夢 | Yūmé | Dream
I've known many people who are fond of Anaïs Nin's, expression "We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are." In my experience it could be more accurate to say, we see and experience things as the thoughts tell us that they and we are. Well before Anaïs Nin, penning this expression, Shakyamuni Buddha is reported to have said "As we think, so we become."
What could this mean? That if we're not careful, we are a puppet to thoughts that randomly occur to us. Whatever the narration is, that's how we experience life. We can become so enamored with thoughts, holding on and being dragged by something that is insubstantial as a cloud it a vast blue sky; falsely assuming it to be the entire sky, collaborators in suffering.
Stepping on an airplane will cure us of this delusion, as it pierces the clouds, no matter how thick they are, soaring well above them. Once there we may not be able to see the ground. Does that mean the earth is gone and there's nowhere to land? Perspective is perspective. The Reality is consistent and obvious… our precious truth is subjective... personal... in The confines of our head not actual Reality. This is why everything that we know about the truth is subject to revision.
Zen practice is a kind a airplane for the mind. This is the reason it's an expression of self-care and being a healthy person. We are no-longer allow thoughts and selfing to dominate the sky like nature of who we authentically are.
Zazen is taking back and taking charge of the mind, and the movie projector that's playing it's narrative on the screen of mind. Some say that, "Zazen is stepping out of the dark movie theater of the mind. We're no longer hypnotized by what's playing on the screen of mind." Experientially, how was it possible for us to step out of a place where we've never been? No movement is occurring.
The mind could be playing tricks on us. How many times have we tried to explain something to someone only to hear them say, "I cannot see what you were seeing." Why is that? Is it because we're attempting to describe what's only in our mind, but not present in the reality?
The airplane of Zazen practice can wake us up from the dream and the actors role that the mind has convinced us... manipulated us... into playing like a ventriloquist doll for its benefit. It's Kind of like in the four agreements where it's described as a parasite/host relationship.
We could ask ourselves, how many characters or acting roles have so-called "i," played in this life, so far? Of all the things for people to worry about, it's strange that the last thing that occurs to many is wandering aimlessly through life, yet calling it purpose. We can chase a lot of different things... money, approval, sex, power, prestige, or the thing we gotta have that's going to cure our restlessness, irritability, disconnection and discontent... trying to win the proverbial lottery so to speak, for the rest of our life, as a deluded person.
There's an invitation to waking up for each of us. We could sit with alertness, breathing low and slow embodied, and notice thoughts coming and going all by themselves, experiencing their own temporary existence, as we realize it's just the mind playing "Hide and seek," with itself.
In the Diamond Sutra... the teaching so powerful it cuts through all delusion, the ending reads...
"Clearly see in this way of the fleeting world:As a star at dawn,a bubble in a stream,A dewdrop, a flash of lightningin a summer cloud,A flickering lamp, a phantom,and a dream."
Please confirm this for yourself. We could live as Buddha... universal identity of Loving Presence instead of as a ghost that's attempting to claim our genuine life.
一We All Share the Same Sky
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