Papaji on Sengcan’s “Faith in Mind” (Xinxin Ming)

The post below was originally published on a blog about Zen, Advaita, and “seemingly related matters” I ran some years ago. I’ve revised it a bit and posted it here. This is a rare, and fascinating, example of a master of the “advaita vedanta” contemplative tradition of India commenting on a poem by a Chinese Zen (Ch’an) master.

Below I’ve copied out an excerpt from David Godman’s The Fire of Freedom: Satsang With Papaji. It is Papaji’s oral commentary on the 3rd Zen Ancestor Sengcan’s Verses on Faith in Mind. Interestingly, although Papaji read other works in satsang like Yoga Vasishtha this is the only full commentary on a spiritual text I have found in print.

Papaji (HWL Poonja) was a disciple of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. He lived in the world, was married and had a family, and worked for a living, including as a manager of mining company and in the army. From the 60s to the 90s he spent much of his time wondering India and abroad giving intense teachings to small bands of disciples who he seemed to connect with spontaneously. In the 90s he became ill and settled in Lucknow, where a large mass of disciples, mostly Westerners, gathered around him. His disciples included Gangaji, Mooji, Andrew Cohen and many others. A large group of controversial “neo-advaitins”, non dual teachers only loosely grounded in Vedantic tradition, have…