“Among the so-called neurotics of our day there are a good many who in other ages would not have been neurotic - that is, divided against themselves. If they had lived in a period and in a milieu in which man was still linked by myth with the world of the ancestors, and thus with nature truly experienced and not merely seen from the outside, they would have been spared this division with themselves. I am speaking of those who cannot tolerate the loss of myth and who can neither find a way to a merely exterior world, to the world as seen by science, nor rest satisfied with an intellectual juggling with words, which has nothing whatsoever to do with wisdom.”
— C. C. Jung - Memories, Dreams and Reflections, p.144. (via cleverbeast)
A portrait of all habitable-zone planets, within 60 light-years of Earth; Source: Popular Science
via asapscience
Every night we trade stories about the ways we’ve been violated, I wish we didn’t share scars like this.
Written by KOIKE Kazuo (小池一夫) and drawn by HIRANO Jin ( 平野仁 ), Shounen no Machi ZF / 少年の町ZF
Transforming the Roots of Fear in the Mind: Eight Breathing Exercises
These eight exercises continue the first eight exercises. They can help us understand our mind and let go of illusions, so that we can touch the true nature of reality and attain fearlessness.
The Realm of the MindThe first exercise is to be aware of our minds and recognise the state of our minds, just as the third exercise is awareness of the body and the seventh is awareness of feelings. “Breathing in, I am aware of my mind. Breathing out, I am aware of my mind.”
There’s a river of mind in which every thought is a drop of water. We sit on the bank of the river and observe the manifestation and fading of each thought. We can simply recognise them as they arise, as they stay for sometime, as they go away. We don’t need to grasp or fight or push them away.
When fear is there, we say: “Breathing in, I know the mental formation of fear is in me.”
When the mental formation of fear is there, we breathe in and recognise the presence of fear in us. With mindfulness and concentration, we recognise and embrace the mental formation that is there. Then we can look deeply into the nature of that mental formation.
Making the Mind Happy and at EaseThe second exercise is gladdening the mind: “Breathing in, I make my mind happy. Breathing out, I make my mind happy.”
We make the mind glad so as to strengthen it and give it vitality. This is like the practice of generating joy and happiness in the previous set of exercises, with an added element of reinvigorating and energising the mind.
According to Buddhist psychology, the mind has at least two layers. The lower layer is called store consciousness, and all the seeds of the mental formations are there. When a seed is touched or watered, it manifests in mind consciousness as a mental formation. To gladden the mind we us a practice called selective watering.
First we allow the negative seeds to sleep in our store consciousness and don’t give them a chance to manifest; if they manifest too often, their base will be strengthened. Second, if a negative seed manifests in mind consciousness, we help it go back to store consciousness as quickly as possible, where it can sleep as a seed. The third practice is to encourage wholesome mental formations to manifest in our conscious mind. In the fourth practice, when a good mental formation has manifested, we try to keep it there as long as we can. We should organise our life so that the seeds of our wholesome mental formations can be touched and watered several times a day. There are good seeds in store consciousness that may not have been able to manifest previously, and now we give them a chance.
Concentrating the MindThe third exercise is to bring the mind into concentration. We practice concentration to get insight: “Breathing in, I concentrate my mind. Breathing out, I concentrate my mind.”
Concentration has the power to burn away afflictions, just like sunlight focused by a lens can burn a piece of paper underneath. In the same way, concentration - looking deeply into our fear, anger, delusion, and despair - can burn them away, leaving insight.
One concentration is the concentration on emptiness, the absence of a permanent entity. Although emptiness isn’t difficult to understand, and it’s real, still we’re not used to thinking in that way. So we have to train ourselves to look in such a way as to see things more deeply and see their ultimately empty nature.
Scientists tell us that all objects are made mainly of space and that the amount of matter in a flower or a table is almost nothing at all - put together, all the matter in a table would be smaller than a grain of salt. We know that’s the truth, but in our daily lives we still think of the table as something big and solid. When scientists enter the world of elementary particles, they have to put aside their habitual way of looking at things as existing separately from each other. Then they have a chance of understanding what’s really going on in the world of matter. Even scientists have to train themselves. So you have to train yourself to see like that in your daily life.
Concentration means you keep the insight alive for a long time. It’s not just a flash; that’s not enough to liberate you. So in your daily life, you keep that insight of nonself, of emptiness, of impermanence alive. When you see a person, a bird, a tree, or a tock, you see its nature of emptiness. Then it becomes an insight that will liberate you. It’s very different from speculating about the meaning of emptiness. You have to really see the nature of emptiness in yourself and others. Once that insight is there, you’re no longer afraid, no longer bound, no long a victim of separation and discrimination, because you’ve seen the nature of interbeing. Meditating deeply, looking deeply into the nature of whatever is there, you can touch the nature of interbeing in it. Whether it is a flower, a buddha, a person, or a tree, you touch the nature of emptiness and interbeing, and you see that the one contains the all.
Liberating the MindWith the fourth exercises, we free out minds from afflictions and notions: “Breathing in, I liberate my mind. Breathing out, I liberate my mind.”
Our minds are tied up, bound by afflictions such as fear, anger, sorrow, and discrimination. We have practiced being aware of and embracing our fear and our pain, but to fully transform them we need the strength of our concentration to liberate ourselves from these binding forces.
