Customer Reviews

Song of Mind: Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming

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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.

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 Mahāmudrā 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.

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).

For sincere practitioners, experienced or just beginning, Chan (Zen) Master Sheng Yen is guide and friend, clarifying the details of practice, answering the questions that arise along the way. If you have been longing for the 'how-to', this Chan Master is unsurpassed.