bill...thank you for your support..merle Merle,
You are definitely on the right track. You can't just turn these things off. Daido talked about that. You just let them come and go. The zen story about that (there's a zen story about everything) is it is like when you are busy doing something and someone comes to your door. You can answer the door, tell them you'r busy right now and that they can come back later. What you don't do is invite them in for tea and a lengthy chat. You can begin to quiet your mind down by doing what Daido said (or by chanting or bowing or koan study, etc...), and when you do reach the point to where all these thoughts have been turned off (I use the word 'quiesce' or 'paused' or 'temporarily halted') THEN you will experience Buddha Nature - which is the direct experience of reality WITHOUT all the intellectual and emotional chatter going on. And basically that's it! Then it's just a matter of 'practicing' so you can keep all that chatter at an absolute minimum - not cease it permanently but only use it (your intellect/your rationality) when it's appropriate. Your intellect (logic/rationality) is just one of the many tools you have in your human tool bag and you shouldn't treat it like it is the only one. Like I've reminded people on this forum of the old saying which I apply to the intellect, "When all one has is a hammer, everything looks like a nail". I call all this intellectual chatter 'illusion' and I call only the direct experience of reality (Buddha Nature) 'real' - and that's where the major difference of opinion (or at least terminology) between Edgar and me - at least IMO. Enjoy...Bill! --- In [email protected], Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote: > > > > Â bill! yes i know the scoreboard..sometimes it's hard to turn off the mind > and experience non thought..and basically it's feelings that get me into a > knot...i get so many different feelings flooding me..from joy to utter > despair...all bubbling away like a volcano... this is what i find difficult > to turn that switch off..however i note in my study..i just let them pass as > they come and then they go like a log floating down a stream..am i on the > right track?..merle > > > Â > Merle, > > I agree with what Mike says below and would reinforce that in the statement > you quoted, 'you are your best teacher'... > > If 'you' means your self, your ego, your intellect, your dualistic, rational > mind - then it is definitely not your best teacher (for zen). > > But if 'you' means experience, Buddha Nature, the absence of ego, itellect, > dualism, etc... - then it is definitely your best teacher (for zen). > > ...Bill! > > --- In [email protected], uerusuboyo@ wrote: > > > > Merle,<br/><br/>Depends what you mean by "you". If 'you' means your ego, > > then absolutely not because the mind will colour things to suit itself. If > > by 'you' you mean reality, then absolutely yes! And by reality I mean the > > immediacy of direct experience. Buddha said, "Be a lamp unto yourself". > > Only you will know if the tea is hot or cold (remember that topic!). A > > teacher is only a guide and friend. Ultimately only you can workout your > > own salvation. <br/><br/>Mike<br/><br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPhone > > >
