Autumn Ango – Week One

ZCO Autumn Ango
October 5th - December 21st, 2025

Welcome to the first week of Ango. The opening ceremonies are underway, and over 70 practitioners have already committed to deeper practice during the next 11 weeks. Retreats and workshops are filling up. Heart of Wisdom, our new Plum Blossom Zendo in Vancouver, and the Zoomiverse are buzzing with excitement and energy.

As Hogen Roshi said before the opening ceremony on Sunday, Ango is not about acquiring something new. It’s about seeing clearly what’s already present in each moment.

Affirming Faith in Mind, the chant that we’re starting to study, is not about faith in our thinking mind. It’s about a more profound truth that we can all recognize before our thinking spirals into right and wrong, good and bad, greed, anger, and ignorance.

As the first line of the chant says, “The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose.” No matter our life situation, the political or social climate around us, or whether we find ourselves in a heavenly realm or a hellish one, freedom and ease are always available – right here and now.

Pause. Feel your body breathing. Hear the sound of the passing car or rustling leaves. What is it that hears? What is it that breathes? How wonderful and mysterious it is!

If you haven’t made your Ango commitment yet, please join one of our ceremonies this week in-person or online and add your name to the Ango participants roster.

May we all recognize and abide as “The Great Way,” for the benefit of all beings!

A little bit about the poem

Hsin Hsin Ming, often translated as Trust or Faith in Heart-Mind was written during the early flourishing of Chan (Zen) in China in the 6th century. Hsin (心), the first character in the name of the poem, literally translates to “heart” and is understood as the mind, spirit, or the enlightened Buddha-nature.

The poem is attributed to Jianzhi Sengcan (Sanso Kanchi Zenji), the third Chinese patriarch of the Zen lineage, even though it’s unclear if he actually wrote it.

Influenced by Taoism and using paradoxes, pointers, and encouragement, the poem offers insights into non-duality, the nature of the mind, and its functioning in daily life. It encourages us to let go of attachment and aversion so that we can recognize the heart-mind’s pristine clarity and our fundamental well-being, or as the Dalai Lama calls it, innate goodness.

Over centuries, it has become a beloved poem, studied and chanted in Zen communities all over the world.

 

Affirming Faith in Mind

The chant can be found on page 30 of the ZCO Chant Book. If you’re curious to learn more, we encourage you to read the following two commentaries – Faith in Mind by Sheng Yen and Trust in Mind by Mu Soeng (with a forward by Chozen Roshi).

We’ll study the chant during each one of the regular programs, and the teachers will share their commentaries and suggestions for how to apply the teachings in formal practice and our daily lives.

You can also take a line or even a word from the chant as a koan practice. Don’t try to conceptually understand it, but keep it in your heart and notice how it shows up in your life. For example: What is The Great Way? Or “pick and choose” – remember the words, pay careful attention to your experience, and don’t settle for the first answer. Keep looking. Allow the words to show you their full meaning.

In the next Ango update, Kosho will dive deeper into the first few lines of the chant. In the meantime, may you be well and have a fruitful Ango.

– Shinku Zilbersteine