Posts in the “zen” category

“The dark night of the soul is when you have lost the flavor of life but have not yet gained the fullness of divinity. So it is that we must weather that dark time.”

~ Ram Dass (from this tweet)

One of the more interesting things about the teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is that he says we should focus on “I am,” but from what I have read so far, he does not specifically describe what he means by this.

Therefore, I have taken to researching this myself through his own quotes, internet searches, and the use of A.I. tools. This is what I have found so far.

If you’re interested in meditation and enlightenment/awakening, the book, I Am That, by Nisargadatta Maharaj, has this terrific conversation, which I have shortened slightly. “M” refers to Nisargadatta Maharaj, and “Q” refers to a common person asking questions:

M: The Guru is concerned little with the person. His attention is on the inner watcher. It is the task of the watcher to understand and thereby eliminate the person.

Q: But the person does not want to be eliminated.

M: The person is merely the result of a misunderstanding. In reality, there is no such thing.

(later)

Q: When will this happen for me?

M: When you remove the obstacles.

Q: Which obstacles?

M: Desire for the false and fear of the true. You, the person, imagine that the Guru is interested in you as a person. Not at all. (He then clarifies what this means.)

I know that the idea of a “dream vacation” for most people is time at the beach or a beautiful place like Alaska, but once you get to a certain point in meditation, there’s nothing a person would rather do than meditate. So the dream vacation for a meditator is a peaceful, quiet place — both quiet surroundings, and not having to talk to anyone else — where they can meditate, practice yoga, make simple meals, and go for quiet walks.

Because I have lived in (a) some sketchy places and (b) other places where people are constantly cutting the grass and running farm machinery, I’ll add that the location should be secure, and again quiet (or at least a place where you know that loud grass-cutting and outdoor activities happen at a certain time). At some point you need to learn to meditate even in those environments, but on vacation, no thanks.

A little meditation:

In all the history of the world,
And all its future,
The only thing that matters,
The only thing that’s real,
Is now.

IMHO, once you dig into all the eastern religions, you’ll find people saying the same things, and just using different words.

One favorite quote comes from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, who said, “Just remember that you are the witness only ... even for a moment, do not think that you are the body.”

Anandamayi Ma was quoted as saying, “My consciousness has never associated itself with this temporary body.”

Those two quotes remind me of this great image that’s based on a Ram Dass quote about humans being spiritual beings who are having a human experience, and not vice-versa. (Also, I apologize, I don’t know who originally created this image, so I can’t give them attribution.)

Here’s another “fake oil painting” I created with Gimp recently. This one is of Thich Nhat Hanh meditating. I don’t remember the original source of this image (before I converted the original photo to an oil painting), but I’m pretty sure I found it on Facebook. On this one I manipulated the colors quite a bit, and also did a Gaussian Blur on the background.

LionsRoar.com has this interesting story on Zen koans.

“People tend to overestimate or underestimate how wonderful the experience (enlightenment) is. How wonderful is it? Well, I would say that anyone who has entered into the world of no-self, emptiness, and wisdom mind, who abides in that world, if you gave them a choice to live one day knowing what they know, or live an entire lifetime but not be allowed to know that, I think — I can’t speak for everyone — but I would say most people who live in that world would say, ‘I’d rather have one day knowing what I know than a lifetime of not being able to know this.’ So that’s how wonderful it is.”

~ Shinzen Young, in this video

A big part of meditating for me has been getting to a point of completely dropping the self-conscious B.S., as I call it. (Which is why I may never be a meditation teacher, lol.) You just have to get to a point where there is no “you.”

(To expand on that, you get rid of your self-consciousness. There are no thoughts like, “I’m meditating,” “I’m too fat,” “I’m too skinny,” “My name is Alvin,” or even, “What was that sound?” If you’re interested in what I’m talking about, it’s described more in this article on the three nen actions.)

Here’s a look at the three nen actions, as described in the excellent book, Zen Training. My summary of the three nens goes like this:

• 1st Nen: Pure sensation/cognition; your bare attention.
• 2nd Nen: Reflecting upon watch you sense.
• 3rd Nen: Self-conscious thought of what you have sensed; integrates the impressions of the 1st and 2nd nens into a perception.

Note that the third nen involves referencing “some knowledge that you have already stored up as conceptions (your memories). Then the sound is recognized as that of the noon whistle.”

“Trying to find a way to love everyone in a world I don’t even like.”

~ somewhere in The Dark Night of the Soul

In this interview, the interviewer (Steph) asks Shinzen Young about his daily life, and whether he applies any sort of techniques during his normal day. That eventually leads to him saying:

The biggest change is that I don’t have a preference between enlightenment and non-enlightenment. (Note: This is a big change from when he was younger.)

Then, if I’m intending to meditate — in action, in life, like I’m talking to you now ... now I just started to intentionally meditate as we’re talking.

And I typically meditate in the external visual field, and I’m typically meditating on the process of simultaneous expansion and contraction, causing the world in front of me to arise and then disappear. So I’m now applying a formal technique (as we talk).

Interviewer: So I’m arising and disappearing right now.

(Yes) You’re arising and disappearing from the source, moment by moment. Therefore, you appear to me to be the Source. And therefore, very effortlessly, loveable.

Interviewer: I’ll take it.

At the end of this video that’s titled, Inside Shinzen’s Brain: How Shinzen Experiences his Daily Life, he talks about the one obsession he has: “How smart can I be, how creative can I be, in service of the world?”

In general I try to avoid swearing these days, but sometimes you just need to get your point across. Meditate, let it go ... forgiveness is good for your heart, and good for your soul.^*

^* Forgiveness doesn’t mean you should be a carpet for others to walk on.

(Sorry, I don’t know the original source of this image.)

When I first started learning Zen I didn’t understand the quote shown in this image, and I truly was a carpet to walk on. Then I woke up and thought, “You need to run your business. You need to find the middle way between accepting ‘just this’ and what you need to do to be successful at work.”

It would have been helpful if I had seen this quote then, but the book, Making Zen Your Own, wasn’t available then.

“As a general principle, any positive state that you experience within the context of silent sitting practice (when you reach the state of samadhi), you must try to attain in the midst of ordinary life.”

~ Shinzen Young’s teacher

In my experience, some “judgy” people will make up their own opinion about you — about what you should do or shouldn’t do — when they don’t know all the facts. I use the word judgy, because if you’re a Christian, Jesus was very clear on this point:

“Judge not, that ye not be judged.”

To wit, sometimes you just have to let people be wrong about you. (From this tweet by TinyBuddha.)

My meditation tip of the day: If you really, really, really can’t take time out to meditate, the best thing you can do is pay ruthless attention to the present moment during your daily activities. And the best way to do that is through mantras or noting practices.

“Noting Gone may lead to a spontaneous spirit of love and service (bodhicitta). As I’ve said, where sensory events go to is where sensory events arise from. Gone points to the source of your own consciousness ... so Noting Gone can lead to a spontaneous sense of oneness with — and commitment to — all beings.”

From the book, The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works by Shinzen Young.

(I don’t remember where he stated it, but I also remember that Shinzen Young said that if he could only teach one meditation technique, it would be noting gone.)