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Do not concern yourself with anything;\nFix the mind nowhere.
\nFixing the mind nowhere,
\nLimitless brightness shows itself.<\/p>\n
Do not concern yourself with anything;
\nFix the mind nowhere.
\nFixing the mind nowhere,
\nLimitless brightness shows itself.<\/p>\n
(from \u201cSong of the Mind\u201d 6th<\/sup> century C.E., by Niutou Farong, \u201cXin ming\u201d, tr. Master Sheng Yen)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What does it mean, to \u201cfix the mind nowhere\u201d?<\/p>\n Koun Franz, Zen teacher and editor for \u201cLions Roar\u201d, spoke about an instruction frequently given to beginners in Zen meditation: \u00a0\u201cplace the mind here\u201d.\u00a0 That instruction, he said, can have two meanings\u2014either to set up a focus of attention on a particular location in space, or alternatively, to allow the base of consciousness to shift to a particular location in space.\u00a0 According to Franz, \u201cmind\u201d as the base of consciousness can indeed shift to a particular location in space, but the shift cannot be made to happen; it\u2019s an exercise in letting go, he said.<\/p>\n I\u2019d say that the line \u201cfix the mind nowhere\u201d is advice to allow the movement of mind that koun Franz described.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve written about how the mind can move just before falling asleep, and how the best time to observe the phenomena is in the middle of the night.\u00a0 Several people have reported to me that as they returned to sleep, they experienced their self-awareness at a certain place in their body, and as the place shifted from one location to another, they fell asleep. One person reported a similar experience of dropping into the location of self-awareness in the daytime, and he said it gave him a feeling of peace.<\/p>\n Gautama the Buddha referred to \u201cone-pointedness of mind\u201d in his sermons, and I would contend that what he meant was precisely the experience of self-awareness at a particular location in space, a location that may shift but that remains singular.<\/p>\n \u201cOne-pointedness of mind\u201d was apparently a commonly understood phrase in Gautama\u2019s day. Such phrases can be difficult to translate, according to I. B. Horner, the Pali Text Society translator of the Middle-Length Sayings:<\/p>\n This is an example of the allusiveness of the Pali texts.\u00a0 It does not detract from their precision, but only shows it is we who must find the key to what at one time was probably obvious and well understood.<\/p>\n (\u201cTranslator\u2019s Introduction\u201d, Pali Text Society MN III p xxi)<\/p>\n Dogen, the founder of the Soto Zen school in Japan, said that \u201cbody and mind dropped off is the beginning of our effort\u201d (Eihei Koroku #501, Leighton and Okumura*). \u00a0Dogen explained what he meant by \u201cbody and mind dropped off\u201d:<\/p>\n An ancient master said, \u201cAt the top of a hundred-foot pole, advance one step further.\u201d<\/p>\n This means you should have the attitude of someone who, at the top of a hundred foot pole, lets go of both hands and feet; in other words, you must cast aside body and mind.<\/p>\n (Shobogenzo-zuimonki, 5-20, tr. Shohaku Okumura, 2004 Shotoshu Shumucho p 191)<\/p>\n Dogen does not say to let go of the pole, but rather to let go of both hands and feet.\u00a0 To let go of the hands and feet is to cease any willful activity with the hands and feet.\u00a0 To \u201ccast aside body and mind\u201d implies similarly abandoning any willful activity with the body and mind.<\/p>\n Dogen intimates by his imagery that gravity enters into the picture (\u201cbody and mind dropped off\u201d, \u201csomeone who, at the top of a hundred-foot pole, lets go\u2026\u201d). Likewise koun Franz, in his explanation of the second meaning of \u201cplace the mind here\u201d, pointed to the center of gravity as a place that the base of consciousness, or \u201cmind\u201d, might relocate.<\/p>\n \u201cBody and mind dropped off is the beginning of our effort\u201d, said Dogen. \u201cMaking self-surrender the object of thought, one lays hold of concentration, one lays hold of one-pointedness of mind\u201d, said Gautama.\u00a0 Both men pointed to the relinquishment of volitive activity as the prerequisite of concentration.<\/p>\n Dogen emphasized the practice of zazen, literally \u201cseated Zen\u201d. Wikipedia describes the derivation of the word \u201cZen\u201d as follows:<\/p>\n The term Zen is derived from the\u00a0Japanese\u00a0pronunciation of the\u00a0Middle Chinese\u00a0word ch\u00e1n, an abbreviation of ch\u00e1nn\u00e0, which is a Chinese transliteration of the\u00a0Sanskrit\u00a0word dhy\u0101na\u00a0(“meditation”).<\/p>\n Yogapedia provides a definition of \u201cdhyana\u201d based on the Sanskrit roots of the word:<\/p>\n Dhyana is a Sanskrit word meaning “meditation.” It is derived from the root words, dhi, meaning \u201creceptacle\u201d or \u201cthe mind\u201d; and yana, meaning \u201cmoving\u201d or \u201cgoing.\u201d<\/p>\n (dhyana, dec. 9 2017, “Yogapedia”, authorship not ascribed;\u00a0https:\/\/www.yogapedia.com\/definition\/5284\/dhyana<\/a>)<\/p>\n Dhyana could therefore be said to translate literally\u00a0as “mind moving”.<\/p>\n The sixth patriarch of Zen in China pointed directly to the mind moving, in a case from the \u201cGateless Gate\u201d collection:<\/p>\n Not the Wind, Not the Flag<\/p>\n Two monks were arguing about a flag. One said: “The flag is moving.”<\/p>\n The other said: “The wind is moving.”<\/p>\n The sixth patriarch happened to be passing by. He told them: “Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving.”<\/p>\n Mumon’s comment:\u00a0The sixth patriarch said: “The wind is not moving, the flag is not moving. Mind is moving.” What did he mean? If you understand this intimately, you will see the two monks there trying to buy iron and gaining gold. The sixth patriarch could not bear to see those two dull heads, so he made such a bargain.<\/p>\n Wind, flag, mind moves, (The Gateless Gate, by Ekai (called Mu-mon), tr. Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps [1934], at sacred-texts.com)<\/p>\n I used to think the sixth patriarch was talking about the relationship of “mind” to the weather, something like the ability of shamans the world over to affect the weather in their vicinity.\u00a0 Black Elk stood on a butte in the Bad Lands and told his companions that they might see a sign in the weather, and sure enough a storm came up out of nowhere.\u00a0 A healer of the California Kashima tribe predicted lightning upon her own demise, and members of the tribe testified to the occurrence of red, rolling lightning outside the tribal round house when she passed.<\/p>\n Ekai claims that the sixth patriarch said:\u00a0 \u201cthe flag is not moving, the wind is not moving\u201d.\u00a0 He\u2019s putting words in the mouth of the Sixth Patriarch, there.\u00a0 To me, what the sixth patriarch said was, pay attention to the singularity of self-awareness that moves, not to the flag or the wind.<\/p>\n Ekai says, “if you understand this intimately”.\u00a0 To understand intimately is to experience movement in the location of self-awareness, of mind, for oneself.\u00a0 To understand in words without experience falls short (“when the mouth opens, all are wrong”).<\/p>\n For me, it\u2019s a lot like falling asleep.\u00a0 I have to let myself breathe–relax, calm down, let go of thoughts, and realize some presence of mind.\u00a0 As the senses locate the presence of mind, particularly the senses concerned with balance, the location of mind may move.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nThe same understanding.
\nWhen the mouth opens
\nAll are wrong.<\/p>\n