Inspirational & Religious, Religion & Spirituality 

What are we to say of a man's life...of this man's life and its relevance to us...Sentsan, called Sosan by the Japanese? That he lived and that he died, and that such and such tales are told of him, and certain words attributed to him. His death is said to have occurred in the year six hundred and six of our counting of time. His birth date is not recorded...who after all was to know...to know what? Tao-hsun does not give him a biography, only mentions him. He apparently wandered as a mendicant and during the persecution of Buddhists fled to the mountains. He is said to have been notably kind and gentle and to have come to the dropping away of all bondage and all illusion...with the help of Huike his teacher, thus realizing in himself the fullness of man's possible light. He became the third Chinese patriarch of Zen and continued a poor wandering monk. Nothing special. And he is said to have written this piece...the Hsinhsinming, perhaps the first Chinese Zen document...translated below. The title's first character Hsin shows a man standing by (his?) words, and is often translated as faith or trust. The second Hsin depicts a heart and has come to mean heart, mind, soul, etc. and sometimes Buddha-nature. - from Amzon