Faith in Mind #1

John Pulleyn40min

John Pulleyn00:06

This is the first day of this October, November, 20, 24/7 day seshin. I'm going to be reading from a book entitled faith in mind a commentary on Sung, sang classic transcription, edited transcription of lectures given by chan master Sheng yen.

John Pulleyn00:47

So this, this poem, this Zen poem titled faith in mind here, this is, this is what we chant in the morning. Our version of it.

John Pulleyn01:16

The great way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose when preferences are cast aside. The way stands clear and undisguised. This is maybe the most well known poem in all of Zen literature, and it was written by this guy sang San, who is supposed to be the fourth patriarch, the fourth ancestor in the chan or Zen lineage, going back to the first patriarch, of course, who was Bodhi Dharma. Reading here what Sheng Yen has said, it seems pretty clear that we don't really know a lot about sung San. There's questions whether this poem was actually written during his life or maybe came later. It really doesn't matter, does it? Teaching is so direct and intimate.

John Pulleyn02:40

For for the purposes of this reading from this book, of course, we'll be using the translation that Sheng yen came up with, and it's a pretty good one. Our version is really good for chanting. It flows quite nicely. But I think some nuances maybe are better expressed if you don't have to worry about how the chanting goes. And so there's a lot to be said for studying this, this work through, through a different translation. I in his introduction to the book, Sheng yen says the phrase faith in mind. Again, the title is the title of the poem is, faith in mind contains the two meanings of believing in and realizing the mind. Mind is especially emphasized in Chan. For anyone who's not clear, Chan is simply the Chinese pronunciation of Zen, or more accurately, Zen is the Chinese pronunciation of the Chinese Chan, because that's where it came from. So

John Pulleyn04:05

mind is especially emphasized in chan true faith in mind is the belief grounded in realization. It's both belief and realization that we have a fundamental, unmoving, unchanging mind. This mind is precisely Buddha. Mind is also Tathagata garba, the womb of the Buddha in every sentient being, but the mind experienced by ordinary beings in the midst of vexations is deluded. Mind, not true. Mind. Those who seek to rid themselves of vexations imagine that there is a true mind to attain. However, from the perspective of buddha mind, there is only one mind, neither true nor false. There is no need to discriminate forever. Everything, everywhere, is mind everlasting.

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When we fully realize buddha mind, the believing mind, and the mind that is believed in, merge into one. Since they are the same, the need for mere belief in this mind disappears.

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This understanding that everything is mind, you can come to this understanding just through logic. We know from science, whole world is appears to us through the firing of neurons in the brain throughout the body and

John Pulleyn06:08

what is it? What is it to be aware, to be conscious? I

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it's so helpful to have faith in this mind and faith in our ability to see into this mind. Of course, that's a faith that comes with experience. Little by little, we begin to understand how vast this mind is, how interconnected everything is. You

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we have to, we have to practice,

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of course, when we've seen directly to whatever degree that faith increases. And Sheng yen says the paradox is that one must be enlightened to have true faith in this mind. The author is speaking from a deeply enlightened perspective to the practitioner who seeks to discover true mind. Sung. Sang shows us how to transform our ordinary discriminating mind into the buddha mind, which does not discriminate, how to get from existence to emptiness, from defilement to purity. He tells us how we should practice and what kind of mental attitude to avoid during practice. Then he summarizes it here, we should not give in to our likes and dislikes, neither trying to negate our vexations, nor seeking enlightenment.

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Practice should be pursued for its own sake. But while there should be no other purpose, in the end, the mind of equanimity is realized. There is no discrimination, no need for language or indeed of practice. It's an exalted state. Of course,

John Pulleyn09:10

he goes on, the poem contains phrases that will later on assume importance in the Tao Tung or Soto sect of chan, for instance, one thought for 10,000 years, which expresses the idea of one thought not moving yet, illuminating. This idea became the hallmark of silent illumination. Chan or in Japan, shikantaza, not moving yet illuminating in in Chinese, silent illumination. Actually, he says that here, says this tendency is also repeated in the only other written record of Sun's teachings, which was found on a stone tablet. Commemorating him, the essence of the inscription is simultaneously practice, stillness and illumination. Carefully observe, but see no dharmas. See no body, see no mind that is, see no phenomenon or body or mind. For the mind is nameless. The body is empty and the dharmas are a dream. There is nothing to be attained, no enlightenment to be experienced. This is called liberation. I

