Pt. 1 EXPLORING THE THIRD CHINESE PATRIARCH OF ZEN (CHAN)

HSIN HSIN MING by SENG TS’AN

EMBRACING CLARITY by Phil Roger

When Buddhism came to China it merged with Taoism, resulting in Chan Buddhism. Chan eventually made its way to Japan and became Zen. This body of thought is even now studied and revered in that tradition. It offers us a very clear insight into the nature of the non-dual state.

Since this teaching was very likely addressed to very committed practitioners, perhaps in a monastic setting, I have decided to attempt to make it relevant for us. There are several translations of the Hsin Hsin Ming and I am certainly not trying to write another. My aim is to simplify and clarify the verses so we can apply their wisdom to our own practice. My commentary is just that and I will acknowledge sources at the end.

The Hsin Hsin Ming has many names.I will call my commentary “Embracing Clarity”.

EMBRACING CLARITY

Verse 1

The Great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.

When love and hate are both absent, all becomes clear and undisguised.

The Great Way? In Taoist writing there is reference to the Superior Man. This means a person who has chosen to follow their spiritual path, and who strives to live in that Great Way.

Some find that difficult because they are under the spell of preferences. So, the Great Way is NOT difficult if we deal with our preferences. Now, this does not mean simple preferences, like chocolate vs. vanilla, they are just simple choices. These are preferences that reach the state of attachment and longing. If we don’t get what we prefer does it unbalance our mind, disturbing our inner peace? If so, that’s an attachment. Living in harmony with Source Consciousness is not difficult if we can abandon longing, judgement, prejudice, and attachment to our beliefs and opinions. In the non-dual view, we say that we must let go of beliefs. We let go of being right, thinking we know for sure. The belief itself is likely neutral. This abandonment is a process. When we see these preferences and beliefs, we recognize them and make a firm decision to change and release them. It may take several tries but we stay with it. Often times they release simply from being recognized, owned and seen as obsolete.

WORK ON NO PREFERENCES

When love and hate are both absent…..

This refers to attraction and aversion. Yes, in our meditations we encounter the power of intelligent Love that is an aspect of the Divine that we are. But, this absence is about hard core duality. If we get what we want we are happy, if we don’t we are unhappy. Our feeling of happiness depends on outer circumstances. We have a collection of things we find desirable and another list of things that are undesirable. So, we are in an almost continual ping- pong game, getting what we want ,then getting what we don’t want, then not wanting what we thought we wanted, Then wanting what we used to have. Yikes! No wonder people are discontent, confused and dissatisfied.

When attraction and aversion are both absent we begin to see clearly, we see things as they truly are. We are approaching the nature of pure mind which is clarity. If we can accept things just as they are, letting go of our should , musta , oughts this clarity just appears. We are not experiencing life through the filter of the egoic mind, the learned, conditioned sub-self. The opposite of the Great Way.

ABANDON JUDGEMENT, SEE THINGS AS THEY TRULY ARE

Verse2

Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

Even a speck of duality takes us deep and deeper into separation. Heaven and earth are set infinitely apart! Unity is smashed into pieces. We are disconnected from Source Consciousness. Thankfully, we can reconnect. We have to practice not forgetting.

REMEMBER ALWAYS THE ONENESS OF ALL THAT IS

Verse3

If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for or against anything.

Let go of opinions if you wish to experience the TRUTH. If we can experience and remember the state of Unity Consciousness, that everything that manifests in the perceivable world is unfolding within the ONE, everything is an aspect of Consciousness. We can think, ”Well, such and such seems to be this or that.”, and maybe we choose to avoid or engage. But, in any case it is our best estimate. We learn to accept that we seldom, if ever, can see the biggest of big pictures. Our view is always our best guess, and sometimes we are close to right. We shouldn’t be bothered when we’re not! We need to honor that our opinions are just that, and we should be open to them being updated or proven wrong. Again, it is our attachment to our opinions that keep us in separation, in duality. By cultivating this skill, we can begin to see the TRUTH of things.

AVOID GRASPING AT OPINIONS, LET THEM FLOW

Verse 4

To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.

The incessant battle between our preferences results in the dis-ease of the mind. The ping-pong trap. Our ease is gone along with our peace.

