A reader asked about quieting the mind. She said she couldn’t find anywhere I’d written about it.
I don’t generally write about quieting the mind because it’s one of those things that I find hinders rather than helps. It sets up a goal to reach and a comparison to make. You imagine what a quiet mind might be like and make that your goal. You compare your mind as it is to what you imagine it ought to be like and beat yourself up for not achieving your goal. At least that’s what I always did.
Yet when we read about meditation, we find all sorts of references to quieting and emptying the mind. It’s even worse in the kind of random talk you hear from people who really don’t know anything about meditation.When I googled “quiet the mind” just now I came up with all kinds of pages with titles like “The Fastest Way to a Quiet Mind,” “6 Steps to Quiet the Mind,” and “Why You Really Need to Quiet Your Mind (and How to Do It).” I didn’t look at any of them. I don’t need to. Been there, done that.
In my own practice I have found that the mind does become far less noisy with continued work. I remember a moment when I was walking home from work one day in Tokyo and I suddenly realized I wasn’t thinking. I still could think about whatever I chose to if I made the effort to do so. But unless I specifically directed my brain toward some subject, the constant stream of random chatter I’d become used to as “normal” was gone.
I saw the constant stream of chatter that had been going on in my head wasn’t something that just happened by itself. I had to actively make it happen. This had always been the case. But I’d gotten so used to making my brain blab-blab-blab at me that I’d begun to believe it just naturally did that. When I learned how to stop goosing my brain every time it got a little quiet, staying quiet wasn’t just easy, it was literally effortless.
These days that sense of total quiet comes and goes depending on how much I’ve been putting into my poor, tired brain. But in general, I’m not bothered by the random snatches of memories, old TV show theme songs, recurring emotions from times long gone and so forth the way I once was. It’s nice and I would not want to go back to how things were before.
I’m not really sure if this is the kind of quieting of the mind these websites are selling. Maybe it is. Maybe not.
But the thing is, I had to give up any idea of quieting my mind in order for this to happen. The idea “I must quiet my mind” was one of the biggest noises inside my head for a long time. I really wasted a lot of effort in attempting to use thoughts to silence thoughts. I feel like as soon as you advertise your thing as something like “6 Steps to a Quiet Mind” you’re already setting up problems.
It’s like the Serenity Now! thing on the old Seinfeld TV series. In that episode, several of the characters get into a meditation technique called “Serenity Now!” in which they demand themselves to be serene whenever things get stressful. In the end it makes them crazy.
In this moment, it’s better to see what’s really going on, rather than focus on an ill-defined future goal like a quiet mind. Just watch the effort you’re making to keep up the noise. That’s the best way to understand how to stop making it happen.
And if you do find yourself thinking, “I must quiet my mind,” don’t beat yourself up for it or feel bad. It’s just another thought. Let it be. If you stop paying attention to it, it will go away just like any other thought.
UPCOMING EVENTS
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ONGOING EVENTS
Every Monday at 8pm I lead zazen at Silverlake Yoga Studio 2 located at 2810 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90039. All are welcome!
Every Saturday at 9:30 am I lead zazen at the Veteran’s Memorial Complex located at 4117 Overland Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230. All are welcome!
Registration is now open for our 3-day Zen & Yoga Retreat at Mt. Baldy Zen Center April 24-26, 2015. CLICK HERE for more info!
Plenty more info is available on the Dogen Sangha Los Angeles website, dsla.info
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A good way to instantly quiet the mind is by making a donation to this blog. I guarantee it works! And if it doesn’t, just keep making donations until it does.
Another great post, Brad. Thanks!
Good stuff Brad. I know that the Theravada tradition views thoughts as “mind objects.” I find that viewing thoughts simply as that helps me escape them.
Hey Brad,
I’ve been following your site on RSS since September, when Shambhala Sun posted your “That’s Not Very Buddhist of You” article, which strangely enough was just reposted on Lion’s Roar today.
