What is Understanding the Mind and Seeing the Disposition?

Understanding the Mind and Seeing the Disposition

Finding one’s true self is beyond the cognition of ordinary people. That is to say it should not be explained in any regular way of thinking. The Zen Buddhism has such a public record: Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng left after he acquired knowledge from the Fifth Patriarch. The Fifth Patriarch had a disciple named Hui Ming who had once been a general. He thought the Sixth Patriarch was an ordinary person and was not qualified to take over the Patriarch’s cassock and bowl. He was so unconvinced that he chased the Sixth patriarch. After he caught up, the Sixth Patriarch put the cassock and bowl on a rock. However, the cassock and bowl had been passed down by the Patriarch and could not be taken easily. Since he could not take away the cassock and bowl, he suddenly realized his rudeness, so he asked Master Hui Neng to come out, “I come to acquire knowledge, not to get the cassock and bowl.”The Sixth Patriarch said, “Since you come to seek knowledge, I tell you knowledge. Our master does not think of goodness, nor badness, so who knows the true features of him?” After hearing that, Hui Ming understood immediately.
The “true features” in Zen Buddhism means “disposition” in understanding the mind and seeing the disposition, or the state of mind before a thought is formed. Generally speaking, we are all in the state of thinking, one thought after another. What is the state of mind when an idea is yet to form and a thought is yet to come up? The source of mind is what the Zen Buddhism seeks.