Toss it in the Bag

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  • Nameless
    Member
    • Apr 2013
    • 461

    Toss it in the Bag

    To forget oneself is to not lose oneself, but to truly become oneself. In letting go, you attain without gaining, you arrive without leaving.

    So who are you? We aren't who we think we are. Imagine this: There's a giant clear plastic bag. In this bag place all the things that you think you might be. First goes your physical body, then your name, your color, race and religion. The place where you live, your country of allegiance, your sexual orientation and all your clothes. Your beliefs, opinions and your judgments and so on until everything is included. Everything you think you are is contained in this bag. Your mind is even there because it's a very crucial part of who you think you are, throw it in the bag.

    Now, let's look at the bag. Visualize it. If there's anything else that you think you are, put it in the bag. Now observe it....

    So who is that observing the bag? Who is that observing the totality of what you call your life? That nameless, placeless, timeless observer? It's the one and only real you. You are not the content of your life, you are the observer of it. You contain all that's in the bag, but it's not you. It's merely within you. You are the context of life. The understanding of this truth, is merely an object itself and can be placed in the bag. To experience this truth, that is beyond the bag. To experience that, is to be fully, completely and beautifully alive.

    Gassho,
    John
  • Kokuu
    Dharma Transmitted Priest
    • Nov 2012
    • 6992

    #2
    What happens if you toss the observer in the bag too?


    Gassho
    Andy

    Comment

    • Kyonin
      Dharma Transmitted Priest
      • Oct 2010
      • 6752

      #3
      Now, what if the bag, the universe and me are just one entity? United. Whole. Complete.

      Gassho,

      Kyonin
      Hondō Kyōnin
      奔道 協忍

      Comment

      • Shokai
        Dharma Transmitted Priest
        • Mar 2009
        • 6530

        #4
        Is puzzle solving learned or inate?
        合掌,生開
        gassho, Shokai

        仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

        "Open to life in a benevolent way"

        https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

        Comment

        • Jishin
          Member
          • Oct 2012
          • 4823

          #5
          i think, therefore I am not. Who is I? I think therefore I am not. Who is I?

          Gassho, John


          Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

          Comment

          • Rich
            Member
            • Apr 2009
            • 2616

            #6
            Nice metaphor but you lost me near the end. So does this mean I'm just a bag man? -)
            _/_
            Rich
            MUHYO
            無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

            https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

            Comment

            • Koshin
              Member
              • Feb 2012
              • 938

              #7
              Opps, I forgot my bag on the train Now what??!!!

              Just kidding...thank you for your thoughts, have a great day

              Gassho
              Thank you for your practice

              Comment

              • Shokai
                Dharma Transmitted Priest
                • Mar 2009
                • 6530

                #8
                Originaly posted by Rich;
                So does this mean I'm just a bag man?
                Yup, suck it up man!!
                合掌,生開
                gassho, Shokai

                仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

                "Open to life in a benevolent way"

                https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

                Comment

                • Jundo
                  Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                  • Apr 2006
                  • 41220

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Karasu
                  What happens if you toss the observer in the bag too?


                  Gassho
                  Andy
                  That was my question! You beat me too it!

                  Now, take everything out of the bag, put it back on, your clothes, your beliefs, your race and religion, and call it the totality of life too.

                  Stop thinking "inside" or "outside" the bag so much.

                  Reminds me a little of the story of the fellow who starts peeling the onion, looking for the real onion. He peels and he peels, discarding layer after layer, thinking he will then find the real source of the scent of the onion. Soon, he has unraveled all the onion, and there is nothing left, just him wintnessing empty space where the onion once was.

                  He missed that the stink of the onion was there all along, in his nose and every single layer.

                  Gassho, J
                  ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                  Comment

                  • RichardH
                    Member
                    • Nov 2011
                    • 2800

                    #10
                    Man, I feel bagged.






                    ....couldn't resist.

                    Gassho Daizan/Richard.

                    Comment

                    • Nameless
                      Member
                      • Apr 2013
                      • 461

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Jundo
                      That was my question! You beat me too it!

                      Now, take everything out of the bag, put it back on, your clothes, your beliefs, your race and religion, and call it the totality of life too.

                      Stop thinking "inside" or "outside" the bag so much.

                      Reminds me a little of the story of the fellow who starts peeling the onion, looking for the real onion. He peels and he peels, discarding layer after layer, thinking he will then find the real source of the scent of the onion. Soon, he has unraveled all the onion, and there is nothing left, just him wintnessing empty space where the onion once was.

                      He missed that the stink of the onion was there all along, in his nose and every single layer.

                      Gassho, J
                      Thanks Jundo, that's a very appropriate story. Instead of digging through to find it, it is there all the time. And you're right, because outside and inside are truly one.

                      Now, what if the bag, the universe and me are just one entity? United. Whole. Complete.
                      You've got that right Kyonin, the separation we place between things is the illusion.

                      Gassho,
                      John

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