Another translation of One Thought Traveller's articles.

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5b4d23f60102ea62.html

只管观呼吸去 (Only Care for Observing/Contemplating Breathing)

(2014-01-21 05:52:02)
观呼吸是一种简洁
而又有巨大意义和力量的普通且神奇之法,
坚持观察它,深入修行它,
必然如贫得宝,如暗遇明。

Contemplating/observing the breathe is a kind of concise/succinct/pithy
Dharma that is ordinary and miraculous yet able to have enormous significance and power
Persist in observing it, deeply practice it,
Then one will certainly be like a poor person obtaining a jewel, like darkness meeting brightness.

观呼吸,
初期只管观呼吸,
中期只管观呼吸,
后期只管观呼吸,
观呼吸如饮蜜,初、中、后皆甜。

Observing/contemplating the breath,
In the initial stage only being concerned with observing the breath,
In the middle stage only being concerned with observing the breath,
In the later stage only being concerned with observing the breath,
Observing the breath like drinking honey, (during the) initial, middle and late (phases) it is all sweet.

观呼吸,
呼吸进来了——这是事实,
呼吸出去了——这是事实,
这是长呼吸——这是实际,
这是短呼吸——这是实际……

Observing/contemplating breath,
Breathing in – this is factual/truth,
Breathing out – this is factual/truth,
This is long-breath – this is factual/truth,


观呼吸的要领是客观,
要不断地练习这种客观观察的能力,
直到从呼吸里见法,
直到从呼吸时见佛。

The gist of observing the breath is (being) objective,
Unceasingly practicing the capacity for this kind of objective observation,
Until (one) sees the Dharma from the breath,
Until (one) sees the Buddha from the breath,

藉借观呼吸,
可以修持定力,体会身心安定;
可以发展观慧,获得般若之眼;
可以了解和熟悉生命的不思议用,如佛菩萨一般生活。


Making use of observing the breath,
One is able to cultivate the strength of concentration, experience the tranquility of mind and body;
One is able to develop the wisdom of observation/contemplation, obtaining the eye of Prajna (wisdom);
One is able to understand and be familiar with the thoughtless functions of life, and live like the Buddhas and Bodhisattva.

……

客观的观察呼吸,
只有身体和呼吸,没有“我”;
客观的观察呼吸,
没有呼吸者,呼吸也如幻。


Objectively observing the breath,
Only the body and breath, no “self”;
Objectively observing breath,
There is no breather, breath is also illusion-like.

呼吸是身体的呼吸,
呼吸是呼吸自己的呼吸,
呼吸是诸法的共和,
呼吸是天地的和风……


Breath is body's breathing,
Breathing is breathing's own breathing,
Breathing is the coming together of various dharmas (phenomena),
Breathing is the sky, the earth and the wind...

身体自己在呼吸,像磨豆浆机自己在工作,
身体自己在呼吸,像电视自动在切换画面,
身体自己在呼吸,像唱片机自己在播放歌曲,
身体自己在呼吸,像天地的风自己在吹……


Body is breathing by itself, like the machine for grinding soy milk is working on its own,
Body is breathing by itself, like the TV is shifting images automatically,
Body is breathing by itself, like the record player is playing songs on its own,
Body is breathing by itself, like the wind of the sky and earth is blowing on its own...

从观呼吸,可以见法;
从观呼吸,可以见实相,
从观呼吸可以体会“无我”这个事实,
从观呼吸,见解和行证可以齐于诸佛。

From observing the breath, (one) is able to see the Dharma;
From observing the breath, (one) is able to see the Truth,
From observing the breath, (one) is able to realize the truth of “no self”,
From observing the breath, (one's) realization and accomplishment can reach the level of all Buddhas.


开始观呼吸,
各种念头会出来干扰你,
别理它,只管观呼吸去,
不停地回到观呼吸上,
直到心意清净,
直到体会到无我,
直到认识和理解生命的不思议用……


(While) beginning with observing the breath,
Various kinds of thoughts will disturb you,
Do not bother about them, only care for observing the breath,
Return to observing the breath without stopping,
Until mind and thoughts become tranquil,
Until realizing no-self,
Until recognizing and realizing the thoughtless functions of life...

不要小看观呼吸,
你想要的它都能给你。
它就像种一块无形的地,
你对它用心多深,
它就返还你多少。


Do not underestimate observing the breath,
Whatever you want it will give it to you,
It is like a piece of formless land,
Depending on how deeply you devote into it,

It will give returns to you accordingly.

