Читать книгу Dot to Dot Zen a Primer of Buddhist Psyc - Gerald Ericksen - Страница 8

THE MIND IS FICKLE AND FLIGHTY

AND IT FLEES AFTER FANCIES

WHEREVER IT LIKES

— The Mind, Dhammapada

The farmer mind bustles among its 55 laborers to bring in the sensory harvest

The senses of eye, ear, nose, tongue and touch never vote with the mind on the issue of attachment. Each goes its own way, seeking its own ends. An old proverb relates how, if bound together by ropes with a common knot, the crocodile tries to run to water, the dog to a village, the fox to a cemetery, the monkey to a forest, and the snake to an anthill, while the bird tries to fly into the sky. The ultimate goal of this path is a vanishing, a complete disappearance of anguish brought on by the baffling array of sense attachments. In this way, the goal is no goal.

Reducing thoughts makes intervals between thoughts...

Swans leave their lake and rise into the air

Guilt driven suffering is viewed as a thought from the past, no more substantial than any other mental component or sense impression. The changing components of our mind do not belong to any permanent self and certainly not to anyone else. Thus, we can free our mind from pain brought on by others. By flying, the swan becomes swan-like; and, by watching, the changing mind is freed.

Use your intervals to concentrate on breathing...

The wind blows out a fleeting flame

By observing thoughts from aside, by watching sensations arise and fall away, an awareness is raised about where the mind begins and sensations end. We need not concern ourselves with where thoughts of greed, hatred and delusion flee, or where sickness hides when health flows.

Focus on the present...

A tranquil mind looks at both sides equally

A sudden release from guilt's stranglehold grants temporary probation to a troubled mind; a mind momentarily able to see imprisoned conditions for what they really are. Without a judge's sentence, we can become free by chaining ourselves to the effort of building a road away from categories of right and wrong. We pick our way upward, toward a liberated world in which our observing self is mindful of no distinctions. Nothingness can cut the motivational roots beneath clever speech, aggressive action and cunning livelihoods.

Try not to let past and future thoughts take over...

Defined, then confused, they are the same

Where, then, does one begin to use the mind to cure the mind of its suffering? The ancient wisdom offered is a path away from the pain of greed, hatred and delusion born of ignorance. This path is comprised, not of conceptual speculation regarding time, space, life's origin or eternal existence, but of realities such as breathing and suffering that we all experience directly. Intuitive knowledge of this experienced reality is available to everyone willing to step back and observe themselves. Experiencing, and knowing that we experience, helps us to rise above a confusion of definitions, to understand what is defined in life if we are not confused.

Feel the cool air in, the warm air out...

The alighting bird, at the same moment, strikes the bough and casts a shadow