Over the past year-and-a-half or so I finally got serious about sitting practice, after having cushions hanging around for, you know…….a decade or so (I like to blame the uninviting numbing ass-ache of my original buckwheat filled zafu). Beyond basic meditation instruction/technique, I found this portion of Heart of the Buddha to be absolutely pivotal in my understanding of what meditation kind of “was” and how it worked, particularly the “Mindfulness of Effort” (ctrl-f might be helpful) section. It was quite an “ohhhhhhhhhhhh” moment for me at the time.
Just thought I’d share that excerpt for any who is relatively new to meditation since I found it so useful when I was beginning. Plus, anything that reminds you of Chogyam Trungpa or the word “mindfulness” I’m sure brightens your day so, two birds I guess, heh. That page could use more dancing baby GIFs though….oh well.
Hi, Matty!
The picture on the link reminds me:
I was buying incense at Samadhi Cushions in Barnet, which is a business started by people associated with Karmê Chöling, when I noticed a framed picture of Chogyam Trungpa above a door. I stared at it for a few minutes, wondering what about it was niggling my mind . . .
“Hey, he’s wearing a rakusu! They don’t have those in Tibet, do they?”
“No. He just thought they were cool.”
The collective mind here in the comments is unusually quiet. What? Only 3 comments? I’m afraid. Very afraid.
Thanks for talking about this, Brad. It seems like your experience is somewhat similar to my own, which I’ve been wondering about for a long time.
The differences are that my mind isn’t quiet so often; it’s only while sitting or lying down quietly for a sort-of-mediation nap, just to regroup and “process,” as I like to call it. My mind just does its thing and the thoughts from various sources during the day or memories or whatever get sorted and fizzle out on their own. And then it’s quiet. And then I feel better (not overwhelmed or distracted) and can get on with the rest of the day or whatever I’m doing.”¨”¨But it’s all about letting go and letting the thoughts do their thing.
I first learned this when I had some serious insomnia in my early 20s. That’s when I became aware of my thoughts, which were keeping me awake. If I fought them with frustration and anger, that did no good, of course. Finally I gave up, and that’s how I learned about letting go and not trying to force thoughts to be quiet with yet more thoughts, as you say.
Lucky me, this all happened in the pre-Internet days, so I never latched on to the idea that “making my mind quiet” was something that I should do. It just sort of happened.”¨”¨ And I’ve been wondering whether others experience something similar.
Interesting what you say about “actively making it happen” (the stream of chatter) and the “effort you’re making to keep up the noise.” I guess that is a choice. I’m able to switch off stuff I don’t want to obsess over, as I’m prone to do, and think on something else. But when my mind is busy, especially with upsetting things that don’t need to be rehearsed over and over again, so far redirecting it is all I’ve attempted to do. Tempting to think I’ll play around with the idea of exploring what I’m doing to create the noise, but for me that’s yet another thought or goal I don’t want to deal with. I like kind of letting things unravel or unfold or be learned as time goes by. But I think I’ll be on the lookout for that anyway.
“Trying to still the mind
inhibits the experience of oneness,
for the very action of trying
is the busy mind at work.”
Hard finding the best translation to express this. This one is from Philip Dunn and Peter Jourdan in The Book of Nothing, but available with a bunch of others at
http://terebess.hu/english/hsin.html
Boundless Way chants it like:
“When you try to stop activity, your very effort fills you with activity.”
http://boundlesswayzen.org/liturgy.pdf
I sat in on a conversation between two teachers, one of whom was the disciple of the other. The elder said, “You cannot attain non-duality by opposing duality – you just set up a new duality.” “So how do you attain non-duality?” “By not opposing duality!”
Typically, I have five trains of thought and an earworm for each ear. The mass of half-formed thoughts is like a cupful of wriggling maggots. I early on recognized this was not like the inside of most other people. At first, I ascribed it to being a latchkey kid, spending eternities by myself with both parents working. (Lucky I didn’t burn down the tenement, playing with matches.) To cope with the solitude, I retreated into fantasy. Later, though, I entertained the notion that it was an organic aspect of my brain and researched AD/HD. If I don’t have that, I have something like it.
I really hoped zazen could help me tone it down. I still have endless chatter, but there’s a growing familiarity with the stillness behind it all. Actually, it’s not really endless – sometimes there’s spaces.