早期不管发生什么,只管观呼吸去,
中期不管发生什么,只管观呼吸去,
后期不管发生什么,只管观呼吸去,
观呼吸是妙法,是大法,能深入之,
不但能洞察诸法根源,也能究竟解脱,真实不虚。


In the beginning phase no matter what happens, only care for observing breath,
In the middle phase no matter what happens, only care for observing breath,
In the late phase no matter what happens, only care for observing breath,
Observing breath is marvellous dharma, it is the great dharma, (those who) are able to deeply enter into this,
Not only is able to (obtain) insight into the root of all dharmas, (one) is also able to (attain) ultimate liberation, this is true without falsities.

只管观呼吸去!

Only care for observing breath!
Another one of my translations of One Thought Traveller's dharma articles.

From: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5b4d23f60102e9vy.html

从“觉”字上解脱

Liberating from the Word “Awareness”

(2013-12-19 11:21:25)

修觉的行者,
不要以为“觉”就是我,我就是“觉”;
分明向你道,
觉”不是我,我不是“觉”。

Practitioners of awareness,
Do not think that “Awareness” is Self, or that I am Awareness;
Let it be clearly said to you,
“Awareness” is not Self, Self is not “Awareness”.

首先,觉性无知,
觉不会说“我”,
说“我”的决不是“觉”。

First of all, Awareness is without knowledge.
Awareness will not say “I”,
(That which) says “I” is definitely not “Awareness”.

其次,“觉”相对于“梦”而有,
觉与梦,同根同源,
梦若有,觉亦有;
梦若无,觉亦无。

Secondly, “awareness” exists relative to “dream”,
Awareness and dream, same root and same source.
If there is dream, there is awareness.
If there isn't dream, there isn't awareness.

觉与梦,同质同地,
若说觉是真,梦也是真;
若说梦是假,觉也是假。

Awareness and dream, same nature and same ground.
If we say awareness is real, the dream is also real;
If we say the dream is unreal, awareness is also unreal.

分明向你道“无我”,
为何又要立个觉是“我”呢?
我亦无我,觉亦无我。

It is clearly said “no self”,
Why still establish that awareness is “self”?
Self is without self, awareness is without self.

修觉的行者,
不要守着“觉”不放,
守着觉不放,又成拴马橛,又成系驴桩。



Practitioners of awareness,
Do not guard onto “awareness” without letting go,
Guarding onto “awareness” without letting go, is becoming another hitching post for horses, becoming another hitching post for donkeys.

修觉的途中,
用“觉”觉动作、觉念头、觉呼吸,
觉感受,觉一切等,只是方便,
只是方法和工具,莫神话“觉”。



On the journey of practicing awareness,
Using “awareness” to be aware of actions, aware of thoughts, aware of breath,
Aware of feelings, aware of everything etc, that is only a convenient/skillful means,
It is only a method or a tool, do not mythologize “awareness”.

觉是梦幻般的,
它依旧符合法的本质——
无常、无我、不生,
如是看待“觉”。

Awareness is like a dream-illusion,
It still complies with the basic nature of dharmas ---
Impermanence, non-self, non-arising,
“Awareness” should be seen as such.

修觉的行者,
三界荡荡,无有一物可依、可倚,
莫作依倚想。



Practitioners of awareness,
(Within) the vast triple worlds, there is not a thing that can be relied on, that can be leaned on,
Do not fabricate thoughts of reliance or leaning.

若依倚一物——
不管那物叫“觉”、叫“心”或叫“佛性”等,
若依倚即入有无,即入生死,
即被系缚,不得解脱。



If we rely or lean on a single thing –
No matter if we call it “Awareness”, or call it “Mind” or call it “Buddha-Nature” etc,
If we rely on them we enter into existence and non-existence, we enter into birth and death,
We will thus be bonded, unable to attain liberation.

修觉的行者,
莫被“觉”系,
修觉者从“觉”字上解脱!

Practitioners of awareness,
Do not be tied by “Awareness”,
Practitioners of awareness liberate from the word “Awareness”!

Here's another one of my translations (among many) of the Chinese dharma articles by this author.

By One Though Traveler, 2013-12-14

Original article from: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5b4d23f60102e9u5.html




两处解脱,一种自由

Two Parts of Liberation, One Kind of Freedom




古往今来,十方佛子,随佛学法,无非谋求真实,出离苦海,为得解脱。所谓解脱,即解脱于一切能系、所系。解者解于幻,脱者脱于心。幻者是心幻,心者是幻心。所谓心幻即是法,幻心所生的产物,又名幻象;所谓幻心即是认取或抓着幻象的主体。


Throughout the ages, the Buddha's disciples of the ten directions study the dharma according to the Buddha with none other than the purpose of seeking the truth, escaping the sea of suffering for the purpose of obtaining liberation. That which is called liberation is the liberation from all 能系 (fabricator?) and 所系 (fabrication?). The unknoter unknots delusion, the sheder sheds mind (note: Chinese word of 'liberation' is 'unknot shed'). That which is deluded is mind-delusion, that which is mind is delusional mind. What is called mind delusion is dharma, the product of mind delusion is known as delusional appearance; that which is called deluded mind is the subject that recognizes or grasps onto delusional appearance.



