Xin Xin ming.

The Perfect Way knows no difficulties

Except that it refuses to make preferences;

Only when freed from hate and love,

It reveals itself fully and without disguise

T. O. M. 's comments.. Disclaimer.. I am not a scholar.. I am a human being who is primarily interested in personal growth and wisdom, and as such none of my musings have any authority other than coming from personal opinion and wanting to discuss interesting themes within the zen tradition. Peace.

This opening paragraph from the xin Xin ming, ( a poem attributed to the Third Chinese Chán (Zen) Patriarch Jianzhi Sengcan.) suggests to the reader to adopt a way without preference.. This puts the reader in a sort of bind, as the mind naturally comes up with its own likes and dislikes, are we to deliberately push aside these likes and dislikes, and thus create a new, artificial preference for nothing? I have tried this, and found it to be a sort of emptiness, with a feeling of something being missing.. When I revert back to just going along with the following my likes, I feel much more free and able to go along with life..

Have I not followed the teaching through to the end, have I only done a little of the work, and just reverted back to type, disheartened with the way?

Has anyone had any similar experience with trying to extinguish the desires, or to bring about a state of no preferences?

Submitted August 18, 2020 at 01:14PM by transmission_of_mind https://ift.tt/2Q1aAr9