Good morning (afternoon or evening),
First, I am a novice and not a teacher, so please excuse any mistakes, nor do I intend to mislead or the like. I just wanted to share this since for some reason I found the following from Josho Pat Phelan to be very striking. I know this may be obvious for some, but I wanted to share it none-the-less as this was really kind of a profound and eye-opening passage for me. We’ve all heard different analogies for letting thoughts go during Zazen, but when I read this passage:
“If we take the phrase, "Just not to attach to anything is to give," we can use it to practice with our breath. When we feel threatened, the breath tends to become tense or restricted, as if by holding our breath we can hold back what we fear. Sometimes we use our breath for protection, but usually we breathe without attachment to the breath. We may not be present with our breath, but usually it’s because our attention is wandering somewhere else, rather than because we are grasping some breath from the past, which we associate with great pleasure, the memory of which we are trying to hold onto so we can repeat it in the future. This is the way conditioning works: it is human nature to try to repeat what is pleasant. As we inhale and exhale without attachment, we can let this be a model for letting our thoughts come and go in zazen without attachment.“ - from Taking and Receiving the Precepts Part 5 by Josho Pat Phelan
It was like the clouds parted and the sun was shining again!
Equating thought as part of the body’s functioning; using its internal organs, and accomplishing things like breathing, digestion, the heartbeat… I found it easier to remember that while we sometimes have to use our thoughts and pay attention to them, (like Jundo says, it would be impossible to live without judgements and opinions etc) we don’t always have to, and especially (obviously) during Zazen. Just like we don’t have to focus on breath, but can when it suits us well to, like calming anxiety or quieting the mind, it became easier to let the idle thoughts go. It’s just the body doing its thing! Just like breath, just like the heartbeat, the brain/mind produces thought continuously…The mind “breathes” in the sensory information, and “breathes” out opinions, judgements, worries, memories, fantasies and a whole bunch of mental carbon dioxide that either drags you into a sleepy reverie, or off on a tangent, and steals you away from the moment. In a way, this is breaking the second precept of taking that which is not freely given. We steal ourselves away from Zazen, and into idle thoughts, fantasies, and delusions, essentially killing our attention and also breaking the first precept as well! Now, I realize- just let the mind breathe and pay it no-mind. We are not our thoughts, but our attention to them. They are good tools to work with in life, but really, who wants to work all the time?! (And that’s when my mind sighed a breath of relief…)
Thank you for reading, sorry to run long.
Gassho,
Jay
Sat/lah today
First, I am a novice and not a teacher, so please excuse any mistakes, nor do I intend to mislead or the like. I just wanted to share this since for some reason I found the following from Josho Pat Phelan to be very striking. I know this may be obvious for some, but I wanted to share it none-the-less as this was really kind of a profound and eye-opening passage for me. We’ve all heard different analogies for letting thoughts go during Zazen, but when I read this passage:
“If we take the phrase, "Just not to attach to anything is to give," we can use it to practice with our breath. When we feel threatened, the breath tends to become tense or restricted, as if by holding our breath we can hold back what we fear. Sometimes we use our breath for protection, but usually we breathe without attachment to the breath. We may not be present with our breath, but usually it’s because our attention is wandering somewhere else, rather than because we are grasping some breath from the past, which we associate with great pleasure, the memory of which we are trying to hold onto so we can repeat it in the future. This is the way conditioning works: it is human nature to try to repeat what is pleasant. As we inhale and exhale without attachment, we can let this be a model for letting our thoughts come and go in zazen without attachment.“ - from Taking and Receiving the Precepts Part 5 by Josho Pat Phelan
It was like the clouds parted and the sun was shining again!
Equating thought as part of the body’s functioning; using its internal organs, and accomplishing things like breathing, digestion, the heartbeat… I found it easier to remember that while we sometimes have to use our thoughts and pay attention to them, (like Jundo says, it would be impossible to live without judgements and opinions etc) we don’t always have to, and especially (obviously) during Zazen. Just like we don’t have to focus on breath, but can when it suits us well to, like calming anxiety or quieting the mind, it became easier to let the idle thoughts go. It’s just the body doing its thing! Just like breath, just like the heartbeat, the brain/mind produces thought continuously…The mind “breathes” in the sensory information, and “breathes” out opinions, judgements, worries, memories, fantasies and a whole bunch of mental carbon dioxide that either drags you into a sleepy reverie, or off on a tangent, and steals you away from the moment. In a way, this is breaking the second precept of taking that which is not freely given. We steal ourselves away from Zazen, and into idle thoughts, fantasies, and delusions, essentially killing our attention and also breaking the first precept as well! Now, I realize- just let the mind breathe and pay it no-mind. We are not our thoughts, but our attention to them. They are good tools to work with in life, but really, who wants to work all the time?! (And that’s when my mind sighed a breath of relief…)
Thank you for reading, sorry to run long.
Gassho,
Jay
Sat/lah today
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