Recently, a curious child asked a curious question during a talk.
Child: What are you doing?
Takuin: Speaking.
Child: No, I know that. I mean what do you do?
Takuin: I remind people to look.
Child: What does that mean?
Takuin: (pointing up) Do you see those clouds?
Child: Yes.
Takuin: Most adults cannot see them.
Child: How come?
Takuin: When they should be looking, they are instead thinking.
Child: ... (looking)
Takuin: I remind them to just look.
14 comments, since May
I. Love. This.
Just... yes!
Thank. You. BC.
;-)
Thank you very much, Integral Monastery.
Beautiful! When I should be looking, I am just thinking. That's so true.
Hi Takuin,
Thanks for putting it so clearly. It's quite easy to get entangled in thought, 'ego' (poor old ego) and the resultant fear. So easy, in fact, that one trips up, falls flat, and then wonders why one is in so much pain.... :)
Yes my question was about ''leaving the room cleaner''. Since every action is likely to create reverberations one needs to be quite careful on how to act, or not act. Therefore action, whatever form it takes - whether it is anger, kindness, wisdom, neutrality, humor - needs to be clear, unattached, focused, immediate and, most likely, spontaneous...therefore unpredictable.
Does this form of action arise from compassion? From appreciating the other's humanity (whether one likes it or not)?
Thanks, Ju.
If you are clear, and if there is injustice and suffering, you will act. It is not very complicated, although we tend to make it so.
As long as you live, expressing yourself through a physical body in a physical world, there will always be a choice. Always an action. It is not good or bad, but it is the truth. Forget about what you might have been told that your physical self is an illusion or whatever it is gurus are fond of saying. As long as there is the physical, maneuvering itself through the physical, there will be choice, action, all of that.
Your main question, regarding the above, is how can you move so that peace is your wake? How might you leave the room cleaner than it was when you entered? Just remember, you can always improve the life of someone, somewhere.
But let's be clear; it is not choice or action based on preference. Not a thought driven, self-aggrandizing thing. It is like seeing a poisonous snake in the road. You see it and you jump away. You don't think of how awful it is that a dangerous snake is in the road and how sad your family will be if it bites you and then who might show up at your funeral once you are dead and how long it will take your lover to move on to someone new and how long it will take before no living soul has any memory of you whatsoever. You just move. You act.
;-)
Thank you, A.
;-)
Hi Takuin,
I value what u said about looking. It is a sane piece of advice.
But how does one apply it to situations which aren't neutral, for instance injustice or suffering, or even success and joy? How does one look at these things and not want to think and act?
Thanks, Ju.
"Does this form of action arise from compassion?"
If it is as you've described, then that action IS compassion. Not that one arises from the other, although it may appear that way from the outside.
We just do our best. It is not because we want to get something out of it, or we want to be applauded or recognized, rewarded, or otherwise thought of as compassionate people. All of that will just drag us down like a boat anchor. If we hope for the reward, we'll always be waiting. Best to move on with our lives instead of waiting around for the right person to praise us.
Thank you, Whitaker. And quite true...
Very good. Our eyes are the greatest tools we have.
Oh Takuin, you make it look so easy. ;-)
The timing of this post is perfect for me, as many people have been telling me lately, “It’s simple, don’t think, just look, the way you would look at any object…” But when I look up at the sky, there is a physical movement to see a physical thing. But looking within seems to imply a shift in attention that is apparently beyond control.
In my experience, there seem to be brief moments of seeing, but they are rare. There may be an insight that there is no entity here pulling the strings, merely a process—the process of life, uncontrolled by anyone.
But this quickly fades, and most of the time there is confusion and distraction. And I can find no one here who controls whether the distracting thoughts are believed or seen through. Which leads to a sense of powerlessness. Even if there is no one there to be powerless, still the question remains—what can be done to see the truth?
When you say to look, who or what are you talking to?
If looking is already happening, as they say, then why do all my attempts to notice this come to nothing but more distraction and confusion and physical/emotional tension? And how can all of these experiences be seen for what they are if there is no way to make the seeing happen?
These may be pointless, over-asked questions, but this is honestly where I am stuck right now.
Thank you, Sarah.
"Even if there is no one there to be powerless, still the question remains—what can be done to see the truth?"
I think you already have a suspicion where this question might lead. Let it lead you, and forget about what all the teachers say.
"When you say to look, who or what are you talking to?"
We talk to what, and not to who.
"If looking is already happening, as they say, then why do all my attempts to notice this come to nothing but more distraction and confusion and physical/emotional tension?"
Perhaps they are not telling you the truth. The description of another may only bring you confusion. You might do best to explore without their burdens...you have enough of your own.
"And how can all of these experiences be seen for what they are if there is no way to make the seeing happen?"
That is it, right there. You've got it.
You can understand it, intellectually. But can you live it?