The "Xin Xin Ming" (信心铭) or "Faith in Mind" as sometimes known in the West, is a pivotal Buddhist text at least 1000 years old. In spite of its age, it is, like Buddhism itself, of course, highly relevant to modern life. What sets the Xin Xin Ming apart from other ancient texts, however, is its accessibility of language: potentially confusing and arcane concepts are put forth almost in a colloquial style that's easier to understand.

Aside from its philosophical meaning, I intuit that the Xin Xin Ming also has physics meaning, whether intentional or not --- I often save the last day of my quantum mechanics class to talk about this off-the-wall perspective, but with a little thought you may find that my interpretation is at least logically possible. At any rate, I believe that many core quantum concepts (like probability, superposition of states, collapse of wavefunctions) were already `discovered' millenia before, albeit in a different, non-mathematical tongue. Below is the full-text and my line-by-line `physics-translation' of the Xin Xin Ming.

三祖僧璨禅师信心铭

至道无难,惟嫌拣择;但莫憎爱,洞然明白。
毫厘有差,天地悬隔;欲得现前,莫存顺逆。
违顺相争,是为心病;不识玄旨,徒劳念静。
圆同太虚,无欠无余;良由取舍,所以不如。
莫逐有缘,勿住空忍;一种平怀,泯然自尽。
止动归止,止更弥动;唯滞两边,宁知一种。
一种不通,两处失功;遣有没有,从空背空。
多言多虑,转不相应;绝言绝虑,无处不通。
归根得旨,随照失宗;须臾反照,胜却前空。
前空转变,皆由妄见;不用求真,唯须息见。
二见不住,慎莫追寻;才有是非,纷然失心。
二由一有,一亦莫守;一心不生,万法无咎。
无咎无法,不生不心;能由境灭,境逐能沉。
境由能境,能由境能;欲知两段,原是一空。
一空同两,齐含万象;不见精粗,宁有偏党。
大道体宽,无易无难;小见狐疑,转急转迟。
执之失度,必入邪路;放之自然,体无去住。
任性合道,逍遥绝恼;系念乖真,昏沉不好。
不好劳神,何用疏亲;欲取一乘,勿恶六尘。
六尘不恶,还同正觉;智者无为,愚人自缚。
法无异法,妄自爱著;将心用心,岂非大错?
迷生寂乱,悟无好恶;一切二边,良由斟酌。
梦幻空华,何劳把捉;得失是非,一时放却。
眼若不寐,诸梦自除;心若不异,万法一如。
一如体玄,兀尔忘缘;万法齐观,归复自然。
泯其所以,不可方比;止动无动,动止无止。
两既不成,一何有尔;究竟穷极,不存轨则。
契心平等,所作俱息;狐疑尽净,正信调直。
一切不留,无可记忆;虚明自照,不劳心力。
非思量处,识情难测;真如法界,无他无自。
要急相应,唯言不二;不二皆同,无不包容;十方智者,皆入此宗。
宗非延促,一念万年;无在不在,十方目前。
极小同大,忘绝境界;极大同小,不见边表。
有即是无,无即是有;若不如是,必不须守。
一即一切,一切即一;但能如是,何虑不毕。
信心不二,不二信心;言语道断,非去来今.

 

 

至道无难,惟嫌拣择;但莫憎爱,洞然明白。

The laws of Nature are not hard to understand, it ' s all about not collapsing wavefunctions. When you realize the electron spin is neither up nor down, you understand it perfectly:


毫厘有差,天地悬隔;欲得现前,莫存顺逆。

Collapse just one wavefunction, and now you ' ve changed

everything.If you want to understand how the cosmos got this way, it ' s by maximizing uncertainty.


违顺相争,是为心病;不识玄旨,徒劳念静。

It ' s not about specific attractions and repulsions (classical physics), that ' s the wrong way to look at it. You don ' t want to get stuck thinking in this narrow way.


圆同太虚,无欠无余;良由取舍,所以不如。

The universe of matter is really a perfect vacuum, there isn ' t too much or too little of it. Something with definite structure cannot last long, it will destroy itself.


莫逐有缘,勿住空忍;一种平怀,泯然自尽。

Don ' t take determinism seriously, but don ' t think it ' s all random either. Either of these possibilities are unstable (they destroy themselves).


止动归止,止更弥动;唯滞两边,宁知一种。

For the very action of bringing something to rest is itself action! The more you try to stop motion, the more you move (zero point energy). The true minimum of the potential is just as given ( )


一种不通,两处失功;遣有没有,从空背空。

If you ' re not at the zero point energy, then you can ' t ever get there. Everything created in the vacuum must eventually return to the vacuum.


