Night 11 · Unfolding

Ordinary Mind Is the Way

平常心是道

平常心是道。

Ordinary mind is the Way.

Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (Jingde Chuandeng Lu), Book 10 (Zhaozhou chapter): Nanquan Puyuan answering Zhaozhou Congshen

02 Tonight

You lie there, a little blank, and a little unwilling to be blank. It feels as if you ought to be doing something: adjusting the breath, clearing thoughts, proving at least that you are handling insomnia properly. So the night gains a hidden homework assignment. The more carefully you do it, the less you sleep.

03 How the ancients saw it

When Zhaozhou was young he asked Nanquan what the Way was. Nanquan said: Ordinary mind is the Way.

Zhaozhou asked again: Can one still aim toward it? Nanquan said: The moment you intend to, you go astray. Zhaozhou asked: If I don't intend, how will I know it is the Way? Nanquan said: The Way does not belong to knowing, and it does not belong to not-knowing. Knowing is deluded perception; not-knowing is blank indifference. If you truly reach the Way without doubt, it is like a vast emptiness—how could you force right and wrong onto it?

In this exchange, “ordinary mind” is not an excuse to go numb. It means the Way is not in some higher state one floor above you, and not in the solemn face you put on as extra effort. The mind that eats porridge and washes the bowl, if it has not been pulled crooked by “I ought to be special,” is already near.

The mistake we often make at night is exactly what Nanquan called intending and thereby going astray. We aim at a correct quiet. Breath becomes a performance, ease becomes a test, sleep becomes something to win. Ordinary mind gets replaced by an overtime mind.

On a pillow, Nanquan's point can stay plain. Tonight you need not become a better insomniac. If the body is heavy, let it be heavy. If thoughts come, they come. You are simply the one lying here, not the counselor on duty. If a moment slows down on its own, that is a little wind in empty space. You need not grade yourself for it.

Zhaozhou later became a teacher famous for ordinary speech. That is probably not an accident. If the Way really sits in the ordinary, the words can be short, and the night can be ordinary too.

04 One line for the pillow

Tonight you need not do it extra-right. Lying here is enough.

05 A quiet image to end on

Beside the kitchen sink, a clean bowl sits upside down. The water marks dry on their own. Nobody praises it, and it does not need praise.

Words of the night