JUST BE MINDFUL OF THE PING-PONG STATE

Verse 5

When the deep meaning of things is not understood, the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail. So now, what is the deep meaning of things? As stated in verse3, Unity Consciousness is the source and essence of all that exists and even that which does not yet exist or has ceased to be. Knowing this intellectually is a starting point but the knowing that matters most, the realization comes from meditation on the vast emptiness of infinite, eternal consciousness. We encounter this as energy and intelligence. All of our perceived reality unfolds in our awareness and that unfolds in the Cosmic Mind of God. This awareness reveals our true nature. We come to experience the nature of the mind as clarity and with that comes a profound inner peace as well as unconditional love, compassion, joy, gratitude, freedom and mystical wisdom. This is what we disconnect from when we return to the sub-self of egoic identification. The self that we are not!

ACCEPT YOUR DIVINITY AS YOUR TRUE SELF

Verse 6

Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things.

This is reinforcement of previous verses. And, it is a challenge to actually master this. We are all about accepting or rejecting, another way of saying attachment or aversion, love or hate. Notice these words are all essentially opposites. Dichotomies, dualistic sides of many, many coins. There is a concept in Taoism called wu wei. It means effortless action. It is clearly demonstrated in martial arts training. Through dedicated effort one develops the ability to remain in the stillness of the inner quiet even when being attacked. From that very clear and calm state a determination is made in a split second regarding how to respond. Then very calmly the appropriate action is used. The simplest response is to just move out of the way! There is no fear, anger, or hate. Just a swift appropriate response based on what is. Then a rerun to stillness. We can adapt this to our own reactions. We can ask ourselves, ”What is happening?”, “What is my best option in dealing with this, if any?” and then we act from a place of awareness and stillness. We can act from our true nature. In time this becomes automatic and can even be surprising!

LEARN TO FEEL THE ENERGY OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE AND REJECTION

Verse 7

The Way is perfect like vast space, where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.

In the Unity Consciousness all opposites are merged. All is One, infinite and eternal. The Greeks were aware of an ordering principle they termed the Logos. They saw an order in the visible world and sensed an intelligence behind it which they expressed in mathematics, especially geometry. This was referred to as “The Word” in the prologue to the Book of John in the New Testament. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. There seems to be a cosmic order to the unfolding of existence. It is what I mean when I say the biggest of big pictures. Again, intellectually this seems absurd, with a world that is way far from perfect. We get to “the Way is Perfect” only by entering into that vast space of Source Consciousness, then we just feel it. And obviously we need to cultivate trust and confidence in this perfection. Maybe ,then we can learn to see some of the harshness of this world in a new light. I do not work with the saying “It’s All Good”, although I accept the intention. I prefer to think that” It’s All Is Perfectly What It IS.”

STRIVE TO FEEL THE PRESENCE OF ORDER IN THAT WHICH YOU FIND HARD TO COMPREHEND AND TRUST THAT.

Verses 8-10

Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things.

Live neither in the entanglements of outer things, nor in inner feelings of emptiness.

Be serene in the Oneness of things, and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

Duality prevents us from seeing the true nature of things, their non-dual nature. Acceptance and rejection; entanglements of outer things vs. inner feelings of emptiness, both sets of opposites obscure the Truth of Unity Consciousness. The egoic sub-self cultivates expectations. In the ebb and flow of cause and effect we either buy into the illusion of being in control or struggle to gain that control. This is the essence of discord and dissatisfaction, the main fuel of separation, the dynamic of our entanglement with outer things. The outer things comprise a big chunk of Samsara, the seemingly endless cycle of birth, death and suffering. We are in the process of recognizing these entanglements and we are learning to identify with our spiritual self, to see it as who and what we truly are. We meditate on the vast emptiness of infinite and eternal consciousness and begin to feel the emptiness of our bodies, our ego personality, our book learnin’,time and space. To discover this frequency feels very good, it is also very seductive. Our direct experience of emptiness shows us the truth of existence, but it’s not a place to hang out permanently. We should be serene, happy, and peaceful as we begin to see that duality and non-duality are not in opposition. Hey are a function of Oneness. Consciousness lowers its frequency, appears as matter and becomes the world. This is the Mind of God manifesting as the world and all that it contains, including us. True, duality is much more dense than the non-dual but it is the same essence at a lower vibration. We are being advised see this Oneness and to stay balanced, cool and serene.

