This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. So good evening, everyone, and welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. My name is Kyoshin Wendy Lewis. And tonight, as well as next week and then two weeks after that, I'm going to be speaking on the poem, Xin Xin Ming, Trust in Mind, or Faith in Mind. And the Tanto invited me to experiment with doing this, doing a series of talks on a particular teaching. So this is the one I chose. And then I also thought, well, maybe we could do it a little less formally. and have it be like a class. So it's an experiment. We'll see how it goes. So the poem presents an interpretation of Chan or Zen that is part of a movement called Budo-Daoism.

[01:14]

So in China, Confucianism and Taoism was the basis of the cultural kind of... or understanding sort of religious in a certain way because it has rituals and things associated with it. So the sixth century in China was a time when Buddhism was being persecuted. And the third ancestor who was associated with this teaching was on the run quite a bit. And he also lived deeply in the mountains. So he's kind of famous. And although he didn't actually write this, it's attributed to him because it gives it that kind of stature. So he is the Sun San, the third Chinese ancestor after Hui Kei, or Tai Soeka, who was the main disciple of Bodhidharma.

[02:19]

So that story is also sort of really important. So it associates the poem with that story. So Sung San in Japanese, he's called Kanchi So San. And I'm saying that because, you know, we chant the Buddhists and the ancestors. And so when you hear these names, then you have something to associate them with. Like who was that person and that sort of thing. He died at the beginning of the 7th century. And in the transmission of light, he goes to Huike, Taisoeka, and he's ill. And according to the transmission of light, he had leprosy. And apparently this exchange with Taisoeka... And his experience of understanding ended up curing his leprosy.

[03:25]

So another sort of somewhat mythological stories, but something very close about them, this kind of idea of somebody being ill and then cured by understanding. And huike is, or tai so eka, is the disciple who stood out in the snow because Bodhidharma wouldn't pay any attention to him. And then he cut off his left arm to indicate his sincerity. So this is another association with Sung San. I always think it's interesting because after that, they never mention that he... only has one arm in the stories about him, and he's bowing and he's doing all this stuff. And so it's just interesting how these things kind of work. But the profound action of kind of cutting off the, you know, I think of it cutting off the posture of enlightenment or of a Buddha by cutting off his arm, that kind of sacrifices what I think that's about.

[04:39]

So Musang begins his introduction to his commentary on the Trust in Mind by saying, Chan or Zen was born out of what might be described as a nuanced sensibility of the absurdity of the human condition. So Chan or Zen was born out of what might be described as a nuanced sensibility of of the absurdity of the human condition. Now, what absurdity means is this is a response, you know, to our tendency to think of life, our lives in narrative terms, that there's a conventional meaning and unfolding that we can sort of think of as... proceeding along in some way, in some narrative way.

[05:41]

And I think that that's very convenient. It gets us through our day, and it has all kinds of associations of assigning purpose and logic and continuity to the arising and passing of our experiences and our interchanges with people and that sort of thing. But the... Buddhist concept of non-self is intended to undermine this reliance on the conventions of narrative self-referencing. So that should make you uncomfortable. But there's a very creative and transformational potential in there. to this perspective of a nuanced sensibility of the absurdity of the human condition. And I think it's good to keep that in mind as we look at the history and at the text and the interpretations and trust in mind.

[06:52]

The intention of the poem is also something that we think we might want, but Musung says we don't. So... and I think Buddhism kind of says, sort of questions whether we want it, and that is the cultivation mode and experience of equanimity. So holding all of the sort of positive and negative, the hopeful and despairing, the kind of wonderful and horrible things of our life, you know, in this sense of, with this sense of equanimity. And this idea of equanimity is something that... It sort of comes up in the mystic tradition, and the one person who specifically references it is the 14th century German priest Meister Eckhart, and he calls it detachment.

[07:56]

He says, perfect detachment is not concerned about being above... or below any creature. It would stand on its own, loving none and hating none, and seeks neither equality nor inequality with any creature, nor this nor that. It wants merely to be. So the abbot David Zimmerman just taught on the four Brahma Vaharas, and equanimity is the fourth of those. So these are metta, or loving kindness, karuna, or compassion, mudita, or sympathetic joy, and then upeka, or equanimity. The first three of these, loving kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy, it's very easy to get attached to them.

[08:58]

and sort of think of them as kind of these wonderful and positive and generous things. And so the equanimity is meant to kind of wash back on them to mature them. So Bhikkhu Analayo comments on the Brahma Vaharas, and he says, equanimity or equipoise, upekka, suggests a mental attitude of looking up not an indifferent looking away, and conveys an awareness of whatever is happening combined with mental balance and the absence of favoring or opposing. So equanimity or equipoise suggests a mental attitude of looking up, not an indifferent looking away, and conveys an awareness of whatever is happening combined with mental balance and the absence of favoring or opposing. well, favoring and opposing are very reasonable responses, you know, to what arises in our life and whatever is happening.

