
ultimately on one Emptiness.
14. In one
emptiness the two are not distinguished,
And each
contains in itself all the ten thousand things;
When no
discrimination is made between this and that,
How can a
one-sided and prejudiced view arise?
15. The
Great Way is calm and large-hearted,
For it
nothing is easy, nothing is hard;
Small views
are irresolute,
The more in
haste the tardier they go.
16. Clinging
is never kept within bounds,
It is sure
to go the wrong way;
Quit it, and
things follow their own courses,
While the
Essence neither departs nor abides.
17. Obey the
nature of things, and you are in concord with the Way,
Calm and
easy and free from annoyance;
But when
your thoughts are tied, you turn away from the truth,
They grow
heavier and duller and are not at all sound.
18. When
they are not sound, the spirit is troubled;
What is the
use of being partial and one-sided then?
If you want
to walk the course of the One Vehicle,
Be not
prejudiced against the six sense-objects.
19. When you
are not prejudiced against the six sense-objects,
You are then
one with the Enlightenment;
The wise are
non-active,
While the
ignorant bind themselves up;
While in the
Dharma itself there is no individuation,
They
ignorantly attach themselves to particular objects.
It is their
own mind that creates illusions--
Is this not
the greatest of all self-contradictions?
20. The
ignorant cherish the idea of rest and unrest,
The enlightened
have no likes and dislikes:
All forms of
dualism
Are
contrived by the ignorant themselves.
They are
like unto visions and flowers in the air;
Why should
we trouble ourselves to take hold of them?
Gain and
loss, right and wrong--
Away with
them once for all!
21. If an
eye never falls asleep,
Than all
dreams will by themselves cease:
If the Mind
retains its absoluteness,
The ten
thousand things are of one Suchness.
22. When the
deep mystery of one Suchness is fathomed,
All of a
sudden we forget the external entanglements;
When the ten
thousand things are viewed in their oneness,
We return to
the origin and remain where we ever have been.
23. Forget
the wherefore of things,
And we
attain to a state beyond analogy;
Movement
stopped and there is no movement,
Rest sent in
motion and there is no rest;
When dualism
does no more obtain,
Oneness
itself abides not.
24. The
ultimate end of things where they cannot go any further
Is not bound
by rules and measures:
In the mind
harmonious [with the Way] we have the principle of identity,
In which we
find all strivings quieted;
Doubts and
irresolutions are completely done away with,
And the
right faith is straightened;
There is
nothing left behind, there is nothing retained,
All is void,
lucid, and self-illuminating;
There is no
exertion, no waste of energy --
This is
where thinking never attains,
This is
where the imagination fails to measure.
25. In the
higher realm of true Suchness,
There is
neither "self" nor "other":
When direct
identification is sought,
We can only
say "Not two" [I.e. Tat tvam asi].
26. In being
"not two" all is the same,
All that is
is comprehended in it;
The wise in
the ten quarters,
They all enter
into this Absolute Reason.
27. This
Absolute Reason is beyond quickening [time] and extending [space].
For it one
instant is ten thousand years;
Whether we
see it or not,
It is
manifest everywhere in all the ten quarters.
28.
infinitely small things are as large as large things can be,
For here no
external conditions obtain;
Infinitely
large things are as small as small things can be,
For objective
limits are here of no consideration.
29. What is
is the same as what is not,
What is not
is the same as what is:
Where this state
of things fails to obtain,
Indeed, no
tarrying there.
30. One in
All,
All in One
--
If only this
is realized,
No more
worry about your not being perfect!
31. 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.