CHOOSE TO SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE. BREAK THE HABIIT OF ACCEPTING OR REJECTING.BALANCE THE INNER SELF WITH THE OUTER SELF ( WE ARE BOTH ). BE SERENE. LET ERRONEOUS VIEWS EVAPORATE.

Verses 11-13

When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity, your very effort fills you with activity.

As long as you remain in one extreme or the other, you will never know Oneness.

Those who do not live in the single way fail in both activity and passivity, assertion and denial. To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality, to assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality.

The efforts we make to still the mind are actually efforts that make the mind restless. We learn to allow the mind to find stillness. If we are serene the aspects of mind that are just static will disappear by themselves. In deep meditation we enter theta brain waves. Theta is very close to sleep. We can even observe the mind slipping into sleep. It is not uncommon for very abstract thoughts or very distant memories to appear in the meditation. These may be meaningful or perhaps not. We can acknowledge then, make a quick mental note, but avoid engaging with them, returning back to pure awareness. At any stage of meditation avoid a head on confrontation with thoughts. Focus on letting them flow and disappear on their own. Stay serene! These verses all address the Middle Way. This is an understanding that hard core materialism and absolute emptiness are extreme views. The Truth lies in the middle. So, we have two truths. The conventional world of name and form, space and time, Impermanence, Newtonian laws, and all that we think of as our “normal” reality. Ultimate truth is that which is on the other side of emptiness. The Unity of All Existence, merging with the Absolute, the Awakened State. This has echoed through the verses. These two truths flow in and out of one another, they co-exist, simultaneously. Ultimate Truth is more ultimate, conventional truth is more conventional! They meet in the middle. To realize that is to know Oneness, the unity of the two. From the vantage point of the non-dual the “Not Two” refers to this Oneness. One with infinite facets.

ENJOY THE INTERACTION OF THE TWO TRUTHS. THEY ARE NOT IN CONFLICT. KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. AVOID EXTREME VIEWS.

Verses 14-16

The more you talk about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking, and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

To return to the root is to find the meaning, but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.

At the moment of inner enlightenment, there is going beyond appearance and emptiness.

Well, we are certainly talking about it. It’s really the only way to get to the understanding that what we are and what we are becoming as we remember our true nature. We can’t think our way into any of that. Conceptual ideas can take us to the edge of knowing and from there we have the option of leaping into the vast unknown of direct experience. We simply surrender to a greater intelligence and come to know ourselves as that, and more. However, this Knowing is more of a feeling, a sensation, a deep intuitive recognition of it’s Truth and our Oneness with it. It goes way beyond intellectual word based comprehension, which for most of us is a necessary rung on the ladder of awakening. Returning to the root is to remember the Source of our Being, to experience the vastness of that Consciousness and to become that. The root mind is clarity, pure awareness or consciousness. Clarity means pure, the energetic essence, free of appearances, the manifested perceptual world. As we merge with Source Consciousness we enter the Unified Field and through frequency, begin to resonate with Divine Intelligence. Anything we need to know will be revealed. We can see things as they are which allows this intuitive knowing to flow into our life situations. This is a very practical process indeed.

Going beyond appearances and emptiness? Inner enlightenment? Is there an outer enlightenment? My take on this is that when we are firmly established in the view of the Middle Way, the union and balance of both the ordinary, conventional truth of perceptual appearances and the silent stillness of profound emptiness of Ultimate Truth, we are completely awakened. I avoid the term enlightenment. If we can get even in the neighborhood of fully awake I doubt seriously any of these terms will matter! In meditation we become formless ,nameless, timeless and non-local. We become no-thing (emptiness),but then we become every thing, one with all that is.

SEE CLEARLY THE LIMITED NATURE OF WORDS AND IDEAS. INSTEAD DIVE DEEP INTO THE ROOT OF YOUR BEING. BE PREPARED TO LET GO OF ALL INTELLECTUALLY FORMED BELIEFS AND OPINIONS. MERGE WITH THE ONE.