It has been five months now of weekly Monday morning teaching posts. You have come to understand that wandering thoughts and attachments, when left to their own devices are the foundation of our inner turmoil. The wisdom of the Tathagata is not complicated. Wisdom and virtue are already inside of you. The false entanglements of our day to day life are easily addressed when we can “put it all down” as Zen Master Seung Sahn used to instruct. All conditions in this life are temporary.
When we clearly see this, the gate of zen practice opens and you begin a journey back to your true nature. Your job is singular and to the point: do not give way to illusory phenomena. Slowly but surely wandering thoughts will ease and cease to control you. What seemed like endless mind meanderings slow to a snails pace. How to do this? What is the method?
First, truly relax your body and mind. Start by doing a body scan from head to your mid section. Repeat if necessary until all muscle tension subsides leaving the entire upper portion of your body frame calm and relaxed. Scan from your head down to the abdominal area, your sea of chi energy center.
Second is to adapt a method of practice. Previously we discussed breath counting and/or chi gung breatharian practices, mantra practice, and huatou. It is important not to change this “du jour” as if you were dining at a buffet restaurant with multiple choices. “Let’s see, what method shall I use today?” Be clear about everything. Thousands of thoughts briefly occupy then exit the screen of your mind. Be alert to all of it. All sorts of distractions will present themselves including desire, anger, ego stimulation, and the like. These mental barriers will melt away over time.
Samadhi was defined by the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng, as letting go of all opposites thinking, “good-bad, right-wrong” taking place in each moment and in every experience. Our true self nature does not endorse the persistent rising and falling of deluded mind states.
When you simply relax, turn inward, not pursuing the myriad distractions that seem ever present, not following the stream of sound and form, a purity and clarity will begin to take root. The true essence of your life then becomes clear.
Zen Master Yung Chia became a monk at age eight. He was an arduous practitioner. A disciple of the great Hui Neng, Yung Chia authored what is considered a zen classic, the Song of Enlightenment. In it he emphasizes that practice itself is the goal and that true realization cannot be destroyed by anyone or anything. Mirroring this week’s teaching, I would like to include this brief quote from his classic:
Walking is zen;
Sitting is zen;
Speaking or silent, moving or still, the essence is undisturbed.
Remain composed even in the face of death,
The enlightened one uses the sword of wisdom
Not seeking the true, nor rejecting the false,
Both are empty and formless
The awakened being is not bound by trivial matters
Ji Haeng Zen Master – The Desert Dragon