I've been writing about the Two Truths doctrine, and while I was writing I found myself visiting old friends. In this case, the old friends are some of the very first texts and chants I encountered as a Zen student. You may enjoy some of these, too.
First is the Sandokai, or the Identity of Relative and Absolute. This is a short text by the Chinese Chan master Shitou Xiqian (700-790)). There's a version of the Sandokai text on this page, after the Heart Sutra. This is part of the daily liturgy in many Soto Zen monasteries and Zen centers.
Chanting the Sandokai exemplifies the Zen approach to learning doctrine. As I researched the Two Truths I ran into many commentaries that presented enormously detailed analyses to explain the Truths. Not so much in Zen. We sit, we chant. And sometimes we get dharma talks. Here is a video of the late Shunryu Suzuki explaining a part of the Sandokai -- very simple, very direct.
Another old friend is the Xinxin Ming (Hsin Hsin Ming) by Chan patriarch Seng-ts'an (d. 606 CE). Xinxin Ming is sometimes translated "mind of absolute trust" or "faith mind." There's a nice version on this Metta Refuge page (scroll down a bit). The Xinxin Ming is about nonduality but includes this bit --
At the moment of profound insight,
you transcend both appearance and emptiness.
Nice reminder. Now compare the Xinxin Ming to the Wishing Prayer for the Attainment of the Ultimate Mahamudra by His Holiness the Third Karmapa (1284-1339). Someone sent me this text when I was a new Zen student, and I was very moved by it. I also recognized that the Karmapa was talking about the same stuff my Zen teacher kept going on about.
In going back to these texts now, it struck me how much these two great masters, from two different schools and separated by time and geography, were pointing to the same dharma. Let the academics prattle on about all the "Buddhisms." There is one dharma.
And finally there is the Heart Sutra, which I believe was the first sutra I ever read and the first liturgy I ever chanted. It's still teaching me.
No comments:
Post a Comment