The Sincere Mind
Shandao opens the first of the three minds with a warning that cuts against any purely external measure of religious effort: a person could exhaust themselves in practice around the clock, "as though their own head were on fire," and still produce nothing but what he calls "goodness mingled with poison" — if the mind behind it is not genuinely real.
Goodness Mingled With Poison
經云：「一者至誠心」，至者真，誠者實。欲明一切眾生身口意業所修解行，必須真實心中作，不得外現賢善精進之相，內懷虛假，貪瞋邪偽奸詐百端，惡性難侵事同蛇蝎，雖起三業，名為雜毒之善，亦名虛假之行，不名真實業也。若作如此安心起行者，縱使苦勵身心，日夜十二時急走急作，如炙頭燃者，眾名雜毒之善。欲迴此雜毒之行求生彼佛淨土者，此必不可也。何以故？正由彼阿彌陀佛因中行菩薩行時，乃至一念一剎那三業所修皆是真實心中作，凡所施為趣求亦皆真實。
The sūtra says: "the first is the sincere mind." As for "sincere" (至誠): 至 means genuine, 誠 means real. This is meant to make plain that whatever practice and understanding all sentient beings cultivate through the karma of body, speech, and mind must be undertaken from within a genuinely real mind — one must not outwardly display the appearance of worthiness, goodness, and diligence while inwardly harboring falseness, with greed, anger, deviance, deceit, and cunning in a hundred different forms, an evil nature as difficult to approach as a snake or scorpion. Though the three karmas may be set in motion this way, this is called "goodness mingled with poison," also called "false practice" — it is not called genuine, real karma at all. If one settles the mind and gives rise to practice in this manner, then even should one drive body and mind to the utmost exertion, rushing about urgently, acting urgently, twelve hours a day and night, as though one's own head were on fire — all of this is still called goodness mingled with poison. To wish to dedicate this poison-mingled practice toward seeking rebirth in that Buddha's own pure land is something that simply cannot be done. Why is this so? Precisely because, when Amitābha Buddha himself, in his own causal stage, practiced the bodhisattva path, even in a single thought, a single instant, the karma of his three actions was without exception undertaken from within a genuinely real mind — and whatever he did, whatever he sought, was likewise entirely real and genuine.
Shandao's own image — a practitioner rushing about "as though their own head were on fire," twelve hours a day and night — deliberately describes what looks, from any outward measure, like exemplary religious devotion. That he still calls this "goodness mingled with poison" makes his own point unmistakable: the sincere mind cannot be verified by intensity, duration, or visible effort at all. What actually disqualifies the practice is entirely interior — "inwardly harboring falseness," an unreformed condition no amount of external urgency can compensate for. Amitābha's own causal-stage practice is then offered as the positive standard against which this failure is measured: not merely virtuous action, but action where "even in a single thought, a single instant," the underlying mind was genuinely real.
Genuineness Through Body, Speech, and Mind
又真實有二種：一者自利真實。二者利他真實。言自利真實者，復有二種。一者真實心中制捨自他諸惡及穢國等，行住坐臥想同一切菩薩制捨諸惡，我亦如是也。二者真實心中勤修自他凡聖等善。真實心中口業，讚歎彼阿彌陀佛及依正二報。又真實心中口業，毀厭三界六道等自他依正二報苦惡之事，亦讚歎一切眾生三業所為善，若非善業者敬而遠之，亦不隨喜也。又真實心中身業，合掌禮敬四事等供養彼阿彌陀佛及依正二報。又真實心中身業，輕慢厭捨此生死三界等自他依正二報。又真實心中意業，思想觀察憶念彼阿彌陀佛及依正二報，如現目前。又真實心中意業，輕賤厭捨此生死三界等自他依正二報，不善三業必須真實心中捨。又若起善三業者，必須真實心中作，不簡內外明闇，皆須真實，故名至誠心。
Further, this genuineness is of two kinds. The first is genuineness for one's own benefit. The second is genuineness for the benefit of others. As for genuineness for one's own benefit, this again has two aspects. The first: from within a genuinely real mind, restraining and relinquishing every evil, one's own and others', together with this defiled world itself — in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down alike, thinking oneself the same as every bodhisattva who restrains and relinquishes every evil, "I too am thus." The second: from within a genuinely real mind, diligently cultivating goodness, one's own and others', whether belonging to ordinary beings or to sages.
From within a genuinely real mind, through the karma of speech: praising Amitābha Buddha and his twofold retribution, dependent and direct. Further, from within a genuinely real mind, through the karma of speech: denouncing and disdaining the suffering and evil affairs of the three realms and six destinies, one's own and others', their twofold retribution dependent and direct — and likewise praising whatever good is done by all sentient beings through their own three karmas; but should any deed not be good, one regards it with respect yet keeps one's distance, and does not rejoice in it either.
Further, from within a genuinely real mind, through the karma of the body: joining the palms in reverent homage, making offering through the four requisites and the rest to Amitābha Buddha and his twofold retribution. Further, from within a genuinely real mind, through the karma of the body: treating lightly, disdaining, and relinquishing this realm of birth and death, the three realms, one's own and others' twofold retribution.
Further, from within a genuinely real mind, through the karma of the mind: thinking upon, contemplating, and calling to mind Amitābha Buddha and his twofold retribution, as though appearing directly before one's own eyes. Further, from within a genuinely real mind, through the karma of the mind: treating lightly, disdaining, and relinquishing this realm of birth and death, the three realms, one's own and others' twofold retribution. Whatever is not good, among these three karmas, must without exception be relinquished from within a genuinely real mind.
And whatever good is given rise to, among these three karmas, must without exception be undertaken from within a genuinely real mind — making no distinction between what is inward or outward, bright or hidden; all must be genuinely real. Hence this is called the sincere mind.
The architecture here is worth tracing carefully: genuineness first divides into benefiting oneself and benefiting others, and benefiting oneself itself divides into relinquishing evil and cultivating good — and only then does Shandao work systematically through body, speech, and mind, requiring genuineness in each. What makes this passage more than a moral checklist is its final, unifying demand: "making no distinction between what is inward or outward, bright or hidden." A sincerity that operates only when observed, or only in some compartments of a person's own conduct, does not qualify at all — the entire structure exists to close off exactly the gap between outward display and inward reality that opened this section's own warning about "goodness mingled with poison."
Part 73 Complete
This closes Part 73, and with it the sincere mind, the first of the three minds, in full. Part 74 turns to the second, the deep mind (深心) — Shandao's own celebrated teaching on twofold deep faith, opening with an unflinching admission: "I myself am, right now, an ordinary being bound to sin and death."
Continue to Part 74 — The Deep Mind Begins →