多言多虑,转不相应;绝言绝虑,无处不通。

If you try to determine your state by measurement, you ' ve changed your state (which must be measured again, … etc). Don ' t measure the state and you are in a perfect superposition of all states (quantum entanglement). E.G. an unmeasured electron has a wavefunction that extends to infinity


归根得旨,随照失宗;须臾反照,胜却前空。

You must go to the very basics to understand; fancy techniques won ' t help.


前空转变,皆由妄见;不用求真,唯须息见。

Fancy techniques only obscure true physics; don ' t try to achieve some goal and the computations will work themselves out (e.g. M-theory?).


二见不住,慎莫追寻;才有是非,纷然失心。

Dualities are misleading. Don ' t base physics upon them. (for example, defining ‘ energy ' means you have to define something to have the energy, or ‘ matter ' , but according to Einstein ' s theory matter is also energy … a vicious circle)


二由一有,一亦莫守;一心不生,万法无咎。

Duality is not fundamental, it arises spontaneously from Unity. Start with the Lawless One and you can get everything.(e.g. Powerset: {}->{0} -> {},{0} -> {{},{0}},{{}},{{0}},{} … ) 0,1,2,4,16,2^2^2^ … )


无咎无法,不生不心;能由境灭,境逐能沉。

In the beginning there ' s no place so no Laws.

If you have pure space, there ' s no energy; if you have pure energy, there ' s no space.


境由能境,能由境能;欲知两段,原是一空。

But to define space requires energy;

To define energy requires space; ie. This is a statement of General Relativity:

To make sense of this, you must start from pure nothing.


一空同两,齐含万象;不见精粗,宁有偏党。

Pure vacuum contains potential for both space and energy, and therefore all of the universe.


大道体宽,无易无难;小见狐疑,转急转迟。

It ' s not hard to understand any phenomenon, just minimize the action (KE-PE); if this were only slightly untrue then all sorts of problems would occur.

 


执之失度,必入邪路;放之自然,体无去住。

It ' s pointless to force this to happen; Just give in to Nature; rest and motion are automatically balanced.


任性合道,逍遥绝恼;系念乖真,昏沉不好。

Everything has an amplitude to occur; if you restrict your state space too much you ' ll get all sorts of mixing problems and contradictions.


不好劳神,何用疏亲;欲取一乘,勿恶六尘。

Don ' t restrict yourself, why limit your theory? If you want to get the right answer, don ' t get muddled up in details.


六尘不恶,还同正觉;智者无为,愚人自缚。

Because details just lead to more details; the wise physicist arranges for the experiment/theory to do/solve itself; the petty physicist gets his technique all tied up.


法无异法,妄自爱著;将心用心,岂非大错?

There ' s only One Law; inventing smaller states and laws is a mistake. How can one observe a state when observer is part of the state?


迷生寂乱,悟无好恶;一切二边,良由斟酌。

Complications are unnecessary, because they all arise from the Big Bang.


梦幻空华,何劳把捉;得失是非,一时放却。

Rid yourself of complications.


眼若不寐,诸梦自除;心若不异,万法一如。

As soon as you do this, your experiment/theory becomes perfect.


一如体玄,兀尔忘缘;万法齐观,归复自然。

This is the natural way to go.(?)


泯其所以,不可方比;止动无动,动止无止。

Since creation and destruction are everywhere, how can you compare two things(states)? Bringing a particle to rest eliminates the motion you were trying to eliminate, accelerating a particle from rest destroys the state of rest you were trying to destroy.

 


两既不成,一何有尔;究竟穷极,不存轨则。

Left or right, up or down, all characteristics are part of the same thing; all research will only reveal that there are no fixed laws in the universe.


契心平等,所作俱息;狐疑尽净,正信调直。

Perfect equilibrium is nothingness. (?)


一切不留,无可记忆;虚明自照,不劳心力。

Fundamental interactions have no hysteresis, ie. Only what is true now can affect subsequent dynamics.


非思量处,识情难测;真如法界,无他无自。

True measurement is impossible because observer and apparatus are coupled.


要急相应,唯言不二;不二皆同,无不包容;十方智者,皆入此宗。

To make sense of this, you need only consider the One Wavefunction, y .


宗非延促,一念万年;无在不在,十方目前。

This is true for all time and space.


极小同大,忘绝境界;极大同小,不见边表。

The infinitely large and infinitesimally small are one and the same (PREDICTION: neutron-stars = nuclei ?!)


有即是无,无即是有;若不如是,必不须守。

Pure vacuum in fact contains matter/energy; and conversely. If this weren ' t true there ' d be no dynamics.


一即一切,一切即一;但能如是,何虑不毕。

The Big Bang contains all, and all contains the Big Bang (PREDICTION: mini-universes!) ; but if this is so, every phenomenon is itself the start of a new universe.


信心不二,不二信心;言语道断,非去来今。

Of course talking about this is imprecise; only by not thinking about the universe can you understand it; then all past, present, and future become one (PREDICTION: time has no special role relative to space).

 

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