Big mind

[Ola Nelsson]

Well what is it.. I hear (read) it a lot. But I dont understand.

Gassho
Ola

[CraigfromAz]

Re: Big mind

Oooh, I can't wait to read the responses on this one. I can list some synonyms (Buddha nature, God, etc.). But understand it? I would take a wild shot that "nobody understands it, but some experience it." If you haven't experienced it, it can't be described (or so I am told).

Finally, when you truly experience big mind, you can throw away the raft. I guess.

Craig

[Saijun]

Re: Big mind

Hello Ola,

It depends; do you mean "big mind" the philosophical concept or "Big Mind (TM)?"

One of these (usually) leads to a very heated debate when it's brought up, and maybe it would be better if we clarify which one we're talking about before things get tense.

Metta,

Perry

[chicanobudista]

Re: Big mind

Hello Ola,

It depends; do you mean "big mind" the philosophical concept or "Big Mind (TM)?"

One of these (usually) leads to a very heated debate when it's brought up, and maybe it would be better if we clarify which one we're talking about before things get tense.

True dat. :mrgreen:

Ola are you referring for example to Suzuki's talk about Big Mind or are you talking about Gempo's Big Mind workshops? :?:

[Jundo]

Re: Big mind

Hello Ola,

It depends; do you mean "big mind" the philosophical concept or "Big Mind (TM)?"

One of these (usually) leads to a very heated debate when it's brought up, and maybe it would be better if we clarify which one we're talking about before things get tense.

Metta,

Perry

What can be "tense" if truly Big Mind? Truly. 8)

[JohnsonCM]

Re: Big mind

Mind (big M) is hard to explain, but I'll do what I can with what I've got, poor words and what understanding I posess. Big Mind (mind with the big M) is when you realize that your mind and body are one. Then it goes further until you realize that your Mind/Body is one with the Mind/Body of others. Then it goes further until you realize that your Mind/Body is not real and is the "Emptiness" of the Heart Suttra. Then it goes further until you realize that your Mind/Body is not separate from the Mind/Body of Buddha, the Ancestors, and even the whole of the universe. Then it goes further until you realize that, in the midst of all of that, you are still a unique individual. Then it goes further until you just sit, and you realize that it's all zazen, and you let go of the concept of Big Mind, and any thought of attaining it.

That might be a good start on explaining it.

[Jundo]

Re: Big mind

That might be a good start on explaining it.

That might be.

[TrevorMcmanis]

Re: Big mind

a wise man once said a wise man wont say anything

[Taigu]

Re: Big mind

Ola, Big Mind is no other than you, not outside of yourself. Don't seek for it here and there, in books, people and stuff: you'll never find it.
Big Mind cannot be seen, bought or traded.
It is as simple as clear water, burning fire.
It is not even big. Or mind.


gassho


Taigu

[Shui_Di]

Re: Big mind

Hi Ola...

Big mind?

What is big mind? I don't understand about that.

What I know is just Mind , no big no small.

Taigu was right, it's not even big or mind

Small big medium is only exist when you want to buy a cloth in department store.


Gassho, Mujo

[Ola Nelsson]

Re: Big mind

Thanks.. I guess ;-) Dont no if i am any wiser.. But maybe I will be. Big mind is everything and nothing?

/Ola

[jrh001]

Re: Big mind

Thanks.. I guess ;-) Dont no if i am any wiser.. But maybe I will be. Big mind is everything and nothing?

/Ola

Hi Ola,

I asked the same question just after joining Treeleaf. Here's what Jundo said in reply, I hope you find the response of some help:

Big mind/small mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J8dfex0bkU[/video]]

... big mind, small mind. That's a really big topic but what does it mean? You know that's a good question! What do people mean by big mind, small mind? You hear that bandied about in the Zen world. Well I don't think it's really much different from what I talk about here most days.

Big mind... people usually mean is a mind where all the divisions, separations, frictions that we create up here [in our head] is dropped. It's boundless, spacious... enough to contain all things in the universe without them bumping into each other.

Because, think what we do all day with our mind, small mind. We chop the world up into pieces: there's this and that, me and you and the other guy, things I like, things I don't like, things I have to do at work, people at work, people in my family, what I think about them, the political situation, all the countries on the map, all the wars that the countries are fighting, all the problems in the world, all the good things, all that bad things. Our mind is a wonderful chopping device

Now I don't want to get into a deep philosophical discussion about whether these things really exist or don't exist if we stop thinking about them, I just want to say that we can experience life dropping them all from mind into emptiness and then what do we experience?

It's all a great wholeness. No things, so no things bumping into each other. Everything is just at rest, and still and at peace. Because our mind is at rest, and still and at peace that's why we do Shikantaza you see. I think that's what people usually mean by big mind.

We even drop from mind all idea of big and small, that's another dividing. Things just flowing along and we don't even have the separation of "us" and the "it" that's flowing, so we're just flowing along. As a matter of fact I'll even say that better; just flowing, there's just flowing. OK that's big mind

Now getting back to small mind, some people think that the point of Buddhism is just to get to big mind and stay there There are some schools that may teach that, but we teach that we live with small mind. If you don't have small mind how do you put your shoes on? How do you get the car started? How do you get the kids off to school? How do you feed yourself? As long as you have a life, you need a small mind because a small mind dividing up the world is necessary to live.

So we don't think it's necessarily a bad thing - completely - if you also see it through big mind, together, because then all the divisions, the frictions, the likes and dislikes are just not what they were before

When you experience the big mind... well OK I'll say it, it's probably what people are talking about they say they get in touch with enlightenment, or kensho - when we drop away all divisions and just see the wholeness. But true enlightenment is not just to stay there, it's to bring it back down into the crazy, mixed-up world we live in Then all the frictions, all the divisions, they're still there but they're just not what they were before. OK? Just not what they were before. That to me is what big mind is, what small mind is - in words Let's stop talking about it and see if we can taste it. Shall we sit?

JohnH

[JohnsonCM]

Re: Big mind

Thanks.. I guess ;-) Dont no if i am any wiser.. But maybe I will be. Big mind is everything and nothing?

/Ola

Yes. And no.

Some teachers explain Big Mind as the mind that realizes that mind and body are one. It is the mind you think with when you realize that everything is just another expression of everything else. Don't get too hung up on it. Just two words put together. Any more importance than that and it becomes one of those things to grasp on to, to try and attain.