Watch the Mind

Text

Shenxiu's essential teaching was summarized in four characters: "Watch the mind" (kanxin). He taught: "Watching the mind does not mean looking at something. It means recognizing the one who looks. Rest in that recognition. This is the gate of liberation."

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Yuquan Shenxiu

Lineage: Early Chan

By Yuquan Shenxiu

• The Bright Mirror Verseverse
• On Gradual Cultivationsermon

From Jingde Chuandenglu

• On Gradual Cultivation
• On Sudden Enlightenment
• The Debate at Huatai
• Before Thinking Arises
• The One Who Has No Rank
• The Arrow on High
• Meeting the Poet Li Ji
• Just This Is It
• Cold Ashes, Dead Tree
• The Encounter with Linji

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Jingde Chuandenglu, Vol. 4, Shenxiu chapter; Guanxin Lun (attributed)

  Jingde Chuandenglu: Watch the Mind