And one time, on retreat, I had a shift and, to my amazement, my mind was pretty much free of thoughts. What thoughts there were were wispy and inconsequential. I could think deliberately. The state lasted over an hour, and included part of mealtime.
Hard not to wish to repeat that, but such wishing becomes an obstacle preventing it. But at least I can use my wandering thoughts as fodder for comments.
“Actually, there is no choice. Whatever approach we take, we will have to deal with what we are already.”
Alan, I hear what you’re saying about attitude versus attainment.
When I wrote about Fuxi’s poem, I saw that he was careful to characterize action in the resile of fascia and ligaments as well as in the stretch. Playing on the off-beat, a spiritual thing, yet consciousness originating in the resile of muscles and ligaments is only ordinary sense. Coming to one’s senses, an ordinary thing, as Brad testified.
Sitting the posture, not quite as ordinary in our culture. Coming to one’s senses sitting the posture, the heart of the matter. Where I am, doesn’t hold still, but everybody says I look still. Everybody sits. That’s my joy.
new paragraph, “Everybody sits. That’s my joy.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMBlMMGxfpw
Nice new slogan. Further, your joy is mine. Though it’s not really “mine.”
To paraphrase the old Palmolive dish-soap commercial,
“That’s Joy, you’re soaking in it…”
Cheers.
“Wallowing in it,” more like.
I can never figure out if I like Brad or not. Right now I like him because he is just Brad. On a more serious note I trained in a very strict Monastery. In hindsight It was mostly a bunch of miserable , uptight, people TRYING to FIND something that is already present. I loved my time there, it did teach me to quiet my mind in 24 plus sesshins. It taught me to be very focused and disciplined, and it taught me how arrogant Zen students and teachers can be. Ironic, I loved it so much but would NEVER go back.
I have been around the Zen world for almost 20 years. I no longer try to figure it out I mostly just hang out, sit, try to help a few people, and never talk about anything ‘spiritual.’ I visited 6 other centers and they were even worse, hence spirituality in America.
I do read this blog and appreciate the various views. I like Brad because we could share some dark beer and he wouldn’t try to act all knowing with his Zen face on. Heck, I might even send a few bucks so he doesn’t have to live in the San Fran Zen center. LOL
Thanks for letting me post, back to the cushion Ha Ha
A while ago I noticed that any effort I made to do anything except sit still, was wasted. Zazen will happen even if you don’t try to do anything. So why not just sit and see what happens? When I practice like that, it seems like zazen is a mirror. It reflects my mind perfectly, so I can see my delusions and attachments more clearly. For me, this is what practice is all about.
I recently went through a period of stress, moving overseas, new job, some family trouble, and I noticed the shear volume of mental chatter increased substantially. Pretty messed up because that was a time when I needed mental calm the most. I was plagued by bad memories, regrets from the past, etc, which only added to the stress level. I’ve learned to pay attention to the chatter and not let it effect me to the extent that it’s expressed in behavior, for the most part, and that helps.
“I’ve learned to pay attention to the chatter and not let it effect me to the extent that it’s expressed in behavior, for the most part, and that helps.”
That’s exactly the sort deranged statement I’d expect from a zen religious nut.
Are you sure you haven’t been absorbed by the zorg (ie zen borg).
(note that the above is intended as mild satire inspired by the entirely reasonable post above)
B-a-a-a.
Inverse trollism
That’s gotta put my troll rating through the roof.
Metatrolling.
Trollop
A troll by any other name is not as sweet.
Also, beware of links. It could be RickTrolling…
Cheers.
Zen religious nut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Arrgghhhh!!!
Be quiet, mind.
Hot or not?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id_ieDC_dJ8
HOT
Dad, why am I so attracted to this soap opera?
Life and death, tons of money, 3 years in a yurt with no social conditioning.
Yes, those are certainly the attributes. Why am I so attracted to accounts describing them?
Come on, son, you know it’s the tantric sex that attracts you.
