Grass Hut - 8 - Who Is This Person

[BrianW]

Reminds me a bit of the Bill Murray movie “What about Bob?” Bob, played by Bill Murray, takes a stab at solving his mental health issues by “taking a vacation from his problems.” Taking a break from the “I”….”me” … “me” ….”mine” can be refreshing. “I” find that “my” biggest issue is talking to myself about a conversation I will have with someone and going over and over my story. We are in a narrative and we do have to be mindful of it, but to be aware that we are “rehashing” and to mindful that chances are we will really never get our story right anyway is good medicine. There is an “I”, but it’s not really clear what “I” is and to hold on to such mental constructions lightly is of great benefit.

Gassho,
Jisen/BrianW

[Risho]

There's also that Japanese proverb about the nail that sticks out getting hammered - an admonishment not to stand out too much.

And this is where one disagrees. lol But it's completely subjective and based on one's culture.

One named Risho has poorly executed this experiment, but this is certainly something to be practiced by experimenting with how to do this more effectively. The experiment certainly has proved its point, and one will continue

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

[Jishin]

Spring is completely spring and not summer. Summer is completely summer and not spring. I is completely I and one completely one. When I is complete it can not be dropped off and substituted for one and one substituted for I. This I is the universal Eye observing itself from one I point of view. Who is this person? Eye.

Gassho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Myosha]

Spring is completely spring and not summer. Summer is completely summer and not spring. I is completely I and one completely one. When I is complete it can not be dropped off and substituted for one and one substituted for I. This I is the universal Eye observing itself from one I point of view. Who is this person? Eye.

Gassho, Jishin, _/st\_

I EYE AYE!!


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Jika]

Hi Danny,
this is actually a standard formula that the Buddha used over and over in various sutras.
This article is a decent explanation, although not written by a Buddhist scholar. (Jaja, you knew I would dig up something, didn't you?

I was hoping so.
I'm impressed it seems even understandable for me...
Need more time with this.

Thanks a lot, Nindo!

Gassho,
Danny
#sattoday

[Kyonin]

Hi guys.

Lately I have been thinking about how we construct the illusion of self and how much we need it to give us our personality and goals in life.

Who is this person? Who lives in the hut? We all live here, in this universe clinging to the stories we tell ourselves.

I found the experiment of removing I from my speech very interesting. It made me feel pretty weird at first because Spanish is custom made to focus on the self. You can't say more than a couple of words without using I in any of its forms.

After a few hours I felt liberated. It was like something inside got free from a chain. Then more hours passed and I felt a nice connection to things and persons around me. It was hard and tiring because I had to be mindful in my speech and thought, but it was interesting.

The words us, we, all were easier to say.

I wonder how the world would be if we used more WE instead of I.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Kaishin]

I have doing this as often as I can remember and have so far laughed at my own ridiculousness quite a few times already. Thank you.

-SatToday
Kaishin

[Nindo]

"Who am I" has been a very good question/ koan to sit with, for me. It has helped me in several ways, although none are easy to explain.

When I set myself the task of writing a poem every day in April, I noticed how much "I" the results contained. Of course that is natural, because the easiest point to spring off from in poetry is direct experience. I find it interesting when editing a poem to ask, "do I need this "I" here? How else can the experience be expressed?"

Gassho
Nindo
sattoday

PS You are welcome, Danny!

[Byokan]

Hi All,

Thanks every”one” for sharing your experience. I used to do a form of meditation, where you simply name things as they come up: “remembering,” “itching,” “planning,” “pain,” etc. I found that after a while it spilled over off the cushion. I started to say “impatience,” “tired,” “angry,” “happy,” in my daily life. Doing this, and this week doing it more deliberately and with more attention, is a very rich practice.

This week was stressful and emotional, with unexpected houseguests here, and a dear friend whose marriage has ended packing up and moving away. This is “my” current story. Being able to stop and name what was happening without grasping on and identifying with it, was a lifesaver. Instead of “Agh, I’m totally stressing out, I’m so overwhelmed, etc,” it becomes, “Ah, here is stress. How can it be minimized?” or “Oh, feeling overwhelmed, maybe it’s time to ask for help, or lower the expectations, or take a mini-zazen break.” Or just “Sadness.” Nothing to do, just watch it arise and feel it, and watch it move on as the next thing arises. Sadness arises as my friend is leaving; it’s natural, it’s appropriate, it’s ok. It’s not a crisis or a tragedy to grasp on to and make “mine,” nor does it need to be avoided or pushed away. When it was time to leave, she said that my remaining calm, and the time we just breathed deeply for one minute together when she was stressing out, really helped her get through what she had to do. So it carries forward for others near us as well.

In the book Ben talks about removing the pronoun and how it makes space for not knowing. I like that a lot. Also I think taking all the “I, me, mine ” self-talk out of things makes space for other things to arise.

For instance, anger arises. Instead of getting all carried away with telling myself the story of “my” particular anger, and why it’s justified, and whose fault it is, and what I’m going to say, over and over... I can say “Anger is arising.” And it’s bigger than me. Everyone feels anger. Now there is connection with everyone who ever felt angry. In the space that would have been filled with telling myself my story, now maybe compassion can arise, for all those angry people, and the one that “made me mad,” and for myself too. Maybe some lovingkindness and patience is found. Maybe it’s easier to think clearly about what action to take next.

Likewise, lets say happiness arises. Without the identification, one is just tapped in to all the happiness in the world. Without the me story, maybe there is room for great gratitude to arise as well, maybe humbleness arises, maybe generosity. There is room for it; it’s not crowded out by my efforts to hoard and hold on to "my" happiness. You start to genuinely share and feel happy for others’ happiness too. How awesome is that.

And eventually maybe those lines between good and bad start to get a little blurry. The quality of “just this” arises. Just this... Experience it... Act accordingly... Let it go. No need to hold on at all. Just surfin’ the waves, sailing the boat, swimming freely. Really, this is available for us all the time. Isn't it funny how we chase our tails instead. Wishing for us all to find that ease and grace.

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

[Byokan]

George said it pretty well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFR2rnSoT28

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

[Rich]

A great Zen teacher once said that the nature of suffering is having I,my,me. No I,my,me - no suffering.

It's being attached to this mental construct of I,my,me that causes a problem.

Sat today

[Ernstguitar]

Hi Nindo,

Ernst, the book is available at Amazon.de. Did you mean you cannot find a German translation?

yes, I look for a german translation. It doesn´t make sense to read things like this not in the native language. Basically I do a lot in english.

Gassho, Ernst

[Jika]

I can relate, Ernst.
I often find my mind looking for the level at which it gets stuck:
Don't I understand enough English?
Don't I know enough of all the re-translated multicultural historical background?
Or am I just stuck like hitting a wall that does not exist.
A bit of all and nothing, one watches smiling.

Gassho,
Danny
#sattoday

[Anshu Bryson]

This is something I have been contemplating for some time. Not only the sense of having a fixed personal self, but the odd, lifelong process of manufacturing a 'persona'; something that sits over, and perhaps effectively masks, a more 'true' self. So, for me, it was a case of figuring out 'which' self it was that I had a sense of in the first place... So, in my efforts to drop that sense of self, I found that I was actually dropping the false persona. I discovered a very different self behind the mask. Now I need to figure out how to drop THAT one as well, dagnabbit...!

Gassho,
Anshu

-sat today-

[Kyonin]

Thank you, Lisa.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday