Song of Mind: Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming [Paperback]

Master Sheng Yen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2004

"No words can explain enlightenment," says the seventh-century Zen classic Xin Ming, or "Song of Mind," yet, paradoxically, this poem is a masterpiece of expressing the inexpressible. In his commentary on it, Chan Master Sheng Yen takes a practical approach, opening up the language of the Xin Ming to show students how to approach meditation, how to deal with problems that arise in their spiritual practice, and how to accomplish the imperative task of integrating this practice into every aspect of one's life. "True understanding comes only with direct experience," according to Master Sheng Yen. "These lectures, the Buddhist sutras, songs, poems, and commentaries are useful only insofar as they encourage you to practice and incorporate the Dharma [teachings] into your daily life."

The book takes the form of a week-long retreat with Master Sheng Yen, with each chapter in the form of an evening talk given on a particular section of the "Song of Mind" text—giving this book a far more intimate and accessible feel than most commentaries on Zen texts and creating a feeling of being right there with the master as he brings the text to life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This book combines commentary on a seventh-century classic poem from Chinese Zen (Chan) Buddhism with dharma, or teaching, talks from retreats. The format works: it gives focus to the talks while also making textual commentary livelier and very 21st-century in application. Chinese Zen is not as well known in America as the Japanese forms, so the book is fresh in that respect. Sheng Yen is not as poetic as some Zen masters, such as Shunryu Suzuki and others in his lineage, but the Chan master has compelling command of the challenging mental paradoxes at the heart of Zen. This down-to-earth book is not for beginners, but it is eminently practical because of its derivation from retreat talks. The master describes many problems common to sitting meditation—chronic wandering thoughts, pains in the legs and pseudo-enlightenment states—and his responses to them essentially boil down to, unsurprisingly, practice, practice, practice. He also helpfully throws cold water on the pretentiousness of those who believe that Buddhism is an excuse for bizarre behavior. This practice-oriented book is like a good "incense board"—the stick used on students who request it during sitting meditation to prod them to greater effort.
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About the Author

Chan Master Sheng Yen (1930–2009) was a widely respected Taiwanese Chan (Chinese Zen) master who taught extensively in the West during the last thirty-one y ears of his life, with twenty-one centers throughout North America, as well as dozens of others throughout the world. He has co-led retreats with the Dalai Lama, and he is the author of numerous books in Chinese and English, including Song of Mind, The Method of No-Method, and his autobiography, Footprints in the Snow.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (November 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590301404
• ISBN-13: 978-1590301401
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.5 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,419,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A helping hand for practice; A paperback nirmanakaya, January 10, 2005

By 

Quantum Prescience (this endless-beginningless-impermanent-reality) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of Mind: Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming (Paperback)

I've grateful in every aspect of the word that I randomly picked up this book at my local bookstore. If you're serious about Zen, Buddhist or any spiritual practice that deals directly with learning to live in the now, then there is an abundance of wisdom and knowledge to be found in this book. So far, half way through the book, I feel as though he's addressing someone with previous experience in the practice and it was just what I was looking for. There are advanced clarifications and most importantly, Sheng Yen gives you important information on how to avoid the many many traps that exist on the path - some of which you might've already avoided so pay close attention to the unencountered ones he speaks of.

He speaks like a true veteran of the Chan practice. His talks feel direct, impactful and full of his own experience. Since the book written in the form of a seven day retreat, he seems to want to give his students as much information as he possibly can. The book is saturated with information.

I have read many such books in the last year and you can be sure that if you have already been practicing for some time and still meet certain hindrances in your practice that this book will certainly be very useful. You will undoubtly read it once and read it a second time very carefully, maybe even take notes of the parts that seem like he's talking to you personally. I wouldn't be surprised if I returned to this book in the future that I would again extrapolate an abundance of information corresponding with the level of understanding that I possess at that time.

Too many words just to say that I recommand this to any serious practitionner. Namaste.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ox-Head Zen, December 5, 2008

By 

Lawrence (Christchurch NZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Song of Mind: Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming (Paperback)

Niu-t'ou means "Ox-Head"; Niu-t'ou Fa-jung was an early Master of the Ox-Head School of Zen, the name of which derived, as usual, merely from the name of a local mountain. His "Hsin Ming" or "Song of Mind" (not to be confused with Seng-ts'an's far better known "Hsin Hsin Ming", "Trusting in Mind") is clearly one of the great Zen poems, though I had never come across it before. It's constructed in the ambling manner also characteristic of Tibetan Mahâmudrâ poetry, repetition oddly combined with disjunction. And it expresses the same view of Mind, of Enlightenment not as the result of endless efforts but as an ever-present Reality obscured by attempts to reveal it, repelled by attempts to grasp it.

Master Sheng-yen is a living, breathing treasure: one of a handful of Zen Masters still wearing socks whose Zen would be recognised by Lin-chi, Chao-chou or Yün-men. This book is the record of a Zen retreat he gave based on this poem, each chapter being a day and a verse (or more) of the poem. So we get a commentary from an incomparable living voice; along with some answers to people's difficulties in meditation and the like.

Master Sheng-yen's Zen (Ch'an if you like) is very Chinese, very Old School, very strict, very real. Like most Chinese Masters since about the Ming Dynasty, Sheng-yen teaches Provisional Means like breath-counting which the earliest Zen Masters wouldn't have approved of. (Well, we'd all like to be Enlightened on hearing a single phrase, but it just doesn't happen.) If you're looking for approachable Zen without compromise, here it is.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for meditators, November 9, 2009

By 

Disco Dancer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of Mind: Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming (Paperback)

This book is written in the form of talks given by Master Sheng Yen during a seven day retreat. This is an excellent book for people who have started a meditation practice and want guidance and motivation. It is not a how-to-position-your-body-for-meditation book. Master Sheng Yen also explains the lines of a Buddhist poem to structure his casual talks.

I have read over a dozen books about meditation, and I have learned something from each one. But this book stands out among them because it comes closest to having a regular meditation teacher. After I meditated for seven months, I started feeling doubt about the practice, and this book helped greatly by inspiring me to continue. The first time I read this book, I put post-it tabs next to the parts to read again. I reread the parts whenever I feel discouraged or unenthusiastic about meditation, and it helps motivate me.

I have to warn that the first twenty-two pages of the book may be frustrating because of the contradictory descriptions of buddha nature, which people who have read other books about Buddhism may be familiar with. I recommend to just skim past the first twenty-two pages, and then BAM--the book's tone changes. The rest of the book is fantastic. The writing style is gentle and humble, and it is full of wisdom and a few bits of unexpected humor.

Master Sheng Yen was from the Chan Buddhist sect; Zen is the Japanese word for Chan. Although most of the book is about sitting meditation, he also wrote briefly about the Linji (Rinzai in Japanese) practices of huatou and gongan (koan in Japanese) and silent illumination (just sitting in Japanese) which is a Caodong practice (Soto in Japanese).