Faith inscription Zen interpretation
formerspeech
1. The meaning of this question
The original treatise of "Faith Inscription" is the mental method of Master Sangcan, the three patriarchs of Zen Buddhism, and all the theories and methods of practice are contained in these 584 characters. This is a short but concise statement; This is a simple but profound statement. All the Buddhas' wonderful teachings are contained in this, and if you don't understand them with your heart, it is difficult to understand their meanings.
First of all, why did Master Seng Chan order this topic? Because sentient beings at the end of the Dharma are obsessed with the five desires, have deep attachments, and have a weak will, it is not easy to believe. As the Lotus Sutra says, "Although the Lotus Sutra reverts to the edict, they do not believe in it, they are stained by all desires, and they are greedy for deep causes."
Furthermore, what are the three words of "Faith Inscription"? "Faith", true faith. For the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the Dharma spoken by the ancestors of the past generations must be truly believed; Have faith in your own practice; They also have faith in the Dharma they are cultivating. If you don't have faith in the Buddha, how can you study the Buddha? If you don't have faith in yourself, how do you do it? If you don't have faith in the Fa, how can you cultivate? Therefore, all three are indispensable.
"Heart" is the heart as a Buddha. Without this mind, there is no Buddha to speak of. If you want to become a Buddha, you don't kneel and worship the Buddha every day; If you want to become a Buddha, you don't just say Buddha with your mouth. As long as you don't enter your mind, you can't become a Buddha, why? Because the mind is a Buddha! If your mind is a Buddha, you will become a Buddha. "Guanjing" cloud: "It is the mind that is the Buddha, and it is the mind that is the Buddha." If you are willing to practice as you are right and keep improving, you will surely achieve success.
"Remember" will always be remembered. Keeping in mind the teachings of the Buddha and the spiritual essentials passed on by the patriarch can establish their correct views; Thoughts are never separated from one's own heart, and wisdom is always born. How do you remember? The Mahayana scriptures often teach us that through reading, writing, receiving, and explaining, we can naturally be deeply rooted in the Eight Senses field.
"Faith" is a Buddha from the "heart", and there is no other Buddha outside the heart, according to this teaching, you will become a Buddha, and remember this knowledge "Ming" in your heart, which is the meaning of "Faith Inscription".
Ordinary people don't dare to have this thought, often saying that the sins are deep, and it is a great fortune to be able to get in touch with the Buddha, how dare they dare to dream of becoming enlightened and becoming a Buddha? This is heresy, not humility. If you don't become a Buddha, what are the benefits of learning Buddhism? The Fifth Patriarch Hongren asked Huineng, "What do you want?" The Sixth Patriarch replied, "I only seek to be a Buddha, not to ask for anything else." Isn't that the obvious answer? The Lotus Sutra says: "In the past Buddhas, if they hear the Dharma in the world or after they have died, they have all attained the Buddhahood." As long as you hear about the Dharma, you have the opportunity to become a Buddha. This sutra is again cloudy: "If people scatter their minds and enter the pagoda temple, they are called Nanwu Buddha, and they have all become Buddhas." A person who is scattered, when his delusion stops, can cultivate the Buddha's path, let alone a practitioner who is dedicated to studying.
Finally, the study order does not deviate from faith, understanding, action, and proof. Faith is the cornerstone of Buddhahood, and without conviction you cannot enter anything. Belief can be solved, and how can we understand the true meaning without understanding; True knowledge is the only way to do true practice, and the cultivation after enlightenment is true cultivation; Cultivating without cultivating, cultivating without cultivating, going deep over time, and proving Bodhi. However, with the experience of those who have come before and the wisdom of people with a clear eye, we can have a wide range of sentient beings.
II. The life of the commentator
According to the "Jingde Chuan Lantern Record", there was a layman, about 40 years old, who came to worship the second ancestor, Master Hui Ke, and asked, "The disciple is suffering from the disease of wind and evil, and asks the monk to confess his sins for me!" The master said, "Bring me your sins, and I will help you to repent." The layman was silent for a long time, and then he said, "I have sought sin, but I have not found it." The Master said, "I have helped you confess your sins. You should take refuge in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha." The layman asked, "I see the monk today, and I know the treasure of the monk. I don't know what Buddha and Dharma are." The master replied, "It is your mind that is the Buddha, and it is this mind that gives rise to all the Dharma, and there is no difference between the Buddha and the Dharma, and the same is true for the Sangha." When the layman heard this, he was moved, "Today I know that the sinful nature is not inside, outside, or in the middle, just like the mind, and there is no difference between the Buddha and the Dharma." Knowing this, the master took him seriously, and immediately shaved his head, and said, "You are a treasure of Buddhism, and your Dharma name is Sangcan." Since then, he has gradually recovered from his illness.
After listening to this public case, I don't know how you feel? When you encounter unsatisfactory circumstances, you often feel that your karma is present, so you want to ask the great monks to do Dharma for you and remove the obstacles. Before Master Seng Can, like ordinary people, wanted to ask Master Hui Ke to confess his sins for him. But once enlightened, he realized the reality of "dependent voidness". If you can't understand it, you will become obsessed with it; Now that he has realized it, his illness has gradually disappeared.
There is a difference when you are lost, and there is no difference when you are enlightened. The Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are originally the Three Jewels of Self-Nature, not things outside the mind. "Altar Sutra" cloud: "Buddha, enlightenment; The Dharma is also upright; Sangha, pure also." Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is to return to our own mind, so that our mind will always keep the meaning of "consciousness without delusion, righteousness without evil, purity without defilement".
Later, the third patriarch monk Can, who was only 14 years old, met the novice and came to the master and said, "May the monk be merciful and teach me how to be liberated." The master asked, "Who restrained you?" He replied, "There is no one to bind." The master said, "Is there still a way to ask for liberation?" Dao Xin's words are enlightened!
Have you ever wondered what is restraining you? Is it someone else, a family, a society, money, an emotion, or a body? It turns out to be our brains, our self-consciousness, our personal prejudices, our habits of calamity, and the pull of karma. But if you look deeper, you are actually attached to "me". Because of "self-grasping", "self-grasping" arises, and the mind is ignorant of itself, which leads to greed and ignorance, and the mind is bound by delusion and attachment. If we know that there is no self in all dharmas, and that all aggregates are empty, there is no self that is bound.
Participation and Zen solution
This treatise is divided into ten chapters, so that readers have an overall concept, and then translate the original text of each chapter in the vernacular, so that the public can have a rough understanding of this theory, and then explain it in detail sentence by sentence, and cite the public case to explain, there is reason and there is Zen, I hope you will study it carefully with a normal heart!
