Nature wants us to be alone with her when we decide to go on a spiritual quest. I know it sounds rather odd to be saying this, but it is true. Something in your heart changes, so as to open up, when you are finally able to be alone in some small cabin or a run down old house, that is miles away from the nearest human other than yourself. Only then does nature find you. At this point magic begins to happen, magic in the sense of understanding things you never thought possible. Maybe it is because there is little if any interference to block the natural spiritual aether. I don’t really know—but a difference is felt.
I found myself sometimes walking several miles during the day, or cutting firewood and hauling water from the well. Sometimes I picked a bunch of wild watercress from the stream. I did many other things. I did all this with a frame of mind that was stilled by the trees, the wind blowing through the dry grass, the smell of wild sage, and the occasional sound of a meadowlark.
In the evening I might study some Zen literature or read from the Lankavatara Sutra. I would usually sit in zazen; many times in an old abandoned copper mine. It eventually came to the point when sitting was no different than following the stream, or hiking up some hill. When I sawed firewood it was a pleasure to work the saw and hold the rough oakwood steady as I cut off a section. When I dropped the bucket down the well to get water, the smell of the well, the weight of the full bucket made me mindful. All these things I did conspired together to settle my mind.
All the time my concentration was increasing. As I paid more and more attention to the smallest of things such as putting my saw back in the right place or trimming the wick on the kerosene lamp, or lighting incense, in seemed that I was starting to step into another world. All the while this was happening I was deeply engaged in trying to see where this pure Mind was in my own head. I never gave up looking for it. All the Zen literature I read shouted at me that this pure Mind is totally invisible, yet very real. I had learned to accept that bit of information as fact although, at the time, I hadn’t engaged with such a mind.
This was all back in 1969, a time before portable computers, the Internet, iPhones and all the countless other diversions. Sometime later, I got lucky. You can read about it here.
I have been looking into the Qabalistic Tree of Life. The middle pillar, which corresponds to the breath, is a shortcut between Malkuth (the earthly sphere) and Kether (the absolute, which corresonds to Brahman) and the three phases of non-being (Ain, Ain-Soph, and Ain-Soph-Aur). In Qabalistic terms, it appears that to antecede the breath means to travel a shortcut from the material world to the absolute. To reverse one’s own emanation, so to speak. This makes sense to me as I now understand that my Atman is being absorbed by the Ain.
I know these things do not correspond to the Hinduism I was taught, for in Hinduism these is nothing beyond Brahman. How these things correspond to Buddhism, I do not know. It is very hard to understand certain concepts before one has seen them. Is this not so?
Posted by: Electric Black | December 07, 2014 at 02:41 PM
Electric Black:
What is anterior to the psychophysical body is the âtman (= animative principle). But because of our primordial ignorance (avidya) we attach to the psychophysical body in the belief that it is who we are. From this ignorance we go in either two directions: 1) the finite psychophysical body is my true self; 2) there is no such thing as a self or âtman. Both of these positions the Buddha rejected. One way to break our attachment to the psychophysical body is by pari-mukha-sati which is almost impossible to render into English. One day, many years ago, I just did it. I ran over to the library to see the term in Pali. And there it was. I have argued with Buddhists over this term. They don't want to listen to me, so I don't bother teaching it anymore except on my blog, occasionally. They prefer to sit on their asses.
Posted by: The Zennist | December 07, 2014 at 11:05 AM
Thank you for your response. After practicing the meditation for some time, I feel my consciousness is becoming connected to something greater. Did the Buddha explain anything anterior to the local consciousness of the body? Please forgive my ignorance. There are concepts in Buddhism which are still new to me. I am asking this question because I seem to be arriving at something beyond what the Hindus would call Brahman, or perhaps it is a greater phase of the same entity? I am having trouble understanding what this is.
Posted by: Electric Black | December 06, 2014 at 09:01 PM
Check out this blog: From and Incorporeal Perspective: http://zennist.typepad.com/zenfiles/2009/04/from-an-incorporeal-perspective.html
Posted by: The Zennist | December 06, 2014 at 03:16 PM
You talk about seeing pure Mind in nature. I have some questions about your Dark Zen Meditation. Is it necessary to perform with eyes open or eyes closed? Also, can you reference the Sutra quote which led you to develop the technique? Dark Zen Meditation corrected some energy problems I got from other, incorrect meditations. It would be informative to know how you discovered the technique.
Posted by: Electric Black | December 06, 2014 at 02:55 PM