因为有幻心所生的产物——幻象 (法),有生出幻象的主体——幻心,所以解脱也就有两处:所谓心解脱,法解脱。法解脱又名慧解脱。即解脱有两种,谓心解脱,慧解脱。所谓心解脱,即是心从 它一切旧有的习惯和对法尘的粘着中逃离;所谓慧解脱,即是认出一切法的真实本质,并从那个认知中出离。

Because there is the product of deluded mind – delusional appearance (dharma), and there is the subject that gave rise to delusional appearance – deluded mind, therefore liberation has two parts: mind-liberation and dharma-liberation. Dharma liberation is also called wisdom liberation. Liberation has two kinds, also known as mind liberation and wisdom liberation. What is known as mind liberation is the escape from all the old habits and adhesiveness towards dharma sense objects; what is known as wisdom liberation, is the recognition of the true essence of all dharmas, and thus escape/liberate from that recognition.

当认出心的本质,谓破掉心,又 名破掉“能”;当认出法的本质,谓破掉法,又名破掉“所”。破掉能,没有攀援的主体,故能于心处解脱;破掉所,没有所攀援的对象,故能于法处解脱。心解脱 者,认识到心非心,心无自性,心空;法解脱者,认识到法非法,法无自性,法空。解脱者以心空行于法空,究竟解脱。

When the mind's essence is recognised, it breaks away mind, also known as breaking the “subject”; when the true essence of dharma is recognized, it breaks away dharma, also known as breaking the “object”. Breaking away subject, there isn't a subject that grasps/seeks, hence there can be liberation of the mind; breaking away the object, there is no object of grasping/seeking, hence there can liberation of dharma. Those who are mind-liberated, recognize that mind is not mind, mind is devoid of self-nature, mind is empty; those who are dharma-liberated, recognizes that dharma is not dharma, dharma is devoid of self-nature, dharma is empty. Those who are liberated enters dharma emptiness from mind emptiness, attaining ultimate liberation.



修行者追求两处解脱、究竟解 脱,无非为获取一种自由,也只有一种自由,那就是,无法也无心的彻底的、绝对的自由。三世十方一切佛子谋求的就是这种自由。今日修行者也应当谋求这种自 由。为了达成这种自由,我们要:一致力于观心,二致力于观法。致力于观心,是基础,是前提;致力于观法是后续,是在这个基础上的更进一步。不行观心先行观 法的人,可能成为科学家但成不了解脱者;行于观心又行于观法的人,不但成为解脱者,还能成为最科学者。

The practitioner seeks for two kinds of liberation, the ultimate liberation, with none other than the purpose of obtaining one kind of freedom, and there is only one kind of freedom, which is, the absolute and complete freedom of no dharma and no mind. In order to reach this kind of freedom, we have to: 1) be dedicated to contemplating/observing mind, 2) be dedicated to contemplating/observing dharma. Being dedicated to contemplating mind is the foundation, it is the premise; being dedicate to contemplating/observing dharma is the follow-up, it is the further step of this foundation. The person who does not practice contemplating/observing the mind but first contemplates/observes the dharma, can possibly become a scientist but will not become a liberated person; the person who practices contemplating the mind and further practices contemplating the dharma, not only can become liberated, that person can also become a most scientific person.




观心达成的是心解脱,对付的是 烦恼障;观法达成的是慧解脱,对付的是所知障。当你突破烦恼障,你得心解脱;当你突破所知障,你得慧解脱。烦恼的有无,是心解脱的标志;所知惑的有无,慧 解脱的标志。检测有没有心解脱,看你还有没有烦恼;检测有没有慧解脱,看你还有没有知见上的困惑。实际上,彻底的心解脱的人包含了慧解脱,彻底的慧解脱的 人包含了心解脱。因为心和法,原本就是一,而非二。

Contemplating mind leads to the attainment of mind liberation, it deals with the obscuration of affliction/suffering*; contemplating dharmas lead to the attainment of wisdom liberation, it deals with knowledge obscuration*. When you overcome the obscuration of affliction/suffering, you obtain mind liberation; when you overcome the obscuration of knowledge, you attain wisdom liberation. The presence or absence of suffering is the sign of mind liberation; the presence or absence of the obscuration of knowledge is the sign of wisdom liberation, that is whether or not there is still the obscuration of views. In reality, the person who has thoroughly mind-liberated also contains wisdom-liberation, and the thoroughly wisdom-liberated person also contains mind-liberation. This is because mind and dharma, originally are one, not two.

