There is nothing as good, and as useful,
as the ancient wisdom. We think we are so smart today, but have we really
discovered anything as important and wonderful as what was known to the wise and
holy men and women of old? I think not.
Mindfulness is all about being
choicelessly aware of what is happening, inside and outside of us, from one
moment to the next. Unless we are capable of doing that well, we are not truly
present, that is, living in the now.
Here’s a snippet of wisdom from
Tao-hsin (Dayi Daoxin)
(Japanese: Dōshin) (580-651)
[pictured right], who was the fourth Chán [Chinese Zen] Buddhist Patriarch:
Constant awareness. Hmm. How often we drift off into mental movies of our own making! You know what I mean. We see something, or think of something, or something happens, and … a mental movie begins in which we are the star, bit player, director, producer, writer, cinematographer and editor. The result? We are no longer aware. Yes, we have lost direct and immediate contact with the here-and-now. We have stopped observing. However, if we can just look and see, that is, observe … without judgment, analysis or interpretation … what happens? Well, as Tao-hsin says, when the aware mind is present—choicelessly aware---we come to see the ‘formlessness of things’.
Constantly be aware,
Without stopping.
When the aware mind is present,
It senses the formlessness of things.
Constantly see your body as empty
And quiet, inside and outside
Communing in sameness.
Without stopping.
When the aware mind is present,
It senses the formlessness of things.
Constantly see your body as empty
And quiet, inside and outside
Communing in sameness.
Constant awareness. Hmm. How often we drift off into mental movies of our own making! You know what I mean. We see something, or think of something, or something happens, and … a mental movie begins in which we are the star, bit player, director, producer, writer, cinematographer and editor. The result? We are no longer aware. Yes, we have lost direct and immediate contact with the here-and-now. We have stopped observing. However, if we can just look and see, that is, observe … without judgment, analysis or interpretation … what happens? Well, as Tao-hsin says, when the aware mind is present—choicelessly aware---we come to see the ‘formlessness of things’.
Now, what does ‘formlessness’ mean, I
hear you ask? Well, ordinarily, the conditioned, undisciplined mind wants to attach itself to something, that is, some
object or thought. It is wants to grab hold of something. Actually, your mind
is pure consciousness or awareness in it pure, unconditioned state, so that
when you truly observe there is not you, the observer, as well as the thing
observed, there is just awareness—pure unadulterated awareness. Is that possible?
Yes, indeed, but it takes practice. That’s where the practice of mindfulness
comes in handy. When you learn to give your full
attention to this moment—by simply removing the hindrances or obstructions to
your so doing---you will find that your mind is really formless as are all
things. You see, that is, really see
… and perhaps for the very first time in your life there is just the seeing! That is what Tao-hsin is talking
about. When we attach ourselves to things—including our very own thoughts and
feelings—we are living in a world of forms. However, if we can look and see
without attachment, that is, give our full, undivided attention to what is
directly and immediately present, we come to see and experience what Buddhism
refers to as the formlessness of things, including the formlessness of our own
mind. Emptiness is another word.
Begin
now. There is no time like the present. When you look, just look. When you
hear, just hear. When you smell, just smell. When you taste, just taste. When
you touch, just touch. Avoid the temptation to grab hold of something, that is,
attach your mind to something. In truth, your mind can never attach itself to the present. If you try, you will always end
up losing direct and immediate contact with the present moment as it unfolds
ceaselessly into the next present moment, and so on.
And what of
‘communing in sameness’. What the hell does that mean? What is ‘sameness’? Is
it something like formlessness or emptiness? Well, yes, more-or-less. Actually,
in both Buddhism and Taoism (Daoism) sameness and difference go together. You
can’t have one without the other. They coexist. In a very real sense, they are
one and the same. Things
are many and yet one; they are one and yet many. I am not you, and you are not
me; and yet we are all one in essence. We all
live and move and have our being in the one life which flows through all
things and is the very ground of being itself. Non-duality, some call it.
Stop seeing yourself as separate from
all other living things. In truth, you are not. We are all part of life’s
self-expression. The life in you, expressing itself as you, is the very same
life that is in me, expressing itself as me. It is the very same life that is
expressing itself in and as all other living beings as well. The form that each
one of us presently takes has changed many, many times in our lifetime, and it
will change many, many times hereafter as well. Forms come and go, wax and
wane, but the life in us … well, it is ceaseless …
Never the spirit was born; the
spirit shall cease to be never;
Never was time it was not; End
and Beginning are dreams!
Birthless and deathless and
changeless remaineth the spirit for ever.
Those wonderful words come from Sir Edwin Arnold’s beautiful poetic
version of The Bhagavad-Gita dubbed ‘The Song
Celestial’. I often use
them at funerals. The words are very powerful ... and very meaningful, and true, too.
The spirit of life is indeed formless
and empty. It is the same wherever there is life, animate or inanimate. At its
very heart, life is consciousness, and mind is consciousness. Look beyond the
forms. True reality is formless. All things are interdependent and commune in
sameness.
In the words of Tao-hsin, start
sensing the formlessness of things. See your body as empty … and quiet inside
and outside. Commune in sameness.
Calligraphy [below]: Emptiness.
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