During the Nyungne practice, we chanted in Tibetan.  Although there are Chinese translations under the Tibetan pronunciation lines, it is hard to chant fast and to catch the Chinese meanings. I was struggling at the beginning. I really wanted to know what the meaning of the chanting was.  At the break time, I asked the Lama what to do.  Lama said quite peacefully, “if you can read the Chinese and know the meaning, it is OK. If you can’t, it is also OK.”  I pondered on his answer for a second. Then my mind was suddenly set ease.  I told myself to just chant the sound and forget about the meaning of the chanting.  At that moment, I felt peace.  For the rest of the sessions, I was able to just focus on saying the sound right and chant. It was very settling and peaceful and there were no more struggles.

 How did I let go of finding the meanings of the chanting?  When I thought about Lama’s answer, I realized that I was grasping on ‘something’. This grasping was the cause of struggle.  The Dharma practice was to set us free, free from suffering, free from grasping.  For all my life, I had never stopped using my brain/mind.  Everything I do or I say has to be processed by the mind.  And I was so proud of the power of my brain/mind.  I was so proud of what I can understand even though the concept is deep.  I was so proud of the logical mind I have.  It has been a habit and I fully rely on it.  Can I just let go of this habit and do something totally ‘meaningless’?  It is not about what I chant. It is about the state of the mind, if it is at peace, if it is free of struggling.  I did that and it is amazing to see how peaceful and happy after I let go of the mind process during chanting.

 I was chatting with a Dharma practitioner a few days after.  I told him about this experience of letting go of the mind.  He simply said ‘和尚念經，有口無心’.  Oh yeah! My mind suddenly clicked. 和尚念經，有口無心. For how long I have known this phrase. But I have always thought this was a negative comment on the monk who chants mechanically and maybe the mind is not with the chanting.  Now I have a new interpretation for it.  When you chant, you don’t need to engage your mind processing. Just simply chant and be present in chanting. That maybe is called real chanting.

 和尚念經，有口無心