John Pulleyn10:40

so we're going to plunge right in here. And this is, this is Sheng Yen's translation of the first stanza or so of the poem The supreme way is not difficult, if only you do not pick and choose, neither love nor hate, and you will clearly understand be off by a hair and you are As far from it as heaven is from Earth. You

John Pulleyn11:28

in our version, we say the great way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose when preferences are cast aside, the way stands clear and undisguised, but even slight distinctions made. Said, earth and heaven far apart. Then Sheng yen says the sole purpose of a chan retreat is to meditate. You should keep your attention entirely on practice without trying to attain any results. Think we've all heard this so many times.

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Of course, you'll get into this, but it's not a transaction.

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It's not something that we can do and direct.

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It's really opening up, letting go, shedding our preferences, our complaints, I our grasping and our pushing away.

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He says, Since many of you have traveled far or have worked hard to set aside the time you have a great deal invested in this retreat, it is natural that you want to attain something, but once you enter the retreat, you must put aside any specific hopes. Practicing with a goal in mind is like trying to catch a feather with a fan. The more you go after it, the more it eludes you, but if you sneak up on it slowly, you can grab it. The aim of practice is to develop patience and forbearance, to train your mind to be calm and stable. Any attachment or seeking will prevent your mind from settling down. This really is what practice does. Develops patience, forbearance, long before the rise of Zen, the Buddha said, as irrigators lead water where they want. As archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood. The wise shape their minds.

John Pulleyn14:20

One sense, we can say yes, that's how it is. But really, as we abandon ourselves to the Dharma, as we give ourselves to our method, to our practice, these things happen outside of our control, often outside of our awareness. People sometimes come into dokan in a really unified state, and they don't really even know it. How wonderful they do know it. It's a little bit of a problem, isn't it?

John Pulleyn15:13

He says today, someone told me that the more he worked on the huato, that's the nub of the koan, the kernel, the question. The more he worked on it, the more tense he felt. It was as though his mind had become knotted up. His problem is that he wants to see quick results. Pursuing the WA do intensely with a desire to get enlightened is like tying yourself up and then poking yourself with a knife.

John Pulleyn15:53

Eventually it dawns on us that we are grasping and that that's totally counterproductive. It's like driving with the brakes on. It's

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like a kid when you're driving down the road on vacation, constantly saying, Are we there yet? I

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uh, we're only, we only make problems for ourselves. Of course, this is natural. I mean, this is everybody. This isn't just us bad practitioners. Everybody wants to get something, but practice leads us beyond that. For willing, if we can drop our agenda, we have to work so hard. We have to give ourselves up so completely. If we didn't think that it was going to work out. Well, we probably wouldn't do it, but it's paradoxical. We need to abandon our agenda.

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Can be a relief to realize how simple it is. Don't have to beat yourself up. Just have to notice, notice when you're getting in the mix and you're trying to control things,

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it's developing a love for practice, a love for awareness, for stillness and awareness.

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It's like turning towards the sun,

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back to Sheng yen. The more you drive yourself, the more tense you will feel. The same principle applies to the body. If you react to pain by tensing the body, the pain will only get worse. If any part of your body feels painful, you should try to relax it any involuntary movement, movement of the body while sitting in meditation is also due to tension. Thus it is important to constantly maintain a state of relaxation. This is really the foundation of practice. It's hard to come by. If you try to relax, you'll usually end up tensing instead. We really have to find our way you

John Pulleyn19:06

it helps to have a awareness of the body, to know when something is tensing up, be able to open up into it, especially with pain and

John Pulleyn19:25

so much of the difficulty that we have dealing with pain in Zazen is due to our resistance. I've said this before, but I had a I had a terrible time early in my practice. I felt I had to sit in the lotus position, half lotus, and my legs disagreed,

John Pulleyn19:55

and usually the pain would come on right about. The time the monitor got up to walk around the room, it was kind of miraculous. I would be fine. And then I would realize, Oh, we're at that point, and boom, it was right. There it was. It was obviously looking back. I was involuntarily tensing up, tensing up my legs and actually causing the pain I was trying to get out. Of course, if you're having severe pain that's debilitating or perhaps even dangerous, you should find a different position. There's many, many ways to sit. It is nice to have the limbs all pulled together, be so stable and centered. But sometimes we have to make peace with sitting in a looser posture, sitting, perhaps even in a chair. There are people who, because of back problems, have to learn to do Zazen lying on their back. And they can. They can. Roshi Kapleau told me once, John, you can do Zazen standing on your head. You Hmm.

