This quote, “Don’t keep searching for the truth, just let go of your opinions,” is often attributed to the Buddha, sometimes to “unknown,” and occasionally (and perhaps more accurately) to Seng-Ts’an, aka Sengcan, who died in 606.
Or at least it’s in a work, Hsin-Hsin Ming, that’s attributed to him, although he may not have written it. The first lines of this work are very well known:
The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
Let go of longing and aversion, and it reveals itself.
Make the smallest distinction, however, and you are as far from it as heaven is from earth.
The quote in question, or at least a variant of it, is found later on:
Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.
Do not hold to dualistic views, avoid such habits carefully.
If there is even a trace of right and wrong, the mind is lost in confusion.
The “Don’t keep searching for the truth, just let go of your opinions” version is found in Jack Kornfield’s “Buddha’s Little Instruction Book.” Presumably it’s his paraphrase of Seng-Ts’an.
The Buddha in fact had a lot to say about letting go of (or not clinging to) opinions, although the term he used was ditthi, or view. In the Cula-Sihanada Sutta (the Shorter Discourse on the Lion’s Roar) he says:
…with the fading away of ignorance and the arising of true knowledge he no longer clings to sensual pleasures, no longer clings to views, no longer clings to rules and observances, no longer clings to a doctrine of self
In the Sallekha Sutta, he says:
Others will misapprehend according to their individual views, hold on to them tenaciously and not easily discard them; we shall not misapprehend according to individual views nor hold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease — thus effacement can be done.
Abandoning attachment to views is not something that’s done easily, or all at once. The Buddha repeatedly pointed out the need to renounce wrong (spiritually limiting) views and to embrace right (spiritually liberating) views. Only in this way can we reach non-view. In fact, one of the most famous similes in the Buddhist scriptures, found in the Alagaddupama Sutta, describes right view as being like a raft that helps us cross a river to get to the further shore—awakening. The raft is abandoned once its job is done, but without the raft of right view we have no way of making progress.
Living without views does not mean that one doesn’t have or express statements of fact. It’s simply indicating that the realized being does not need to speculate or have opinions about reality. She or he sees reality, and her or his statements are merely a description of what has been seen, engineered to help others see the same thing.
Thanks to Rob Myers for passing this one on.
Many Buddhist teachers of dhamma, dharma, Zen, use their own words as this great poet did. It is rather unfair to report this as FAKE. Certainly, Buddha did not use these exact words about clinging to opinions, views, judgment. However, this is very clearly reflective of the teaching of Buddha. These words come from a poem by a great Zen master.
If the words come from a great Zen master then they don’t come from the Buddha. Therefore the attribution to the Buddha is false (or “fake” if you will). Therefore this isn’t a genuine Buddha quote but a false or fake one.
The final belief is to believe in a fiction which you know to be a fiction —there being nothing else.
The exquisite truth is to know that it is a fiction and that you believe in it willingly.
I do so appreciate your pages.
Fake shit, as “neat” as it might be is, well, misrepresentation.
You argue about truth with your opinions…
Are you disappointed that I’m not enlightened?
self construed versions of “Buddhism” (a term created by english occupants) are abundant in the “west”. As far as esoterism and all sorts of crazy constructions. Many in the name of Buddha Shakyamuni. Zen (not meaning Chan) is not Buddha Dhamma. If anyone wants to follow any of these mind constructions- fine. Noone can do anything about this. But Buddha Dhamma, the teaching of Buddha Gotama Shakyamuni and his disciples, is laid down in writing in the Tipitaka, and The Abhidhamma Pitaka. These are the one and only source of and for Theravada “Evam me sutam” — “Thus have I heard.” If someone does not like that- fine. Who cares. Buddha Shakyamuni was very tolerant of religions and opinions, and Theravada still is.