Jianzhi Sengcan

d. 606 CE · Third Patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism

Jianzhi Sengcan (Chien-chih Seng-ts’an) is traditionally honored as the Third Patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism in China, successor to Huike. He is credited by tradition with the Hsin Hsin Ming, one of the earliest and most beloved Zen poems, whose theme is the mind at peace once it stops grasping at like and dislike. The attribution is traditional rather than documentary — and the English words that made the poem famous in the West are those of its 20th-century translator, Arthur Waley.

Traced to source

1 quote we’ve traced

“The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick and choose. Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart; if you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between 'for' and 'against' is the mind's worst disease”

Disputed

Did they really say it?

Thought Jianzhi Sengcan said something else?

Type a quote you think Jianzhi Sengcan said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.