Fukan-Zazengi 9: I Don't Think Therefore I Am.



Do not consider right and wrong. Stop the driving movement of mind, will, consciousness. Cease intellectual consideration through images, thoughts, and reflections.


When we look closely at it, we might find that we're very often (leading with our thoughts) trying to drive ourselves forward towards 'good' and away from 'bad'.

This can appear more obvious -- like we may be thinking about something nice that has happened to us, or imagining something that we'd like to happen to us -- or, strangely, we may be remembering something bad that happened to us because we can sometimes prefer the feelings that this evokes to the perceived emptiness or lack of identity/ lack of 'self' that comes with not imagining, thinking, reflecting...

This can all get quite subtle. Behind the layer of obvious thought (the 'voice in our head' that we may tend to identify with) there can be layers and clouds of whispy thoughts and intentions which seem to come and go of their own accord. We can become familiar with this, and after a while of sitting we can become aware around how we engage with these thoughts, and just stop it when we notice that we're doing it. That's the essence of the aspect of zazen that relates to thoughts and thinking.

When we stop engaging with all that mental activity it generally calms down and clarifies and we can see directly that we are not the thoughts and imaginings and attendant feelings that we may tend to identify with as our 'self'.

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