John Pulleyn21:40

Just say a little more about relaxation as foundation for practice. This is something that disciple of and successor of, Sheng yen, Guo Gu stresses a lot. We need to have a foundation for our practice that's stable and calm, abiding, if we get a sense of relaxation, of contentment, even so much easier to put in the work to stick with it, because now we're not driving with the brakes on. It's worth spending a little time if you've fallen into the habit of gritting your teeth or tensing up in some ways, look for experiment with letting some of that go. Don't let go of the thorough going nature of your practice. Don't want to be drifting. Don't want to be playing with thoughts. You can be stable, comfortable,

John Pulleyn23:08

through practice, something we learn to do, something we bring into our lives. Notice with a seasoned Zen practitioner, the shoulders are are lower than maybe when he was younger, he or she was younger.

John Pulleyn23:41

So again, back to Sheng Yen said, it is important to constantly maintain a state of relaxation. Related to this are the problems that may develop from fixing your attention on a particular part of the body. For instance, some people try to make their breath flow smoothly, but in trying to control the breath, it becomes abnormal.

John Pulleyn24:11

Again. It's that paradox of trying too hard, of getting wrapped up in conditions I relaxed? Am I not relaxed? Am I getting somewhere? Am I not getting somewhere? I

John Pulleyn24:46

There's a guy named Dan Lawrence talks about breathing, says it is rare to meet a man or woman who retains the capacity from infancy to breathe with their whole body and fluid movement and deeper. Relaxation. Practice it for a few moments. See what it feels like. Breath is quickened or held in fear, and this becomes our collective and so familiar, familiar, reinforced cultural breath. Is why I always veer away from advising people to breathe using a new technique for advice often carries an implicit demand that invites resistance and more fear. It is enough to know that you're not just breathing and uncomfortably relax into that for a while, don't try to fix it. Just feel it. Just know it. We all retain the ability to breathe easily when we're in deep sleep. Of course, babies have this amazing, deep, relaxation when they're not crying, or dogs and cats watching a dog or a cat lying on its side, belly rising and falling,

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rub. Rubs off on us a little bit, feel, hear blood pressure lowering and

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so again, in trying to control the breath, it becomes abnormal. Don't pay attention to any phenomenon that occurs to the body. If you're concerned with it, problems will arise. It's the same with the mind. You will be unable to practice unless you disregard everything that happens to you mentally. If you feel distressed and pained in any way, just ignore it, let it go and return wholeheartedly to the method. Place your mind directly on the method itself. Concern yourself with nothing else. Mm,

John Pulleyn27:26

the supreme way. In the first line of the poem, refers to the stage of Buddhahood. The wisdom of the Buddha is not difficult to perceive. It can be attained in the instant between two thoughts. The reason for this is that it has never been separate from us. Is always present. In fact, we all desire to realize this supreme way. If so, why are we unable to attain it? The second line explains what prevents us. It is because we are always trying to escape our vexations, precisely because we want to acquire the Buddha's insight And merits, we are unable to perceive Buddha nature. You

John Pulleyn28:29

there's a koan in the Mumon con, where Joshu asks non Sen, what is the way non Sen replies, ordinary mind. Is the way, ordinary mind, this mind. Joshu asked, shall I try to seek after it? If you try to seek after it, you go away from it. Answered, nonsense. Joshu, if I do not try for it, how can I know the way and nonsense said, the way is not a matter of knowing or not knowing. Knowing is illusion. Not knowing is blankness. If you attain to this way of no doubt, it is as boundless as vast space. So how can there be right or wrong in the way? At these words, Joshu was suddenly enlightened.

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Throughout his career, Joshu would often quote the verses on the faith mind, number of koans that deal with that as well. Applause.

