Commentary on Mind Seal

Commentary on Mind Seal Here is Harry Miller’s commentary on his two new English translations of the classic poem, Xin Ming by Master Niutou Farong, which are published in Chan Magazine Autumn 2020. Introduction I generally try to read some of the most important Chan/Zen poems in their original. It is a way of reading deeply, and translating takes one even deeper. The Chinese is perfect. The English has to be perfected. (Please note that there are two Chinese versions of the poem, the Quan Tangwen 全唐文 from the Qing Dynasty in 1819, which I used. There is also the Jingde Chuandenglu 景德傳燈錄 in 1004 in the Song Dynasty. The differences are very minor and there is really no difference in meaning between them.) In discussing 心銘, Mind Seal, by 牛頭法融 by Niutou Farong (594-657) of the Tang 唐 Dynasty, a Dharma teacher friend of mine said that it is best to look at a poem like this not so much an expression of spiritual breakthrough or religious rapture but as a serious document meant to help a student or students who are very advanced, on the brink of awakening, but are held back by some subtle misunderstanding, misperception or attachment. I first translated the poem with the help of some Chinese friends, who are long time practitioners. I wanted to make a very readable translation, that would align with a consistent idiomatic rendering, although I venture to say very few people can fully understand the poem without considerable commentary, as well as considerable practice. Fortunately, Master Sheng Yen, used the poem as the basis of a number of Dharma talks that were presented during eleven retreats in his book, Song of Mind, which was published in 2004, but many of the retreats took place in the eighties and nineties. Using Master Sheng Yen as my guide, I was able to make a much more faithful translation than I could have ever done on my own. The translation in his book is quite good, but I wanted to look at the original and understand it for myself, from the ground up, so to speak. Master Sheng Yen’s purpose in using Farong’s poem was to help his students during intensive practice and to spread the Dharma through the teachings in this and many other of his books. My goal is more modest. I wanted to look at the poem from a new point of view and use it as my own study guide. I hope that this translation will give the reader some idea of the great insight that lies within the original, and I hope that this might lead a prospective student to 1 Master Sheng Yen’s Song of Mind, as well as some of his other books. He was a remarkably insightful and kind teacher. I was his student for thirty years, and the lessons I learned from him were and continue to be remarkable. And please note: when I talk about the state of enlightenment, for me it is just that, talk. I’m relying on Master Sheng Yen’s commentary and his great wisdom as well as reading that I have done over the years, but my understanding, at this point, is mostly intellectual and not experiential. According to the instructions in the poem, I’m still taking “baby steps.” A word about the title “Xin Ming” 心銘. It is literally, mind inscription or engraving. In modern Chinese, there is the expression mingji 銘記, which is literally to “engrave in memory,” but this would be more about a life event or even studying for a history test. Mingxin 銘心 is more literally “engrave in the mind” and can mean “remember with gratitude.” Mingxinkegu 銘心刻骨, literally, “inscribe in the mind, carve in bone,” means to “bear in mind forever.” But how can something be engraved or imprinted in the mind? What tool would you use? I used the translation “Mind Seal,” because in Chinese Buddhism, seal can often mean proof, evidence, authenticity. And Farong’s poem is about the truth and authenticity of true mind, which though beyond concepts, images and descriptions, can be pointed to and can be experienced. According to Zen/Mahayana teaching this true mind, or Buddhanature (which is not a phrase that’s used in the poem) is our birthright. Nothing can make an engraving or inscription on this mind, but the truth and experience of it can be attested to. That truth is the “seal,” the proof. This, I believe, is what Farong is doing, and as I mentioned earlier, he is showing the way. To make this kind of journey and expend this kind of effort for awakening needs unshakeable confidence. This is certainly one of the reasons why “Mind Seal” was written, as it shows how that confidence can be uncovered and nurtured. In many ways it is like the famous poem by Sengcan, the third patriarch, which is called “Faith in Mind.” Each of these poems, in their own way, counsels looking no further than one’s own mind and turning away from illusory thoughts and views, so that we can see the world exactly as it. There is proof of this, I believe they would both assert, if only you have the dedication and purpose to find it within yourself. 1. Mind nature xinxing 心性 not arising, buxing 不生 The word 心 xin in Chinese can be quite confusing. It can mean heart or mind or both. Additionally, in Chan literature, 2 sometimes xin means the deluded, confused mind of ordinary sentient beings. This is a mind that is obsessed with a “sense of a “self” that we wish would last forever, but doesn’t, no matter how much we worry or complain. This sense of self further wishes to possess or push away people, objects or events, which by their nature are illusory and certainly do not conform or act according to our fears or desires. So the deluded mind is based on, or gives rise to, an illusory self. But xin, the exact same character, can also mean the awakened, enlightened, true nondualistic mind that is perfectly aware but unattached to a sense of self or a desire for possession or rejection. However, this sense of “true mind” cannot be captured in concept or language. So, it is also expressed as “no mind,” which certainly doesn’t mean “mindless,” as it might colloquially. Neither my description of mind or no-mind is entirely accurate, but unless we’re engaged in meditation practice and we understand that words are pointers to the truth, not the truth itself, we are momentarily confined to the restrictions of language, until we find out the truth for ourselves. The nature of mind is non-arising. This could also be translated as “unborn,” but that sounds a little too ontological to me, as if there were some kind of incipient existence that is waiting to come into being. However, to definitively say that “mind does not exist,” would be too strong a statement. I chose “non-arising” because it seems more process-oriented, which may also be misleading, but “process” is harder to pin down. And the nature of mind cannot be pinned down. What does “non-arising” mean? It refers to a pure, undefiled, unchanging state that is very different from the deluded way we attach to manufactured projections in our own minds. We take these impermanent, imprecise projections of our own making, and believe that they are an unassailable reality that exists apart from us in what we think is the “real” world. But that is really the illusory world of which most of us ordinary sentient beings are unaware. Generally speaking, we don’t know that there is any other reality outside of the one we think we experience. In saying that the mind is non-arising, the poem asserts that things that appear to our deluded minds are just that, appearances only. True mind is not fooled by appearance and sees what the deluded mind believes to be reality only as a shifting panoply of projections. A crude analogy would be that of a movie screen, which shows any number of different movies from 3 horror to cooking shows, but whose surface and substance never changes. Of course, a real movie screen will wear out like anything over time. But true mind does not wear out. It is important to understand that a “non-arising mind” is not a torpid, uninvolved mind. Much to the contrary, this a description of an entirely awake mind that is deeply engaged with the world, and acts out of compassion and wisdom 2. What need hexu 何須 to know, see (or have views) zhijian 知見. Knowing, zhi and views jian - constitute dualistic concepts that are taken to be “real” and are subject to attachments, and indeed, are attachments themselves. True, non-arising mind is free of such restraints. I had first translated this as “what need is there to understand?” But knowing, that is taking something into (our deluded) mind, even precedes the understanding of what’s taken in. Knowing describes experiencing, access to the raw data of living and dying. Having views, jian, actually wrong views, is one of the four asravas, or taints or “outflows” (these are root causes of suffering, deep tendencies in the mind). The other three asravas are sensuality, desire for existence, and ignorance. 3. Fundamentally, there is no benwu 本無 single dharma yifa 一法. The character ben is often translated as “originally.” However, this word might be understood as something that was originally one thing but could change to another, as someone who is originally a plumber, and then becomes an electrician, “plumberness” disappears.

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