V (c) Analysis of States of Consciousness in the Tradition of Zen
7:40 AM Posted In Yogic Experience of States of Consciousness Edit ThisViews of Seng-ts’an, the Third Chinese Patriarch
To sum up in the words of Seng-ts’an, the Third Chinese Patriarch who refers to a state of consciousness which is akin to the Fourth – turiya. According to him it is eternal, blissful and is of the nature of prakasa and vimarsa as well as beyond all polarities. Though it creates these polarities, it is beyond both. He says:
"The Great Way is not difficult for those not attached to preferences. When neither love nor hate arises, all is clear and undisguised.
…
If you wish to know the truth, hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind. When the fundamental nature of things is not recognised, the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect as vast space is perfect, where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our grasping and rejecting that we do not know the true nature of things."
(Hsin-hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind by Seng-ts’an, Third Chinese Patriarch – Translated from Chinese by Richard B. Clarke.)
He also states that one should neither live in the entanglements of outer things nor in ideas or feelings of emptiness but one should be serene and at one with things and erroneous views will disappear by themselves. If one tries to stop activity to achieve quietude, he says, the very effort fills one with activity. Thus, one will not be able to know Oneness.
If we deny the reality of things, he says, we shall miss their reality since their reality is dependant on that One Reality. According to him, the entire phenomena of the world are contained in this One Reality and are experienced when the discursive mind ceases to exist. So does the thinking subject. The arising of the other gives rise to the self and giving rise to self generates others. One should know these seeming two as facets of the One Fundamental Reality. He further adds that when all things seen without differentiation, the One Self-essence is everywhere revealed. This is realised through non-duality, he asserts.
Finally, he says:
Each thing reveals the One,
the One manifests as all things.
To live in this Realisation,
is not to worry about perfection or non-perfection.
To put your trust in the Heart-Mind is to live without separation,
and in this non-duality you are one with your Life-Source.
Words! Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is no yesterday,
no tomorrow,
no today. (Ibid.)
"The Great Way is not difficult for those not attached to preferences. When neither love nor hate arises, all is clear and undisguised.
…
If you wish to know the truth, hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind. When the fundamental nature of things is not recognised, the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect as vast space is perfect, where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our grasping and rejecting that we do not know the true nature of things."
(Hsin-hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind by Seng-ts’an, Third Chinese Patriarch – Translated from Chinese by Richard B. Clarke.)
He also states that one should neither live in the entanglements of outer things nor in ideas or feelings of emptiness but one should be serene and at one with things and erroneous views will disappear by themselves. If one tries to stop activity to achieve quietude, he says, the very effort fills one with activity. Thus, one will not be able to know Oneness.
If we deny the reality of things, he says, we shall miss their reality since their reality is dependant on that One Reality. According to him, the entire phenomena of the world are contained in this One Reality and are experienced when the discursive mind ceases to exist. So does the thinking subject. The arising of the other gives rise to the self and giving rise to self generates others. One should know these seeming two as facets of the One Fundamental Reality. He further adds that when all things seen without differentiation, the One Self-essence is everywhere revealed. This is realised through non-duality, he asserts.
Finally, he says:
Each thing reveals the One,
the One manifests as all things.
To live in this Realisation,
is not to worry about perfection or non-perfection.
To put your trust in the Heart-Mind is to live without separation,
and in this non-duality you are one with your Life-Source.
Words! Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is no yesterday,
no tomorrow,
no today. (Ibid.)
The Heart-Mind of Hsin-hsin Ming is hrda manisa of the Veda.
Concluded
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