A person in meditation looks at their thoughts as they arise trying not to indulge in them too much. Such thoughts can be thoughts of depression, hurt or anger. Other thoughts might be thoughts of foreboding and hope, thoughts of desire and pleasure, and many more such thoughts. Even the thought of trying not to have thoughts!
As far as Zen koans go, which is really all about thoughts, if we are to answer the very first case in the Mumonkan which is Jōshū’s “Mu" 無 not a single thought can pass through Mu, which is the barrier/checkpoint 關. It stands between the adept and the 大道無門 (the gateless great Dao). Nevertheless, the barrier/checkpoint has to be overcome.
Key to overcoming the barrier/checkpoint is the adept’s own self that is raising all of these thoughts, trying to figure out this koan.
What this self is, we only know by thoughts and thinking about it. Who or what then is looking at all these thoughts and generating more thoughts? How does this person look at their self, directly, without thoughts? Is it by generating more such thoughts? Zen has the answer. It is by way of no-thought 無念. There is a wonderful and profound logic to this.
The self of the adept that works on this case really transcends thought. But the adept has never met their self or ātman face to face. They only know who they are through thoughts—never directly.
When, suddenly, all thoughts are instantly gone what is left except the self. We are now in the 大道無門 (the gateless great Dao)! According to the Buddha in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra the self is the Buddha-nature. He said: All beings possess a Buddha Nature: this is what the ātman is.
The whole purpose of this case is to get the adept to see their Buddha-nature, directly, which is who they really are and that includes all beings. It is only this nature which enters freely. We create many barriers only when we are fixed on thought unable to see beyond it. This conditioned world is only thought—we are much more.
Jack:
Right, you could say that our conditioned world is thought only. Also, thought can mean mentation. Consciousness or in Sanskrit "vijñāna" which means subject-object knowing, falls within thought (in Buddhism vijñāna survives death. It is the transmigrant, never the ātman which is buddha-nature according to the Mahaparinirvana Sutra).
Posted by: TheZennist | May 15, 2019 at 09:22 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but "thoughts" here does not simply refer to words passing through one's consciousness, but also feelings. Furthermore, images, whether in the "mind's eye" or coming in as visual data from external perception. Even the blackness of closed eyes is visual data. There is also auditory data, and the tactile data of sensing one's body sitting, breathing. All of this is "thoughts" i.e. contents of consciousness. How to see consciousness free of content? Is it necessary to completely empty it of all content?
Posted by: Jack | May 14, 2019 at 08:05 PM