Unreliable thoughts on meditation

[Apech]

Reliable thoughts are those that rally round to support you when you are questioned or challenged.  They are on call 24/7 to talk about jhanas, shamatha and vipassyana, sitting and forgetting, the LDT and the MCO.  You all know them well.  Like the mustered troops of a well maintained militia they defend our freedom of thought and give good service in times of need, especially when our island home is threatened.  I am not talking about those thoughts.

 

I am talking about unreliable thoughts and ideas - not born of system or ideology - but the thoughts that point to un-being and truth.  

 

Picture the most perfected and skilful you - trained in the arts, master of reason, perfectly poised and focused - sitting alone, your mind is calm and tamed.  Your house is aligned and harmonious.  The air is perfumed by the most pleasing aromas.  Small birds flutter past the wide windows between the trees and a gentle sunlight glitters on a limpid pond.  Your breath is quiet and almost still, your robes folded in place, your feet are warm.  Deep peace settles on your heart.  Without effort your attention playfully light rides on your soft breath and sinks into an inner strength hid in a responsive fluidity.  Nothing will disturb you now.  One thing resolves to another.  Time moves.  A quintessential heat moves.  Space itself hums with solid power.  A gold sun bobs in a sea-like sky.  You are there and yet not there.  Nothing seems to move out of its place because the point of reference is everywhere, co-present, perfect, silent but not silent.  Somewhere a gong sounds.  You rise.  It's dinner time at last.

 

You have unreliable thoughts.

There is no meditation at all.  There never was.  

Laughing you stuff dumplings in your mouth and chew.

 

At last you are useless and free.

 

 

[stirling]

17 hours ago, Apech said:

Picture the most perfected and skilful you - trained in the arts, master of reason, perfectly poised and focused - sitting alone, your mind is calm and tamed.  Your house is aligned and harmonious.  The air is perfumed by the most pleasing aromas.  Small birds flutter past the wide windows between the trees and a gentle sunlight glitters on a limpid pond.  Your breath is quiet and almost still, your robes folded in place, your feet are warm.  Deep peace settles on your heart.  Without effort your attention playfully light rides on your soft breath and sinks into an inner strength hid in a responsive fluidity.  Nothing will disturb you now.  One thing resolves to another.  Time moves.  A quintessential heat moves.  Space itself hums with solid power.  A gold sun bobs in a sea-like sky.  You are there and yet not there.  Nothing seems to move out of its place because the point of reference is everywhere, co-present, perfect, silent but not silent.  Somewhere a gong sounds.  You rise.  It's dinner time at last.

 

This the litmus test. What happens when thoughts are dropped we just "be"? 

 

Quote

You have never had a thought that was true. - Adyashanti

 

Sure he is one of those neo-Advaita dudes and they are a mixed bag, but he is 100% blindingly right here. Every thought we have ever had is the proposition of one thing against another, and there AREN'T any, as we can prove to ourselves in any moment. 

 

Quote

There is one Dharma, not many;
distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with discriminating mind
is the greatest of all mistakes. - Seng T'san, Hsin Hsing Ming 

 

 

Time to climb the stairs and sit in the rays of the sunrise. Thanks!

 

_/\_

[forestofclarity]

21 hours ago, stirling said:

Seng T'san, Hsin Hsing Ming 

 

Some one once posted a piece of this, in an effort to point out how confounding the language. It was "good, bad; sick mind." I always thought that was clearer than most translations! This poem cuts to the bone. 

[stirling]

1 hour ago, forestofclarity said:

Some one once posted a piece of this, in an effort to point out how confounding the language. It was "good, bad; sick mind." I always thought that was clearer than most translations! This poem cuts to the bone. 

 

It might be THE clearest most concise view from enlightened mind their is, IMHO. This is my favorite version, translated by Clarke:

 

https://terebess.hu/english/hsin.html#3

[forestofclarity]

20 minutes ago, stirling said:

translated by Clarke:

 

Yes, I like this version. It is interesting to revisit over the years to see how it deepens.