因于解脱的上述两个目标或处 所,佛陀(解脱)的教法也大体分为两类:一曰小乘,二曰大乘。所谓小乘,谓致力于心解脱者,主要目标是彻底的灭除烦恼,现今南传佛教一派即是,它的教典多 是对身心现象的观察和认识方法。所谓大乘,谓致力于法解脱者,其目标是灭除一切法惑,即今北传佛教一派即是,它的教典多是对种种法的诠释。大乘小乘也可以 不将它看做两种派别,而是一个究竟解脱过程的两个阶段。

Due to the two goals as described above, the teachings of Buddha (liberation) has generally two kinds: 1) Hinayana 2) Mahayana. The so-called Hinayana are those that are dedicated on mind-liberation, with the main goal of thoroughly extinguishing suffering, currently the Southern Tradition (Theravada) is it, its scriptures deal with various methods of contemplating and recognizing the various mind-body phenomena. The so-called Mahayana consists of those that are dedicated on wisdom-liberation, and its main goal is to extinguish all obscurations of dharma. Currently the Northern Tradition is it, its scriptures are mostly dealing with various annotations on dharma. Mahayana and Hinayana can also be seen not as two different types of sects, but instead as a two-stage process towards ultimate liberation.

也可以这样说,佛教有两大任 务:一是人生观,二是世界观。所谓小乘,它的主要任务是“观人生”,解决的是人生观问题;所谓大乘,它的主要的任务是“观世界”,解决的是世界观问题。关 于人生观和世界观的问题,先解决人生观的问题,再解决世界观的问题。如果一人连他生命本身的问题都没解决,关注有关世界的问题变得很荒唐和无意义。也就 是,未明白“我”的人,别去思考世界;未搞定“我”的人,别去探索诸法。修行者先行心解脱,再行法解脱!

It can also be said in this way, Buddhism has two major tasks: 1) outlook of human life, 2) outlook of the world. Hinayana's main task is “contemplating human life”, it solves the problem on the outlook of human life; whereas Mahayana's main task is “contemplating the world”, it solves the problem of the outlook of the world. With regards to the outlook of human life and the outlook of the world, first we should resolve the problem of the outlook of human life, followed by the problem of the outlook of the world. If a person has not even solved the problems of his own life, it is ridiculous and meaningless to be concerned with the problems of the world. That is, those who have not understood “Self”, should not think about the world; those who have not sorted out the “Self”, should not explore the various dharmas. Practitioners should first practice freeing one's mind, then practice liberating the dharmas!

对我而言,小乘是心解脱的代名 词,大乘是法解脱的代名词;小乘是一批处理“心”问题的人,大乘是一批是处理“法”问题的人。小乘致力于人生观问题的解决,大乘致力于世界观问题的解决; 小乘是一批观察和思考人生的人,大乘是一批观察和思考世界的人。请完成你的小乘课,再完成大乘课。当你的小乘课完成得好,大乘的课不成问题,因为那是顺理 成章的事。学习佛陀教法的人,完成好这两门课。两处解脱,一种自由!

To me, Hinayana is synonymous with mind liberation, Mahayana is synonymous with dharma liberation; Hinayana is a batch of people dealing with the problems of “mind”, Mahayana is a batch of people dealing with the problems of “dharma”. Hinayana emphasizes solving the problems relating to the outlook of human life, whereas Mahayana emphasizes solving the problems relating to the oulook of the world. Please complete your Hinayana class, then finish up your Mahayana class. When you complete your Hinayana class well, Mahayana class will no longer be a problem, because that is the logical and coherent (course of things?). Those who are learning the Buddhadharma should complete these two classes. Two kinds of liberation, one type of freedom!

-----------

* Thrangu Rinpoche:

http://www.dharmadownload.net/pages/english/Natsok/0010_Teaching_English/Teaching_English_0097.htm

To attain liberation, we need to eliminate our obscurations, which is why we learn about them. The two main categories of obscurations are the obscuration of the defilements and the obscuration of knowledge.
 
(1) The obscuration of the defilements are all negative thoughts and emotions that arise in our mind, such as pride, miserliness, jealousy, stupidity, anger, maliciousness, and so on. The presence of these defilements impedes us from practicing the Dharma correctly. Our defilements prevent us from attaining liberation and from benefitting others. To achieve Buddhahood, we need to eliminate our obscuration of the defilements.
 
(2) The obscuration of knowledge does not pertain to obvious thoughts by means of which we create defilements, such as thoughts of anger and so on. Rather, it means being and becoming increasingly habituated to an attitude that contradicts and stands in opposition to the true nature of all inner and outer things.
 
