Authentic Zen is always pointing directly to Mind (真指人心). Simple enough? Well, the answer is, no it is not that simple. In fact, Mind is not the same as our thoughts that are constantly arising and changing.
Mind should be understood as the essence or substance of our everyday thoughts. For us to see Mind involves a seeing that is completely devoid of thought. In other words, the mysterious activity of producing thoughts has all of a sudden stopped. Furthermore, this Mind the Buddha says is luminous.
Making matters worse, our various concepts about Mind, which are particular forms of thought, which stimulate further thinking, are not Mind. Such a Mind is just a representation which is a product of thinking. To reiterate, it's not the real Mind.
Thinking, which is the activity of Mind, it should be clear, is also not Mind. Mind comes prior to thinking. Thinking stems from Mind whose product is thoughts/concepts. This explains why in Zen, to see Mind, thinking (thought production) has to stop sufficient to reveal Mind which is luminous. Stopping thinking, I hasten to add, cannot be willed. To do so is somewhat like patting down waves on a pond with our hand. The process of awakening to Mind, eventually, if we do it right, is the spontaneous stopping of thinking (and with it the stopping of thoughts/concepts) thus revealing Mind with its luminosity.
If there is a problem it lies in not differentiating between Mind and our thoughts. We can think about the idea or concept of Mind (representational thinking) but Mind, itself, is actually unthinkable. In principle, atman and Mind (citta) are also the same.
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