Right again Dad 🙂
I enjoyed your posts. Normally I never post anything, anywhere, but this groups seems interesting. After a life time of seeking, I finally am at a place where the entire journey is deeply enjoyable, mostly thanks to John Daido Loori.
It is ironic, Zen Mountain taught me why I can’t stand religion, spirituality, and any expression of ‘knowing.”
Now I mostly do private retreats, in fact my life is nothing BUT retreat. I venture out to teach grade school at times but now I mostly sit, research, and drink dark beer.
My Best to You
When were you a resident at Zen Mountain Monastery?
Far too pretty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2mioS-lUJk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inWjf-LIqg8
Quieting the mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVdNobKNMig
“Little things please little minds / Small minds are easily amused” – a proverb
Fuxi Meets the Missus, Goes on Vacation Amidst the Foaming Breakers
The empty hand grasps the till
Walking along, I sail the sea
The sea runs even under the keel
The wind is sailing, the ocean is free
Brad proclaims “deliverance from thought without grasping” was his, on a bridge in Kyoto (ok, well, Kyoto sounds better).
Brad is nervous about becoming the resident priest at Yoga-ji. Don’t worry, Brad, they plan to throw you off the bridge at your earliest convenience (just to watch you swim in your indubitable style without drowning).
Ha ha, just kidding, you know. God speed.
sincerely wishing you well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PDEHvaQQkI
Sometimes folk music can quiet the mind.
will you ever answer one of my posts? thanks
Doug16mmGraves, where is your post?
Is it a real vigourous examination of the truth of the matter type question, or is it about zen?
Doug wanted to know whether taking dimethyltrytamine and having “enlightenment” were similar. Is your new question along these lines?
In this new film an aspiring punk rock bassist moves to Japan and opens a karaoke bar. He hires a famous, but down on his luck cinematographer to make short clips of the singers. In their free time, they sit in front of a wall at the back of the bar hoping to have a real vigorous examination of the truth of the matter.
Instead they experience the total negation of their selves. Music by Mel Brooks.
Dad, go mow the lawn.
“Doug wanted to know whether taking dimethyltrytamine and having “enlightenment” were similar.”
No, they are identical if “enlightenment” happens to happen at the same time.
HTH
(where’s the Zafer?…) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bzR0r_-vAY
Ma-a-a
that wasn’t aimed at anybody, you know. Ever listen to one of Suzuki’s lectures, you know?…
(:57)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjDH_nHiOX8
Having heard a few talks by Seung Sahn and other Asian teachers, I developed the theory that their value was mostly from Westerners not quite being able to understand them, and having their own Buddhanature interpret what was essentially an aural Rorschach blot.
I see your Suzuki and raise you one Lama Yeshe.
Just skip through to anywhere, it’s chock full of “you know”s, “ughnn”s, and excessive rocking and eye squinting. He’s a sweet guy though, I just watched these the other day.
(Sorry, off-topic. I’m bored…)
Some threads back, in response to some partially-informed stuff Id written about Sanskrit grammar, Shinchan O’Hara wrote:
“…I’d love to learn some Sanskrit, and some Chinese, and some medieval Japanese (!) just so I could feel my way into the origin sense of Buddhist scriptures… maybe when I’m retired, if I live that long :)”
Yeah, that’s why I got into Sanskrit – better to understand what the early Buddhist writers were talking about (I chose Sanskrit because of Mike Luetchford’s translation of Nagarjuna. Pali would have been the thing for getting a better handle on Gotama). But I think it’s kind of impossible.
The five skandhas for example – what are they all about? Ruupa, ‘form’ – not so problematic…perhaps. But vedanaa, ‘sensation/feeling’? I’ve a fair idea of what that must mean, but why is it distinguished from the other three mental skandhas? And what’s the difference between samjnaa and vijnaana? And what the hell is/are samskaara(s)?
As an attempt by an ancient culture with a proto-scientific mission to split the elements of experience into parts, my modest insights into Sanskrit haven’t helped much to get me any closer to what those guys thought they were talking about. So much separates us. That they couldn’t agree among themselves is no surprise. That Nagarjuna took a look at their efforts and concluded ‘Provisional designations. Empty words’ is maybe more of a surprise. But a nice one, I think.
