Xinxin ming

Xinxin ming (J. Shinjinmei; K. Sinsim myŏng 信心銘). “Inscription on the Mind of Faith” (or “Faith in Mind”). A short poem attributed to Sengcan, the third patriarch of the Chan tradition.

The Xinxin ming praises non-duality, and emphasizes the cultivation of detachment, especially from words and thought, as a method for attaining non-duality.

The Princeton Dictionary states:

Along with the Zhengdao ge, Cantong qi, and Baojing sanmei, the Xinxin ming has been regarded as one of the seminal statements of the Chan understanding of the dharma. Numerous commentaries on the poem were composed in East Asia.

According to the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, the influences of Zhuang-Lao Daoist thought and Huayan thought are evident in this work.

Selected verses

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)

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)

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 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)

Sources

• Blyth, R. (1960). Zen and Zen Classics, Vol. I. Hokuseido Press
• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
• Clarke, Richard (1973, 1984). Hsin Hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind. Buffalo, New York: White Pine Press.
• Pajin, Dusan (1988). On Faith in Mind, Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. XXVI, No. 2, Hong Kong 1988, pp. 270–288. or here
• Soeng, Mu (2004). Trust in Mind: The Rebellion of Chinese Zen. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-391-5.
• Suzuki, D.T. (1960). Manual of Zen Buddhism. NY: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3065-8.

External links

Web:

• Xinxin ming, Wikipedia
• 信心銘, Christian-Steinert Dictionary

Print:

• Cleary, J. C.; Yoshida, Osamu, trans. (1995). Three Chan Classics (The Faith-Mind Maxim; T 48, no 2010) Archived 2018-04-11 at the Wayback Machine., Berkeley: BDK America.
• 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
• 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.