We have the innate tendency to think that appearances and experiences have a true existence, whereby “true” in this context means ‘independent.’ This innate tendency consists of three aspects that are spontaneously present while we are engaged in activities. The three aspects are: (a) Believing in the true existence of the subject, i.e., “our self”; (b) believing in the true existence of the object upon which we carry out an action; and (c) believing in the true existence of the action itself. Believing in and being attached to these three aspects of the obscuration of knowledge prevent us from attaining realisation of the actual nature of all inner and outer phenomena. They need to be overcome so that the obscuration of knowledge is eliminated.

http://www.wwzc.org/dharma-text/touchstone-6-not-tourist

The Touchstone 6: Not a Tourist


by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho-ajari

Dainen-ji, August 24th, 2013

The breath is always immediate, simple, direct. This is why it is the touchstone for mindfulness. It is something you can open to anywhere, at any time, for as long as you are breathing. It's not even really something you "do". The breath is already going on and all that is needed is for you to release attention from the ways in which it is usually bound, in patterns of contraction and recoil, and attention can just open to it. Simply. Directly.

And the touchstone of mindfulness of the breath is a path to greater and vaster simplicity. Let go not only of what attention seemed to be bound within. Let go not only of the habits of discursive thought and daydreams; let go also of the strategies of attention of being someone who is being mindful of the breath. Let it be just the breath breathing the breath, in just this moment. Let mindfulness be mindful.

If there is the sense that you are watching the breath from above it, from somewhere up behind the eyes viewing down, you've taken up the stance of an 'observer'. When this happens, you're not entering fully into your practice. The 'observer' has little discrimination. Watching is watching, whether it's watching thoughts, watching feeling tones, watching theories, ideas, concepts, about this or that, watching the breath. It doesn't really matter to it what it's watching providing it gets to watch, because as long as it's just watching it doesn't have to really do anything. It doesn't have to take any responsibility, it doesn't have to engage in what is going on at all. It can seem to be quite removed from what is really going on, free to maintain whatever agendas it views as important while ignoring almost everything that is really going on around it. A tourist.

This is a quote from the Fukanzazengi: How Everyone Can Sit by Eihei Dogen zenji:

In this and all other worlds, in India or in China, every place is marked by the seal of Awake Awareness. Upholding the essence of this Way, devote yourself to zazen, completely do zazen. You might hear about ten thousand ways to practise but just be complete and sit. What's the point of giving up your seat to go wandering around in dusty lands and countries? Take a wrong step and you'll miss what's there.
You've got what you need, the treasure of this body and birth, so don't waste your time. Keep to this as the basis of the Way of Awake Awareness. Don't be attracted by just a spark from the flint. Anyway, your body is like dew on the grass, your life a flash of lightning; vain for a moment and then vanished in an instant.

You who are in this excellent Lineage of Zen, don't blindly grope only a part of the elephant or fear the true dragon. Put all of yourself into this Way which directly presents your own nature. Be grateful to those who have come before and have done what was to be done. Align yourself with the enlightenment of the Awakened Ones and take your place in this Samadhi-Lineage. Practice in this way and you'll be what they are. The doors of the treasure house will fall open for you to do with as you will.
We miss so much of our lives through being inattentive. As the Gokan No Ge, the traditional Five Remembrances Meal Chant, says, Delusions are many, attention wanders. No matter where you are, no matter the circumstances you find yourself in, if you are not attending to experiencing, if you are not questioning into the nature of experiencing, you are missing most of what is really going on.

A tourist doesn't gain real insight into the experiences of people living in other lands and countries. They skim the surface of experiencing, noticing only the coarsest details. People will often say they want to travel to this place or that because they want to experience a different culture. You can't experience a different culture unless you live within that culture for many years, forming relationships and interacting with people, speaking their language, eating their food, reading their books, listening to their music, engaging in all of the details within that culture to take on its characteristics so thoroughly that you know it inside out. That is understanding another culture. Anything else is just being a tourist.

Being a tourist in one's own life is one of the characteristics of self-image. Self-image is very concerned with how things appear to be so the most superficial details will tend to stand out. We learn to dress according to what we think is our 'part', we learn to speak our 'part', play our 'part', fit in. It's really not comfortable and we tend to complain a lot, but we don't really have any better ideas about how to go about it all so we go along with it. But if there is a glimmer of real questioning within all of this, eventually we may find ourselves sitting on a zafu, facing a blank white wall, coming back to the touchstone of the breath, in order to question further into what it is that we are really experiencing - past the expectations and associations and assumptions that make up so much of what we think of as 'our lives'.

When you come to the monastery to attend a sitting once a week as an associate student or perhaps a few times a week as a general student, it's easy to forget that practice isn't just about the round and a half of sitting you do in the Hatto or the Zendo. It's about the WHOLE of your life. What you see while sitting in zazen is how your attention tends to move towards and away from whatever is noticed - a thought, a feeling, someone on the other side of the room coughing; the sound of a bird, the breath, back to a thought, an itch, a reaction to the itch, a reaction to the reaction. And on and on. Attention waxes and wanes, closes down with contraction, opens, sinks, opens, sinks again and you fall asleep. And then you're wide awake, feeling the breath for a moment, then lost in thought. And so it goes, throughout the round just as it does all of the rest of the time, through all of your waking and sleeping hours. But the difference between what is going on when you are sitting zazen and what is going on for the rest of the hours in your day is that if you are making an effort in your practice, that effort is to be more intentional about how your attention is moving.