[10:11]

And so, you know, as is the case with the majority of Buddhist teachings, the four Brahma Vaharas and equanimity are qualities that have to be cultivated and developed. And in that process of cultivation and development, they... sort of deepen and rise at the same time. They kind of sort of pull apart in a certain way so that they become less dualistic. And that's what equanimity is applied to. And I think that this effort requires making some mistakes or trial and error as well as application and actually good intention. And Anilayo comments, to be at ease and lack nothing comes about precisely through letting go of wanting to have things one's own way.

[11:13]

So it's interesting that trust in mind doesn't mention bodhisattvas, Buddha nature, compassion, and other terms that we often hear or talk about ourselves when we think about Buddhist teaching. What it does mention is oneness, emptiness, duality and non-duality, the great way, attachment, enlightenment, and suchness. Interestingly enough, both Musang and and Sheng Yen bring in the bodhisattva idea and bodhisattva activity into their commentaries. And I was a little puzzled by this. I thought, well, why are they pulling that in? The poem doesn't even mention them. And so I think there's a combination of things. One is, that's an extension of interpretation of the poem. But it's also kind of in this time and this context of...

[12:26]

the understanding and teaching of Buddhism, that's where we go. It's bodhisattva-oriented. So I think it's just very interesting that, you know, even these habits of commenting and interpreting sort of get caught in the understanding of texts that don't mention these things. Anyway, I hope that made sense. But Musang also explains that he... he believes that the implication of the sage in Budo Daoism is a kind of bodhisattva. So the sage, the one who understands, the one who experiences equanimity. And I recently taught a class on the Lotus Sutra, and that is a teaching on bodhisattva-hood and what a bodhisattva is and what a bodhisattva does. And I sometimes get a little uncomfortable with the definitions or the activities described as bodhisattva activities because they seem sort of self-congratulatory.

[13:41]

And also like, you know, the bodhisattva knows what other people need. How do they know that? You know, they're just sort of... doing something where it has a kind of conditioned quality to it. And that's not a criticism. It's just a feeling that I sometimes get. So I was, you know, I sort of had this unexpected relief when I started to study the trust in mind that it didn't have that quality to it. And I don't mean that, you know, as a denigration or, you know... of the Lotus Sutra or its importance or it's my enjoyment of it and my appreciation of bodhisattva activity, not at all, or those teachings. But what I think this might be about is, and this is kind of related to how trust in mind kind of works through all these things, is maybe, you know,

[14:44]

it's not about preferences, but kind of about the simple reality of types of people. Or, you know, this person is a set of conditions that responds to the world in a particular way and, you know, moves in the world in a particular way. And what this set of conditions responds to is just is that. It's not like it has to be a preference. It has to be, you know, sort of grasped or anything like that. So I sometimes find it disconcerting when I really like commentaries and find resonance and relevance in them, like Musung, his commentaries on other teachings as well. And then other commentaries or teachers I might appreciate, and feel that they are informative and useful, but I don't feel that same resonance and relevance.

[15:54]

And that's, you know, I've kind of come to this kind of reconciliation of that as I can't rewrite my biography, I can't change my DNA, and even if I could do that, I'd still be caught in this... set of circumstances that has its potentials and its limitations and this is it and so my saying that I'm responding to trust in mind with ease is not like a recommendation or a prescription or something like that but it's how I will you know present it and teach it you know in a certain way there is nowhere else for this to go just It has to be in this way and these circumstances. And my Dharma name, Kyoshin Myotian, means abode of truth, radiant equanimity.

[16:59]

So where did that come from, you know? And what does it mean? And I think it's kind of like, well, maybe that's in some way, that's my way I relate to the world, and that's how people see me relating to the world. And so this name, you know, Abode of Truth, Radiant Equanimity. And so I, you know, studying this topic is just kind of like coming home or something like that. And, you know, my sense of what equanimity is, it's not a judgment or a criticism or, you know, the right way to see things or anything like that. And I certainly probably don't always seem like I'm... abiding in equanimity. But I think there's these qualities to it, which are kind of curiosity, sort of a sense of investigation, and something I think of as patient impatience, and also this deep interest in self-understanding so that I can understand others and understand their judgments of me.

[18:11]

So... You know, if someone is positive or negative towards me, how am I sort of helping to make that happen? And that sort of thing. So working with this self-understanding as a balancing thing for understanding others and their view of me. these exercises in equanimity and failing at it and having this sense of a little bit of humor, even if it's not so pleasant. This splitting and coming together again and again. So the poem Trust in Mind is...

[19:15]

in line with Annalayo's interpretation of equanimity and its function, you know, as the culminating Brahma Vihara. And he says, equanimity brings the three others to maturity by liberating compassion activity from the expectation of results. He explains, this requires giving up attempts to control the situation and change it for the better. Instead, one allows others to take responsibility for their own actions and attitudes. Now, of course, I immediately thought, well, there's a lot of nuance in there and poignancy. But it also made me think of how teachers and chaplains and therapists, as they mature, they have a tendency to get quieter, be less directive, less manipulative, not so very gentle or simple, and don't give as much advice.

