WAVES AND WATERPublished on September 14, 2014
In the long history of Tibetan Buddhism, in both beginning and advanced practices, we find the analogy of waves and water, again and again. The Tibetans point out that our thoughts are like waves on the ocean of mind; both are water. Thoughts, they say, are just examples of the mind in movement, call it the motion of the ocean. Thoughts are equally mind -- water to water.
I have watched how the Tibetans gently brush mosquitoes from their arms. In Tibetan Buddhist meditation, thoughts, like mosquitoes, are not slapped down or suppressed. Thoughts are as natural to the mind as waves are to the ocean. In fact thoughts are the most common appearance of the mind to us. Thoughts are literally our own mind appearing. Without them many of the more advanced mind practices would be impossible.
The Buddhists also say not to prolong the past or to invite the future. Don't look in the past for what you can readily find in the present mind itself. The past is still mind, just older and harder to read. And forget about reading the future except to get more of the same -- samsara. The teachings say, instead, to allow the mind to rest gently in the present and don't do anything to alter it. Let it be. That, according to the Buddhists, is the ticket.
The Buddhist teachings state that we are not supposed to do anything at all to alter the mind, and that is true. However this is much easier said than done. You can't just rest the mind by brute force. The harder you squeeze or concentrate, the more thoughts arise, and the more chaotic the mind becomes. In basic meditation practice we learn to allow the mind to rest naturally, meaning to just let the mind alone. Let it rest as it naturally already is -- as we find it. A modern translation might be: "Just give it a rest." In other words, at the live-long end of it all we just need to relax, let go, and simply let the mind rest. In other words, we don't do anything in meditation other than to get with the flow of the mind just as it is.
Another big thing in meditation practice is learning to observe the space or gap between thoughts. What happens when there are no thoughts and the mind is quiet? We rest between thoughts or to be more correct, when gaps occur, we learn to stop identifying so much with thoughts and begin identifying with the space between thoughts, which space is always at rest. We can all learn to do this.
When we get more advanced we stop following the train of our thoughts (the content) and begin looking at or through each thought (like a lens) at the nature of that thought, which is also the nature of the mind itself.
Again, waves to water.
WAVES AND WATER
In the long history of Tibetan Buddhism, in both beginning and advanced practices, we find the analogy of waves and water, again and again. The Tibetans point out that our thoughts are like waves on the ocean of mind; both are water. Thoughts, they say, are just examples of the mind in movement, call it the motion of the ocean. Thoughts are equally mind -- water to water.
I have watched how the Tibetans gently brush mosquitoes from their arms. In Tibetan Buddhist meditation, thoughts, like mosquitoes, are not slapped down or suppressed. Thoughts are as natural to the mind as waves are to the ocean. In fact thoughts are the most common appearance of the mind to us. Thoughts are literally our own mind appearing. Without them many of the more advanced mind practices would be impossible.
The Buddhists also say not to prolong the past or to invite the future. Don't look in the past for what you can readily find in the present mind itself. The past is still mind, just older and harder to read. And forget about reading the future except to get more of the same -- samsara. The teachings say, instead, to allow the mind to rest gently in the present and don't do anything to alter it. Let it be. That, according to the Buddhists, is the ticket.
The Buddhist teachings state that we are not supposed to do anything at all to alter the mind, and that is true. However this is much easier said than done. You can't just rest the mind by brute force. The harder you squeeze or concentrate, the more thoughts arise, and the more chaotic the mind becomes. In basic meditation practice we learn to allow the mind to rest naturally, meaning to just let the mind alone. Let it rest as it naturally already is -- as we find it. A modern translation might be: "Just give it a rest." In other words, at the live-long end of it all we just need to relax, let go, and simply let the mind rest. In other words, we don't do anything in meditation other than to get with the flow of the mind just as it is.
Another big thing in meditation practice is learning to observe the space or gap between thoughts. What happens when there are no thoughts and the mind is quiet? We rest between thoughts or to be more correct, when gaps occur, we learn to stop identifying so much with thoughts and begin identifying with the space between thoughts, which space is always at rest. We can all learn to do this.
When we get more advanced we stop following the train of our thoughts (the content) and begin looking at or through each thought (like a lens) at the nature of that thought, which is also the nature of the mind itself.
Again, waves to water.