Now, when I say "that effort is to be more intentional about how your attention is moving" this doesn't mean that being intentional means directing, aiming or focusing attention. The intention that is needed is to release attention from exactly that directing, aiming and focusing you engage in most of the time. The intention is to release attention into reality, beginning with the simplicity of the breath. And by 'reality', in this context I mean simply something that is going on, something you can verify through your actual experience. You are breathing. That is unarguably true. So we start with something that is very simple and completely true. We come back to the touchstone of the breath as a starting point from which we can open to more of what is true of our experiencing. We are breathing, but we are also experiencing the sensations of the whole bodymind sitting. Those sensations are not something we make happen, they are already going on. All that we need to do is let go of continuously distracting ourselves with thoughts and feelings and release attention into the breath and the sensations of the body. The bodymind is also seeing. You can see the white of the wall. That is unarguably true. You are hearing the sound of my voice, the pauses between the words I speak.

These sensations, this breath, these sounds and colours and forms, the experience of the bodymind and the space in which the bodymind arises - this is your life. You are not a tourist, visiting temporarily to have some kind of special experience. The practice of your life is the practise of whole bodymind in this moment, just as it is. You've heard the expression Progress into the ordinary? Well this is what it means.

Tourists like to watch other people's lives. They like to just pass through without having to do anything. They pick and choose the kind of experiences they think they want to have, living temporarily in a kind of bubble that floats above 'ordinary' life which allows them to watch what is going on and interact with it as little as possible.

This is just like the sense of being a watcher that can obstruct true mindfulness. It is like just being a tourist in the land of Zen.

A point of interest about the 'watcher' is that it likes to believe that it is being very subtle, very covert. It's as though it were back and away from what is going on, off at a safe distance from which it can observe and generate various judgments and notions about what seems to be going on. All by itself, all very secretive. Sometimes people will refer to the movements of contracted attention that are really what this observer is, as their "innermost thoughts and feelings".

But through the process of mindfulness practice, one begins to realize that in fact there is no 'inside' or 'outside' and the appearance of a secretive "self" or "me" who is at the center of experience watching and making judgments is nothing more than the self-image attempting to set itself up as a 'knower', a voyeur, a tourist just passing through, who watches, makes judgments, but never really engages in anything that is actually going on. Because it doesn't really considers itself part of what is going on.

Now sometimes the observer will show up as that thing that seems to be looking over your shoulder making judgments about everything you do. "You shouldn't have said that, you sound like an idiot". Sometimes it will do replays of events that occurred previously, echoing them back to you over and over again, re-writing what you should have said or should have done. It likes to pretend it's much more intelligent than the rest of you is, much more worldly. But it's only AFTER the fact that it has anything to say. And that is a dead give-away. There's actually nobody inside of that thing that's doing the observing, no entity that is more intelligent or more knowing than you are the rest of the time.

For many people, taking up the contracted stance of an 'observer' is so habitual that they don't realize they are doing this most of the time. It comes up in dokusan, daisan and practice interviews with students quite frequently. An extreme example of this would be when a student is facing the Teacher or a practice advisor waiting for some kind of 'big' experience. Like a tourist waiting to be entertained.

I was an associate student when I first started having dokusan with the Roshi and I used to get into quite a lot of this in the beginning. I used to sit opposite him and as he spoke I would be coming up with all kinds of thoughts and opinions about what he was saying and how he was saying it and what it all meant about me and how I felt about it, whether I agreed with it, how it fit into what I thought I already understood, and on and on and on. All from up behind the eyes, in 'secret'.

What I didn't realize at first was that he was seeing all of this.

I don't mean that he was reading my mind or anything like that. Reading other people's minds even if it were possible would be very rude so he wouldn't do that. No, it was simply that he could see how my attention was. When attention is more open that is quite obvious. When it is contracted, that is quite obvious. Different kinds of contraction generate different kinds of textures that can be felt. And how a student responds or doesn't respond shows quite clearly how willing they are to be exposed to and and by the process of practice. Again and again and in so many ways the Roshi invited me to come out from my hiding places to meet with him and receive the Dharma. In some of my other Dharma Talks I've provided a few glimpses of exchanges I've had with the Roshi. Sometimes they were very uncomfortable; sometimes he could be quite fierce; sometimes very kind; but always in speech and action, through example, what I was being shown was the Dharma. I remember on one occasion a particularly snippy comment I made, which was I'm not learning anything. The Roshi responded simply by saying I am Teaching you, moment after moment in how I am. Pay attention.
The great debt of gratitude I owe my Teacher can never be repaid.

