As one looks again and again at the unseeable mind,
And sees vividly exactly why one sees nothing,
Doubts about the meaning of “is” and “isn’t” are erased.
Without confusion, may my own face know itself.
Commentary
Of the many possible approaches, the one described here is to examine how
mind is, not through analysis or deduction, but through careful looking with
intense attention at how mind is. This examination is akin to how a bird-watcher looks at a bird. If he views the bird from too far away, he is unable to see the details of the bird’s markings, hear the sound of its song, or see how it moves or flies. If he comes too close to the bird, the bird takes fright and flies away. A skillful bird-watcher will set up at a distance that allows close examination, often with the help of binoculars, and then stays very quiet as he or she looks carefully at the bird.
In this kind of practice, we are directing attention to what we experience, not
to what we think is there. A good place to start is a simple thought. When we
look at the arising, abiding, and dissolution of a thought, we see that it is a
movement of mind. No analysis, inference, or deduction. We look, and we see. Single thoughts do not introduce much distortion in our experience, but with a train of thoughts, it is easy to lose track of watching, and fall into thinking. Feelings and emotions are more like waves, but they are still waves of the mind. They tend to distort our experience more than thoughts because they are more powerful movements. Sensory sensations are also movements of mind, but because they are strongly associated with a pattern of perception of “something out there,” it’s often a bit more difficult to experience the arising of shape and color as movement of mind. This varies a lot from person to person, of course, but that is generally the case.
When we look at nothing, our whole system reacts. It scrambles to fill the
void. Thoughts, feelings, and sensations, particularly physical sensations, flood us, and we fall into confusion. But if like the bird-watcher, we keep a certain distance, we may find that we can look at mind and rest for a moment or two in seeing nothing. Thus, mind is not a mind. There is no thing there. Again there is the experience of mind, of knowing, but there is nothing behind it. It is empty.
But we are not dead! Something is going on. Again, if you stay quiet like the
bird-watcher and don’t start thinking things out or trying to understand, you
may notice two points. First, in that looking at nothing, there is an empty
knowing. Second, in that empty knowing experience arises and nothing blocks it. Whatever we experience, there it is. Empty and immediate, mind can arise as any kind of experience.
Our friend the bird-watcher cuts assumptions about the bird by looking at the bird carefully. She does not take a bird guide as the ultimate authority on the bird. She takes the bird itself. In the same way, we look at our mind, note what we see, and take it in as deeply as possible. This is how you cut assumptions and build your understanding and ability to see and know mind directly.