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He moves on to the next two lines and says to paraphrase them, as soon as you discard your likes and dislikes, the way will immediately appear before you. Here Sunshine has something in common with Tao chin, the fourth patriarch, and we numb. The Sixth Patriarch, the letter to frequently said that when you stop discriminating between good and evil, you will immediately perceive your original face. In chan original face, of course, refers to one's innate Buddha nature, or in other words, you will understand the supreme way

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when preferences are cast aside, the way stands clear And undisguised.

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It's hard to throw aside your preferences. It's the reason that we have a practice.

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Somebody said awakening is an accident, and practice makes us accident prone.

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Sheng yen goes on when sitting some of you are distracted with pain or are trying to fight off, off drowsiness. At night, maybe you are angry at someone who is keeping you awake with his snoring, but instead of letting it annoy you, just observe the snoring. Soon the snores may become hypnotic and repetitive, actually pleasant sounding. If you start counting the snores before you know it, you will be asleep. So many of our difficulties are we cause ourselves. Someone else in the same circumstances wouldn't have a problem at all, but we've got our annoying our ideas about who's annoying and what they shouldn't be doing, and it exasperation rises up within us and we can't sleep. At least we can begin to see that we're part of the equation, and in many ways, we're the whole equation. We he

John Pulleyn33:06

says, On the other hand, becoming attached to a certain pleasurable experience in meditation can also be an obstruction. One student I had would rock her body during sitting meditation. She felt she had no control over the shaking. It just happens spontaneously. Actually, this was not caused by any physical tension, but by a subconscious motive. The rocking was comfortable for to her, you cannot practice effectively. If you give in to such things by examining them, you will be able to control the mind seems sometimes see people also rocking during chanting, so we definitely don't want to do

John Pulleyn33:55

he says, holding on to various likes and dislikes keeps you apart from The way discarding them will bring you in accord with the way. But if there is the slightest misconception about this, the distance between you and the way will be as great as that between heaven and earth. Don't misinterpret this and think that, since you are not supposed to attach to likes and dislikes, you should therefore not cultivate the way this attitude. It's useless to come on a chan retreat.

John Pulleyn34:40

When you first set out to practice, you will definitely have a goal in mind. You may be frustrated with your present condition and aim either to change yourself or to improve your circumstances. Certainly there is something you hope to achieve by practicing. You cannot just practice aimlessly. So practice itself implies some intention. Or desire to fulfill your original intentions, you must constantly keep your mind on the method of practice. But as you focus on the method, you should not be thinking of what you want to accomplish, what level you want to reach, what problems you want to get rid of. Instead, your mind should be exclusively applied to the method itself, freed from all other motives. There's a saying that is useful for practitioners, put down the myriad thoughts. Take up the practice. The myriad thoughts are scattered, random, extraneous concerns. The practice is your method of cultivation. When your mind wanders to extraneous concerns, put them down as soon as they appear from moment to moment, put down extraneous thoughts and return your mind to the method of practice. Of course, we've all heard this advice a million times, but to be really thorough and serious about doing it, Patient, confident, even so, have trust in this way and

John Pulleyn36:47

when we trust the mind is enabled, is able to fall silent, not continually stirring things up. I don't know what we'll find, but we're willing to sit, bring our awareness to the practice. Is our practice, awareness and a when your interest in the practice becomes greater than your interest in the results, things begin to happen. A

John Pulleyn37:38

lot of people here are familiar with The Anthony de Mello metaphor of a science scientist studying the behavior of ants now that contrasts with a dog trainer trying to get a dog to do a certain, certain behavior, that attitude of just wanting to see, wanting to know. I uh, produces amazing results. It's an attitude of, there's no problem. Just want to understand. I just want to see understanding that I don't fix myself, and yet, everything can change. Seven days of seshin, it's a long time. A lot can be accomplished. A lot can happen, but for it to happen needs to be outside of our direction. You

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just looking moment by moment and

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what is difficult now becomes easier.

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Silence We ran from, we now go into willingly wholeheartedly.

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Remember realizing at certain points in my practice, all I have to. Do is just give myself to the practice, not saying that I was able to do it at that point, but it's it's almost a relief. We're not We're not responsible for the results. There's no control. We don't know what will happen. We don't know what our karma is. All our past, tendencies and patterns, but we do know that by letting go of our preferences, letting go of our random thoughts, our grievances, all the chatter, that things will settle, it will see, see more than we've ever seen.

John Pulleyn40:48

Okay, our time is up. We'll stop now and recite the four vows i.

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