禅Masters

Jianzhi Sengcan

Portrait of Sengcan

Early Chan

Jianzhi Sengcan

Unknown – 606

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Jianzhi Sengcan was the third patriarch of Chinese Chan, receiving transmission from Dazu Huike and transmitting it to Dayi Daoxin. Almost nothing is known of his early life. He is said to have approached Huike as a layman, afflicted by a karmic illness, and to have asked for purification of his sins. Huike's response—"Bring me your sins and I will purify them"—launched an inquiry that culminated in Sengcan's awakening. He was subsequently ordained and received the robe and bowl that symbolized patriarchal transmission.

Sengcan lived during a period of intense Buddhist persecution under the Northern Zhou emperor and was forced to spend many years in hiding, moving between mountains and obscure regions to avoid detection. This life of concealment gave his practice a quality of radical simplicity and gave his famous poem, the Xinxin Ming (Faith in Mind), its particular gravity. The poem opens: "The Great Way is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing." These lines have resonated through centuries of Chan and Zen practice as a direct pointing to the ease and naturalness of original mind. Sengcan died in 606 CE while giving a Dharma talk, bowing to a tree and passing away standing up.

Names

dharma · enJianzhi Sengcan
alias · enchien-chih sêng-ts'an
alias · enChien-Chih Sêng-ts'an
alias · enJianzhi Seng-ts'an
alias · enkanchi sôsan
alias · enKanchi Sôsan
alias · enSeng-ts'an
alias · enSengcan
alias · zh僧璨
alias · zh鑑智僧璨

Teachers

Students

Teachings

  • proverbNo Preferences

    The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.

    Attributed_to: Jianzhi Sengcan

  • verseFaith in Mind (Xinxinming)

    (traditional attribution)

    The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.

    tr. Richard B. Clarke

    Attributed_to: Jianzhi Sengcan

Master Record Sources

Image: Wikimedia Commons: Sengcan.jpg · Public Domain / CC (Wikimedia)