When you are called for daisan or a practice interview, the first question you are usually asked is How is your practice? This is first and foremost a reminder to practice, to really make use of the opportunity to meet with a monastic. A practice interview or daisan is meeting with the mind of practice. So it is about speaking from your practice, about your practice. Other topics may come up about your life or your activities outside of the monastery, but these are only relevant at all if the reason you are bringing them up is to clarify how you can practise with them. If you bring up something like your relationship with your husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend or work concerns or health concerns or the state of the universe, there is nothing a monastic really has to say about any of this unless you are speaking about it from the mind of practice, with the intention to practice with the reactivity that comes up about it. It's important to understand that your practice is your life. Your life is not your practice, not unless you're practising with it. Difficulties you may experience in your life would be going on whether you were practising or not. They don't come up because you're practising. And what a Dharma Teacher or practice advisor can offer you in the way of advice about these is to really allow mindfulness to inform your decisions; to practise as continuously as possible. That is what we do; that is what we are trained to do; that is what we are here for and that is what we have to offer you.

In the teisho series, Entering Completely: Commentaries on Bodhidharma's "Two Entries and Four Practicesby Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi:

A thought comes up, and we think that we have thought it, even though we don't know where that thought has come from, or where it goes. We pretend that we have thought the thought. We pretend that we are the thinker. And we are coloured by the contents of that thought, as we propagate the next thought, and the next thought, and the next thought, and continue this game of dancing around pretending that we are the thinker, pretending that we are the contents of the thoughts. We bind our experiences together into lumps and heaps, into piles of junk.

We get up in the morning, and once we get over that moment of panic of the first opening our eyes and realizing that there's a world there, and we collect together all of our thoughts and feelings for the day. We start to ramble around inside of our head, feeling a grudge about this, feeling anxious about that. We wake up in our usual bed, in our usual way, get out of bed into our usual room, and wander around through our usual world for the day, looking for some kind of satisfaction someplace, something interesting to happen to cut through this usualness, this pettiness. Desperately searching for something to make us happy, or at least give us some sense of being alive.

And yet, things are not bound together, nor are you tied. Sounds come and go. Thoughts come and go. The world comes and goes over and over and over again. When a thought comes up it is instantly gone. It is impossible for you to hold onto a thought. It is impossible for you to hold on to a sound. It is impossible to find any place to hold on, let alone to be able to pile things up in ugly heaps.

The world is not usual. The world is amazing. The world exerts itself as world, simply for the fun of it. In our search for something to make us happy, we pass over this basic joyfulness that is existence. And so the reason it is not manifest is only due to being wrapped in external objects and deluded views. We have a deluded view if we think that the world is the same moment after moment. We have a deluded view if we think that we can hold onto anything. We have a deluded view if we think that we are anything at all. We have a deluded view if we believe in time and space and body and mind and self and other. We have a deluded view if we think that we have to become Buddha. We have a deluded view if we think that we are not Buddha. We wrap ourselves in external objects when we hope that something will make us happy. Wrapping ourselves in external objects does not just mean collecting cars, and houses, and mink coats. Giving up wrapping ourselves in external objects is not as easy as selling your property and going off to live in a cave. Ceasing to wrap oneself in external objects means to come out into the open, to stop hiding, and to come out and play.
Practise the simplicity and honesty of opening attention to things just as they are. Release the strategies self-image entangles you in by coming back to the touchstone of the breath. Do this as much as you are able while sitting in zazen and then follow through and practise mindful speech while meeting with monastics in daisan and interviews. And beyond that, practise this simplicity as often as possible the rest of the time too. You're not a tourist in your life or in the monastery or in your practice and this is not some 'spiffy Zen thing' you do now and then. This practice IS the practice of your life as it really is, beyond your ideas and interpretations about it. And as the Roshi would say, Please, enjoy yourself.

In deep contemplation, it can become apparent in direct experience and insight that all appearances are merely appearances, nothing arising or staying or ceasing... there is no actual birth of anything. Just like no matter what images appear on the movie or in a dream it will never amount to anything more than an appearance, without anything that truly come into existence. This is different from resolving non-arising through being-time. Lastly it is not that things are mental projections but that they are dependent arising.. what dependently originates is empty and nonarising appearance... momentary suchness, but still as vivid.

It is with some reluctance that I'm sharing this... I'm afraid that writing this might be a disservice to readers. I shall refrain from posting and discussing further about this. I do not wish this to become merely something to talk about, it has to be seen in direct taste and insight... so that one knows what the experience is like and what the realization is. Spouting big words or philosophizing about this do not mean anything.