So I totally get where Mike L is coming from when he says he chooses translations of Sanskrit Buddhist terms that make sense to him from his own experience. That’s all anyone has ever done. Still, it’s fun to chase the rabbit down the hole now and then.
I do get the impression that medieval Japanese would help lots with Dogen, though.
http://www.bob.myers.name/pub/Truth%20Unfolding.pdf
The notes start on page 7.
BM’s analysis of the third sentence in the first paragraph of Genjo-Koan, for example (page 12), I find dead interesting. It sheds light on something I’d always been confused by (and a discussion of which with one of Mike L’s Dharma heirs-to-be led to a conversation which left me on the verge of tears. Twice. Meh.)
Thankyou.
When there is a problem understanding Dogen’s words, it’s not necessarily a problem with what Dogen meant, but could be with the structure and contents of the translator’s brain
Subjective experience might lead to rejection of Dogen’s words. But, really it is a rejection of the translation.
The Buddha way jumping free of something and nothing.
Clearly there is nothing that can be shown, yet there is something. It is but there is no one to experience it.
“As an attempt by an ancient culture with a proto-scientific mission to split the elements of experience into parts, my modest insights into Sanskrit haven’t helped much to get me any closer to what those guys thought they were talking about.”
makes no sense.
As an attempt by an ancient culture with a proto-scientific mission to split the elements of experience into parts, the five skandhas are intriguing. But my modest insights into Sanskrit haven’t got me any closer to understanding what those guys thought they were talking about.
would have been better.
* * * * *
3-500 comments is a good thing for a blog with a comment section, no? Shows people are interested in the blogger and the comments. And if a whole bunch of those comments are responses to ‘trolling’ that’s good too, no? Shows people interacting. Shows how different forms of interaction work out. I guess those things are useful only if you follow along, otherwise it must look like a heap of junk. Perhaps Brad saw a heap of junk piling up in his backyard and thought it was time to clean the place up. I think that’s a shame. But it’s not my blog, it’s Brad’s blog.
“In fact, this personal and private something was, I now saw, the personality of the entire universe from the beginningless beginning of time right on through eternity. I saw that this thing I thought was located so deeply inside of me that no one could ever even think of touching it was actually spread throughout all the universe. It wasn’t just inside me. It was inside Tau Ceti and Alpha Centuri and the Great Megallenic Cloud. It was there when the Big Bang happened. It was the Big Bang.
I saw that it was the very same intimate, personal, private something – the “me” aspect – of every person that ever lived, will live or could live – including you, dear reader.”
Why ain’t my comments showing up? Has Brad beefed up the moderation?
I hope not. Didn’t put more than one link per comment did you, Sinch?
Nope, it was some thoughts on the Myers translation you linked… I’ll wait a wee while to see if it shows, rather than risk loads of duplicates appearing.
When I got my first apartment (mid-1980’s) floatation/isolation tanks were popular. I couldn’t afford to try them so I did the next best thing. I filled my tub with warm water and turned the lights off. I had been reading about Zen and meditation and liked the idea of just letting thoughts go. So I closed the bathroom door, lay in the tub, and let my thoughts settle. After a few weeks of doing this every day I was able to experience a profoundly quiet mind. I could observe thoughts rise and fall. My mind became very clear. I believe that this activity had pretty much the same effect as zazen.
When I was not in the tub I tried to be as “present” as possible in every activity. It took a lot of mental energy but it felt right. I was able to understand the origin of many of my thoughts, and observed how one thought led to another, to another, etc. I was surprised how thoughts seemed to spawn other thoughts, almost randomly, through word-associations or whatever. I could see how I was actually “doing” the thinking. Thoughts that were previously subconscious became conscious. I could see that I had a choice about which thoughts I gave energy, or not. And this sense of self-control allowed me to overcome a lot of emotional/mental difficulties.
This is my umpteenth attempt to post this comment… apologies if earlier attempts show up later.
Thanks anon 108 for another genjokoan translation to ponder, or as minkfoot might put it, one more test result from the Dogen inkblot lab.
