Observations placeholder
Jianzhi Sengcan – On balance and good and evil
Identifier
022074
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Jianzhi Sengcan (Chinese: 鑑智僧璨; Hànyǔ Pīnyīn: Jiànzhì Sēngcàn; Wade–Giles: Chien-chih Seng-ts'an; Japanese: Kanchi Sōsan, died 606) is known as the Third Chinese Patriarch of Chán after Bodhidharma and thirtieth Patriarch after Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha.
He is considered to be the Dharma successor of the second Chinese Patriarch, Dazu Huike (大祖慧可; Hànyǔ Pīnyīn: Dàzǔ Huìkě; Wade–Giles: Ta-tsu Hui-k’o; Japanese: Taiso Eka). Sengcan is best known as the putative author of the famous Chán poem, Xinxin Ming 信心銘 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn: Xìnxīn Míng; Wade–Giles: Hsin-hsin Ming; Inscription on Faith in Mind).
A description of the experience
Jianzhi Sengcan – On balance and good and evil
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 slightest 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.