"Here is the essential meaning of resolution in openness:
Coming from nowhere, abiding nowhere and going nowhere,
External events, unoriginated visions in empty space, are ineffable;
Internal events, arising and releasing simultaneously,
Like a bird's flight-path in the sky, are inscrutable."

Longchenpa
Piotr Ludwiński wrote:

You think that you liberate
play of luminous form
from "who/what/where/when/how/why" cage
you have yourself created...

But luminous form...

Luminous form
Does not appear on it's own
Does not abide on it's own
Does not cease on it's own

Luminous form
Does not alternate between absence and presence

Neither by it's own power
Nor by power of another luminous form
Does it switch from absence to presence
And again from presence to absence

How could luminous form be pinned down?
How could "it" arise?
How could "it" abide?
How could "it" cease?

By cutting branches
but leaving root in tact
you will never realize suchness
you ignorant fool!

You might have
realized that "seer seeing seen" is mistake
and have seen through
agent and his action

But isn't expression
"it appears here and now"
exactly same mistake
you are repeating again?

You have taken out your hands out of dirt
But why do still you stand on two legs in it?

You might have
seen through universal and individual agent
but now why do you make
infinite agents as infinite luminous forms?

For luminous form
to alternate between presence and absence
to appear or disappear
is to pin down luminous form as agent who does something

Free yourself from
the seer who sees

Free yourself from
it that appears

Again and again
look at your mind

See that time and space
Are also dreams dependent
on your three-fold dream
of subject, action and object!

~ from me to myself!
---------

Firstfold emptying: subjective universal/individual agency

- active agent "Seer sees", "doer does", "choicer choices", "controller controls", "coordinator coordinates", "that which appears as everything"
- inactive agent "background against which appearances arise", "substance out of which appearances are made of"

result: non-action, non-duality, no global source/substance

quote: "Then, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train yourself. When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bāhiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress." Gautama Buddha, Ud 1.10

Secondfold emptying: objective agency

- active agents "appearances arising/abiding/ceasing by their own power"
- inactive agents "appearances arise/abide/cease by the power of other"

result: interconnectedness, non-arising

quote: "Neither from itself nor from another,
Nor from both,
Nor without a cause,
Does anything whatever, anywhere arise. " Nagarjuna, MMK 1.1

Twofold emptying: no subjective and no objective agency
- subject is empty
- action is empty
- object is empty
- time is empty
- space is empty

result: emptiness/clarity inseparable
quote1: ""Thus, monks, the Tathagata, when seeing what is to be seen, doesn't construe an [object as] seen. He doesn't construe an unseen. He doesn't construe an [object] to-be-seen. He doesn't construe a seer.

"When hearing...

"When sensing...

"When cognizing what is to be cognized, he doesn't construe an [object as] cognized. He doesn't construe an uncognized. He doesn't construe an [object] to-be-cognized. He doesn't construe a cognizer.

Thus, monks, the Tathagata — being the same with regard to all phenomena that can be seen, heard, sensed, & cognized — is 'Such.' And I tell you: There's no other 'Such' higher or more sublime." Gautama Buddha, An 4.24

quote2:'
"When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara."

"Was Coursing in the Deep Prajna Paramita."

"He Perceived That All Five Skandhas Are Empty."

"Thus He Overcame All Ills and Suffering."

"Oh, Sariputra, Form Does not Differ From the Void,
And the Void Does Not Differ From Form.
Form is Void and Void is Form;
The Same is True For Feelings,
Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness."

"Sariputra, the Characteristics of the
Voidness of All Dharmas
Are Non-Arising, Non-Ceasing, Non-Defiled,
Non-Pure, Non-Increasing, Non-Decreasing."

"Therefore, in the Void There Are No Forms,
No Feelings, Perceptions, Volitions or Consciousness."

"No Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body or Mind;
No Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch or Mind Object;
No Realm of the Eye,
Until We Come to No realm of Consciousness."

"No ignorance and Also No Ending of Ignorance,
Until We Come to No Old Age and Death and
No Ending of Old Age and Death."

"Also, There is No Truth of Suffering,
Of the Cause of Suffering,
Of the Cessation of Suffering, Nor of the Path."

"There is No Wisdom, and There is No Attainment Whatsoever."

"Because There is Nothing to Be Attained,
The Bodhisattva Relying On Prajna Paramita Has
No Obstruction in His Mind."
[Commentary on above text]

"Because There is No Obstruction, He Has no Fear,"

"And He passes Far Beyond Confused Imagination."

"And Reaches Ultimate Nirvana."

"The Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future,
By Relying on Prajna Paramita
Have Attained Supreme Enlightenment."

"Therefore, the Prajna Paramita is the Great Magic Spell,
The Spell of Illumination, the Supreme Spell,
Which Can Truly Protect One From All Suffering Without Fail."

"Therefore He Uttered the Spell of Prajnaparmita,
Saying Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha." Heart Sutra