Bodhidharma wrote:Student: If someone is determined to reach enlightenment, what is the most essential method he can practice?
Bodhidharma: The most essential method, which includes all other methods, is beholding the mind.
Student: But how can one method include all others?
Bodhidharma: The mind is the root from which all things grow if you can understand the mind, everything else is included. It's like the root of a tree. All a tree's fruit and flowers, branches and leaves depend on its root. If you nourish its root, a tree multiplies. If you cut its root, it dies. Those who understand the mind reach enlightenment with minimal effort. Those who don't understand the mind practice in vain. Everything good and bad comes from your own mind. To find something beyond the mind is impossible.
I would like to hear others' experience with this.Huineng wrote:Those who realize this teaching do so through ‘no-thought,’ ‘no-memory,’ and ‘no-attachment.’ Don’t create a bunch of delusions. You yourself are the nature of suchness. View all dharmas with wisdom. Neither grasp nor reject them. This is the way to see your nature and become a buddha.
Currently, when I practice zazen, I notice that "observing" or "watching" the senses and thoughts creates a "tiring" gap. That is, experience with this intention is almost always "sound... there is listening" and it takes some effort to persist in listening. Or "thinking... now I come back from distraction and return to the body" and it takes effort as well. A lot of coming and going across that gap, and so a lot of daydreaming as well.
When I "behold the mind," I leave the senses to function by themselves. Hearing occurs without needing to listen, likewise thought and intention and so forth. They all seem to function autonomously.
Leaving the senses to themselves, there's no reference point among the senses to meditate from, such as focusing on the breath at the nostrils.
But it's also very energizing, not a dull state, and I'm not startled by loud sounds or sudden sights.
In trying to make "the mind" or "awareness" the meditation object, there's a funny experience of losing the ability to have an object. There's nothing to lean on like "listening for sounds" or "watching for distractions". "The mind" when grasped by attention this way is acutely ungraspable, so it's like putting your hand in water to grab it, and it flows cool and energizing regardless of how tight or loosely you try to grip.
It doesn't seem like some particular state because the contents are the impermanent experiences of the time.
Anyway, I've written too much and again would love to hear how others engage with "beholding the mind," "turning the light around," and so on.
It seems very hard to clearly relate these things, so don't be shy to be clumsy like me
Here's a quote in the spirit of my question.
Huang Po wrote:Why do they not copy me by letting each thought pass as though it were nothing, or as though it were a piece of rotten wood, a stone, or the cold ashes of a dead fire. Or else, by just making whatever slight response is suited to each occasion? … You must get away from the doctrines of existence and non-existence, for Mind is like the sun, forever in the void, shining spontaneously, shining without intending to shine. This is not something which you can accomplish without effort, but when you reach the point of clinging to nothing whatever, you will be acting as the Buddhas act.