[20:33]

And I think that this is kind of the maturing of those three things. Brahmavihara is loving kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy. Those are still active, but it's not like you're trying to grab them or force them or create them or do something with them. They're active rather than directive, if that's the way to say it. So when you read the Tao Te Ching, the echoes of Taoism in Trust in Mind are pretty apparent. It's not like quotations, but there's these qualities that are echoed in Trust in Mind. And then Trust in Mind extends that perspective through the Buddhist interpretations and concepts of emptiness, enlightenment, suchness, and non-duality that I mentioned earlier.

[21:37]

So this is how the poem begins. The great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the dis-ease of the mind. When the deep meaning of things is not understood, the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail. So the first few sentences, you know, indicate that our preferences keep us engaged and pulled around by duality. You know, heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. So we don't have any choice but to be engaged with the world and with the interactivity of the absolute and the relative reality.

[22:50]

The purpose of meditation practice or investigative insight is to perceive the absolute nature of things while immersed in countless encounters with their provisional appearances. It is only through this lens of perception, that non-clinging works as a tool for liberation. And that's Musang. And so I think it's what the poem is saying and what this non-duality and duality and the absolute and the relative are about is a conversation, you know, a sort of dialectic between this absolute reality and relative reality or the, you know, Relative reality, conventional reality, and absolute or ultimate reality, and that's appearance versus reality and the contingent versus the absolute. And that dialogue or dialectic or conversation engages us in a creative deconstruction of our assumptions of a self and reality.

[24:04]

of our assumptions of a kind of alienation from the world or a kind of separateness or this kind of judgment of the world when it's good or it's bad or that sort of thing. So equanimity is the quieting of resentment and approval. It's... It isn't passive or static, but it's a kind of ease to fuse with vitality. And I think this comes across a lot of times in those sort of antics of the koans and in some of the Zen stories. So I'm gonna end this part of the class with a Zen story. And in it, they describe someone taking a cup of tea to the Founders Hall, and that here is the Kaisando.

[25:07]

And so people who've been Chidens or who have otherwise taken an offering up to the Kaisando will understand what this fellow is doing. In a monastery in medieval Japan was an elder monk of whom the young novices stood in much awe, not because he was severe with them, but because nothing ever seemed to ruffle or upset him. Eventually, they felt they could not bear it any longer and decided to put him to the test. One dark winter morning, when it was the elder's office to carry votive tea to the founder's hall, the novices ganged up and hid in a corner of the long and winding corridor leading to it. Just as the elder passed, they rushed out, yelling like a horde of fiends. Without faltering one step, the elder walked on quietly, carefully carrying the tea.

[26:08]

At the next bend of the corridor stood, as he knew, a little table. He made for it in the dark, laid the tea bowl down on it, covered it so that no dust could fall into it. but then supported himself against the wall and cried out with shock, oh, oh, oh. A Zen master telling this story commented on it, so you see, there is nothing wrong with the emotions, only one must not let them carry one away or interfere with what one is doing. Questions or comments? Yeah.

[27:14]

Well, in Buddhist teaching, you know, it's like, There's the relative reality and absolute reality. And there's ways of thinking and talking about them that I'm actually going to go into a little more in the next class. But the absolute sometimes gets confused with emptiness. So I don't think that that's what the absolute means, although interpretations of that and the commentaries on them are whatever they are. So relative reality... is sort of linear in this horizontal way, and absolute reality has a vertical aspect to it. So what that means is there's this whole cosmos of things going on of which we are unaware, and there are deep effects on us. And so that's the impact of absolute reality. That's how I would put it in that.

[28:22]

Okay. From now. Sketch. Yes. Everything changed. So a friend could turn on a man, a man could turn on a friend, and a man could turn on a friend, and a man could turn on a friend.

[29:27]

So you approach these relationships as everybody is looking for happiness and a voice of the connection. If I understand what you're saying, I think what it's saying is that you will have preferences. And what they do is they split you. So they split your preferences peace of mind, they cause you to suffer and feel things like aversion and desire and indifference.

[30:27]

So the thing is to not say you're not supposed to have preferences in the sense of it being a new aversion. It's that in this... world of preferences, you don't get pulled apart by them or split this way. Heaven and earth are not split apart by your preferences. And what that does is it deconstructs the preferences themselves. I hope that. It's that when you see what you're doing and what it causes for you and others, it starts to undermine that split. Because it starts to be useless almost. You just keep doing it more and [...] it keeps going.

[31:34]

So that it's not to create a new aversion. Does that make sense? Yeah. But to see how the preferences split us. And then start to examine that and undermine it by considering equanimity. What does that feel like? And then not preferring that. Just a new preference, a new aversion. And instead, that's why I think of it as a conversation instead of a split. having these things listening to each other. Was that helpful? Okay. Yes?

[32:38]

Is that... Okay, we have one else? Okay. So I read the first three short sections. I'll read just a little more and it will be our bedtime story. The way is perfect like vast space where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things. Be serene in the oneness of things, and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves. 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.

[33:44]

To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality. To assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality. The more you talk and think 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 a going beyond appearance and emptiness. I always love it when they say, oh, don't rely on words, but what do we, they're the ones who wrote it, you know? So funny, but you know what they mean. You know what they mean. Okay, thank you everyone very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost and this is made possible by the donations we receive.

[34:51]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[35:05]

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