I don’t know who this Bob Myers guy is, but it looks like he’d fit in well here… his blog (linked from homepage of his site) has three recent articles on the ‘Meaning of Meaning’
My reactions to a first scan of his translation:
genjo-koan = ‘Truth Unfolding’ … Sweet. More dynamic and Dogen-esque than e.g. ‘The Realized Universe’
shinjin datsuraku = ‘dropping the veil from the body and mind’ … Meh. Could be valid, but feels like an over-interpretation. Where did the veil come from? I’d say don’t add new metaphors to a translation unless necessary to convey the sense into the target language.
‘If delusion is betaking oneself to practice and realize everything,
enlightenment is everything moving ahead to
practice and realize oneself. ‘ … OK. The concisest rendering of that sentence that I’ve seen. But ‘betaking’ – puh-leaze! – what is this, the KJV?
‘ It is falling blossoms uniting love and sorrow, spreading weeds uniting indifference and dislike, nothing more. ‘ … Wow. Or maybe not. Less dualistic than some translations, but not sure it conveys stark reality as well as for example ‘… it is only that flowers, while loved, fall…’ (Nishijima/Cross)
Overall: good effort. I’d give him 8.5/10 … based on my own genjokoan Rorschach results, which I consider authoritative ;P I’ve yet to see a version of genjokoan in English that is both readable and clear. Looking at various efforts to date, it seems it should be possible to create one. I might have a go myself.
His interpretation/notes seem a bit sketchier than the translation itself though. Looks like he’s worked on the assumption that the original is making a consistent understandable argument, and using phrases and characters in a straightforward way. Maybe translations by zen clergy get lost by trying to square Dogen’s words with lots of other Buddhist theory that isn’t relevant to the point being made?
I don’t know anything about Bob Myers or medieval Japanese so I can’t say whether his take is any more accurate or insightful than that of other translators. FWIW, I feel the same way about those bits of the translation you mention and about his overall reading. They’re the same things I baulk at. But I do find the notes fascinating. His explanation of the use of compounds in the 3rd sentence of the 1st paragraph is worth the price of admission, for me.
“Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
Yeah, well, it’s been days! Reposting this reply to Leah from the 27th with just one link. Y’all can find the Boundless Way liturgy on yr own.
“Trying to still the mind
inhibits the experience of oneness,
for the very action of trying
is the busy mind at work.”
Hard finding the best translation to express this. This one is from Philip Dunn and Peter Jourdan in The Book of Nothing, but available with a bunch of others at
http://terebess.hu/english/hsin.html
Boundless Way chants it like:
“When you try to stop activity, your very effort fills you with activity.”
[Boundless Way Liturgy, “The Heart of True Entrusting”]
I sat in on a conversation between two teachers, one of whom was the disciple of the other. The elder said, “You cannot attain non-duality by opposing duality – you just set up a new duality.” “So how do you attain non-duality?” “By not opposing duality!”
Typically, I have five trains of thought and an earworm for each ear. The mass of half-formed thoughts is like a cupful of wriggling maggots. I early on recognized this was not like the inside of most other people. At first, I ascribed it to being a latchkey kid, spending eternities by myself with both parents working. (Lucky I didn’t burn down the tenement, playing with matches.) To cope with the solitude, I retreated into fantasy. Later, though, I entertained the notion that it was an organic aspect of my brain and researched AD/HD. If I don’t have that, I have something like it.
I really hoped zazen could help me tone it down. I still have endless chatter, but there’s a growing familiarity with the stillness behind it all. Actually, it’s not really endless – sometimes there’s spaces.
And one time, on retreat, I had a shift and, to my amazement, my mind was pretty much free of thoughts. What thoughts there were were wispy and inconsequential. I could think deliberately. The state lasted over an hour, and included part of mealtime.
Hard not to wish to repeat that, but such wishing becomes an obstacle preventing it. But at least I can use my wandering thoughts as fodder for comments.
“You cannot attain non-duality by opposing duality – you just set up a new duality.” “So how do you attain non-duality?” “By not opposing duality!”
You could also say that the very words ” attain non-duality ‘ set up a new duality.
