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
