The comedienne Lily Tomlin, in her persona as the bag lady, once said, “I tried reality once, and found it highly overrated.” From a Buddhist standpoint, the same could be said for thinking. The various schools of Buddhism all have a highly technical literature, whose collected works fill a good-sized room. That being said, the core insight of the Buddha was not a cortical event—it was not a thought. It was a direct apprehension of the real.
In the West the operative phrase on this subject has been Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am.” Roughly speaking, Buddhism would reverse that. It would say, “I am, therefore I think.” In other words, our thoughts are an important part of our nature as human beings, but they are not definitive. On the contrary, without being grounded in the nature of reality itself—i.e. the empty and insubstantial nature of all phenomena, include ourselves—thoughts can be highly misleading.
In the last few blogs I have been writing about the “Five Great Fears”of Buddhism: fear of death, fear of illness, fear of dementia, fear of loss of livelihood, and fear of public speaking. I notice that the thread connecting all my comments is the way in which a certain kind of potent thought leads to fear, which then leads to more fear. This repetitive process is called karma in Buddhism.
”Karma” literally means “action” in Sanskrit, but the kind of action it means is primarily inner action—a thought leading to an emotion leading to more thoughts, more emotions, the engagement of the neurological threat system, distress, unhappiness, the “full catastrophe,” in the words of Zorba the Greek. Outer action can follow, but inner action of karma is what drives it. Actually the processes of karma create our entire inner world, which is a distorted, contorted version of the actual world, as though we were seeing it in a funhouse mirror. (Question: do funhouse mirrors actually exist anymore? Question for Google.)
One of the primary functions of sitting still (i.e. sitting meditation) is to walk back the cat of our karma to the original thoughts that set it off. In quiet sitting we have the capacity to catch the thought in the act, or even feel its vibratory energy as a pre-thought before it takes shape as a thought. Cultivating this ability is profound; its like watching a mouse hole long enough to actually see the mouse poke its nose out. There he is! Now we know who is stealing the cheese.
No offense to mice, of course. I like mice (and cheese!). It’s just an example.
More next time!
I have been working on allowing the breath to rule my attention, not as being better than thought, but more as a release of stressful thoughts and feelings, body feeling thoughts, and allowing the breath in as a welcoming friend and then allowing the thoughts, feelings and sensations to come out, and sit with, the warmth, as if around a simple warming campfire, warming all the body on a cold night.
I put seed outside daily, but choose not who eats, night or day.
Can we ever really see a thought appear? And maybe, just maybe, nip it in the bud?
I’m still a beginner, so I don’t know what’s really possible. At this point in my practice, my awareness of my self-centered thinking only enters the picture some time *after* my thoughts and fears have worked me over. What’s that old saying about there never being a cop around when you need one? Awareness is the cop on my beat. I’m glad to be practicing with it, but I wish I could keep it a little closer at hand.
Wonderful article Lewis. I was listening to Rosie O’Donell on the radio the other day and she spoke of when she finished working on tv awhile ago she dedicated the next two years of her life to being able to hand feed a local squirrel. To be so still with herself that nature came to her.
I like your metaphor, John. My cop is always with me, but sometimes sleeps on the job or doesn’t pull out the handcuffs when I’m getting hot under the collar! Too bad I can’t just fire this one and hire a more qualified guy. Guess he just needs more training. One of the biggest challenges with emotions like anger is what Pema Chodron calls “sitting with the pain of not reacting”. It can be very painful to not respond to a favorite button being pushed, even when you’re aware of it happening.
I was a Jr. High School Counselor for thirty years. I can safely say that ninety five percent of the of the mediations I did were a result of faulty thinking. Identifying the initial thought(what the kids were telling themselves) and disputing it was the way to peace. Wouldn’t it be nice if we learned to sit before developing our habit of thinking.
I’ve been interested in meditation and buddhism since I was a young woman in my 20s. Now I’m 61. But I would torture myself every time I tried to meditate with worries that I wasn’t doing it “right”. It was only when I realized that inner scolding wasn’t working or necessary that I was able to keep a consistent meditation practice. It was then that I began to realize how negative my thought patterns were–all aimed at telling me that I wasn’t “good enough.” So I am interested to read the definition of karma as inner action–the action of thought that creates our fixation on our inner world. It has been an enormous relief to catch those thoughts as they form and let them go.
It is good to realize that dementia is not a given..
I was raised in a family of women living well into their nineties for the last three generations,during my lifetime.
My fate, alas unknown..I can only hope that my sense of place and quality of mind will be as peaceful as my great grandmother when I last visited her,she was 99 and I was 24..I am now 73 and the “wise” elder among my 4 children and 7 grandchildren.
just so… don’t know…my koans for the coming times.
Thank you for your beautiful writing and for not having “fear of cute metaphors.”
Fear is the cheapest room in the house – I would like to see you living in better conditions. – Hafiz
My personal experience is that sitting allows me to witness the construct of my early life neural imprinting which left me confused with my identity…
Whew! What a relief to know that I am not my neurosis.
Or the fears. Or at the mercy of a displeased God who is keeping score.
Deep Gassho to the ancestors who have preserved the Dharma.
Advice for a Friend
Don’t watch the thoughts
Let them pass,
watch space between thoughts.
Cultivate that.
When space between thought
is seen as it is
turn in the seat of awareness bare
And look there.
Thank you all for thinking!
Lew
I’m just sitting on it! I feel I am anyway.