You had “me” at “you”!
Yes, Fred, you could say that 🙊💩
The only non-dual explanation is Vimalakirti’s Thundering Silence, and even that had Manjushri’s explanation as prologue.
It looks like a monkey and a pile of poo.
http://giphy.com/gifs/monkey-throwing-poop-UCPxCzwwZ0KJi
Minkfoot,
“Typically, I have five trains of thought and an earworm for each ear. The mass of half-formed thoughts is like a cupful of wriggling maggots. I early on recognized this was not like the inside of most other people.”
It’s reads a lot like what’s going on in my head. I’d describe it minus some of the negative imagery…
I’m curious why you think that your mind is doing anything out of the ordinary?
Cheers.
you’re in good company mink…
Alan, practically everyone has monkey mind. My distractibility seems to handicap me in life situations and in the effectiveness of my zazen. Can’t really complain. It’s part of what brought me to here, and here is OK with me.
Shinchan–
“Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them, I have others!”
Forgive me. I just hit ‘reply’ when I didn’t mean to. Here it is again:
[A while back I wrote]: “As an attempt by an ancient culture with a proto-scientific mission to split the elements of experience into parts, my modest insights into Sanskrit haven’t helped much to get me any closer to what those guys thought they were talking about.”
makes no sense.
As an attempt by an ancient culture with a proto-scientific mission to split the elements of experience into parts, the five skandhas are intriguing. But my modest insights into Sanskrit haven’t got me any closer to understanding what those guys thought they were talking about.
would have been better.
* * * * *
3-500 comments is a good thing for a blog with a comment section, no? Shows people are interested in the blogger and the comments. And if a whole bunch of those comments are responses to ‘trolling’ that’s good too, no? Shows people interacting. Shows how different forms of interaction work out. I guess those things are useful only if you follow along, otherwise it must look like a heap of junk. Perhaps Brad saw a heap of junk piling up in his backyard and thought it was time to clean the place up. I think that’s a shame. But it’s not my blog, it’s Brad’s blog.
However, it only seems to happen when the trolls are active.
“Because the Buddha’s way transcends the relative and absolute”
All declarations reassert the primacy of duality.
How is said that Joshu Sasaki spoke from the unknowing.
Genjo Marinello ( Sweeping Zen ):
“Unfortunately, you sound just as caught as I once was in defending what we believe is the “real deal.” In fact I think we are both right. In my opinion, both Shimano and Sasaki can speak from the depth of unknowing”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1qzxhc19U0
I should post something on-topic. I feel like I rarely do and it’s kind of disrespectful…
I feel I can’t say much about actual zazen practice these days because I stopped doing it – doing it regularly, that is – about a year ago (as I’ve said before, for no reason that I’m aware of). But I have sat in lotus on the futon that serves as my sofa, turned the PC off and just sat for half hour or so a few times. I haven’t thought about whether my mind is quiet or not on those few occasions. Now that I think about it, I think it’s been pretty quiet.
In the last year or so of daily sitting my problem was keeping my eyes open, which, in addition to being ‘the right way’ to do zazen, I saw as being necessary for staying awake. But the last time I sat (a couple of days ago) I decided to go with the feeling and close my eyes, I felt I’d been spending too much energy trying to keep them open. And I didn’t fall asleep…or feel like I wasn’t ‘present’. It felt nice.
Calm the monkey mind with puppies.
anon 108,
What a great idea, post something on topic. I’ll try that…
As far as “Serenity Now” I never saw too many Seinfield episodes. But I did enjoy the funny video Brad linked to.
As far as practice, my sits are not serene. Which I am good with for now. I don’t have any drama, just loosing focus, falling into discursive thoughts, catching myself and returning to attention.
It seems to me that my zazen tends to mirror my day. A frantic, darting sit seems to go with a frantic, busy day. Usually my mind gets a little calmer as I sit, but there are plenty of exceptions…
It is fine that I don’t have a wonderful, serenity filled practice, otherwise I’d be tempted to sit too much. Lotus position valium is a very attractive zen fantasy, it’s actually one of my favorites.
Cheers.