There are many types of concentration we can practice. One is the concentration on impermanence. We have a notion of impermanence. Even thought we accept and agree that things are impermanent, our notion of impermanence remains and determines how we see things and how we behave in our daily life. Although we know intellectually that our beloved is impermanent, we still live and behave as though our loved ones will always be there and we will always be the same people we are now. But everything is changing in every moment, like a river. When we see him again, we may be in touch with the person of twenty years ago; we cannot touch the person of the present moment, who has a different way of thinking and feeling. So we meditate on impermanence in order to touch the nature of impermanence. We need the concentration on impermanence, not the notion of impermanence. The notion of impermanence cannot liberate us. It’s the insight of impermanence that liberates us. It’s something altogether different from the notion.
But in the beginning, we can use the teaching, the notion of impermanence, as an instrument to help bring about the insight of impermanence. It’s like a match and a flame. The match is not the flame but the match can bring about the flame. And when we have the flame, the flame will consume the match. When we have the insight, the insight will burn away the notion. What we need for our liberation is the insight of impermanence.
PerceptionWith these final four exercises, we investigate the nature of the objects of the mind - that is, how we perceive things. These concentrations help us get a correct perception of reality, of the world. Many of us are still caught up in the notion that consciousness is inside us and the objective world is out there. We believe that our consciousness is here, and we’re trying to reach out and understand the objective world our there. When we look at things in terms of interbeing, we see that the subject and object of consciousness cannot exist separately. It’s like left and right; one can’t exist without the other.
Whenever we perceive something, whether it’s a pen or a flower, the object of perception and the subject of perception always manifest at the same time. When we are conscious, we are always conscious of something; when we are mindful, we are always mindful of something; when we think, we always think about something. So objet and subject manifest at the same time.
Contemplating ImpermanenceThe fifth exercise is the concentration on impermanence, the practice of which I have already described in detail as an example illustrating the preceding exercise, liberating the mind. “Breathing in, I observe the impermanent nature of all Dharmas. Breathing out, I observe the impermanent nature of all Dharmas.”
Impermanence is just on type of concentration. But if we do it well, we also succeed in other concentrations at the same time. Going deeply into impermanence, we discover no-self, emptiness, and interbeing. So impermanence represents all concentrations. While breathing in and out, we keep our concentration on impermanence alive until we can make a breakthrough into the heart of reality. The object of our observation may be a flower, a pebble, someone we love, or someone we hate; it may be us, our pain, our fear, or our sorrow. Anything can serve as the object of our meditation. Our intention is to touch the nature of impermanence in it.
Letting Go of CravingThe sixth exercise involves contemplating nondesire, noncraving: “Breathing in, I observe the disappearance of desire. Breathing out, I observe the disappearance of desire.”
There is another consciousness that is between store consciousness and the upper layer of the mind, called manas. Manas is born from store and serves as the base of mind consciousness. Manas contains a lot of delusion and therefore has the tendency to grasp; it is the part of our mind that is always seeking pleasure and ignoring the dangers of pleasure seeking. It is mans that carries our original fear and desire. The contemplation of impermanence can help us transform the delusion in manas so it becomes wisdom. We look deeply into the object of our craving to see its true nature. The object of our craving may be something or someone who has the capacity to destroy our body and our mind. Looking deeply into what we desire and what we consume is a critical practice. What we bring into our body and mind every day may be feeding our grasping, fear, and violence.
Nirvana“Breathing in, I observe cessation. Breathing out, I observe cessation.”
In the seventh exercise we observe cessation - nirvana, the extinction of all notions - so that we can touch reality as it truly is. Then we touch our interbeing nature and know we are part of the whole cosmos. The nature of reality transcends all notions and ideas, including the notions of birth and death, being and nonbeing, coming and going. Contemplating impermanence, no-self, emptiness, no-birth, and no-death can lead to liberation. The notions of birth and death can be a source of fear, anguish, and anxiety. Seeing the no-birth, no-death nature of reality, we free ourselves of anxiety and fear.
Letting GoBreathing in, I observe letting go. Breathing out, I observe letting go.”
This exercise helps us look deeply at giving up craving, hatred, and fear. This concentration helps us touch the true nature of reality and brings the wisdom that can liberate us from fear, anger, and despair. We let go of our wrong perceptions of reality so as to be free. Nirvana literally means cooling, the putting out of flames; in Buddhism, it refers to extinction of the afflictions brought about by our wrong perceptions. Nirvana isn’t a place to go or something belonging to the future. Nirvana is the true nature of reality, things as they are. Nirvana is available in the here and now. You are already in nirvana; you are nirvana, just as the wave is already in the water.
Our true nature is no-beginning, no-end; no-birth, no death. If we know how to touch our true nature, there’s no more fear, no anger, no despair. Out true nature is nirvana. So if someone close to you has just passed away, be sure to look for her in her new manifestation. It’s impossible for her to die. She is continued in many ways. Using the eyes of wisdom, you can recognise her around you and inside you. And you can continue to talk to her: “Darling, I know you are still there in your new form. It’s impossible for you to die.” The eighth exercise helps us release our illusions and be in touch with the true nature of reality. This gives us freedom and relief and brings us a lot of happiness.
We need to continue learning, practicing, and discussing, so our understanding continues to grow. Dwelling in the present moment, you’ll find that you become very interested in investigating all of life, and you can discover many wonderful things, many wonderful ways to practice. This doesn’t mean you get lost in your thinking; it means you observe reality as it is and discover its true nature.
We live in fear of many things - of our past, of death, of losing our “self” or identity. These eight exercises, together with the first eight breathing exercises, bring us the insight that enables us to touch the ultimate dimension of reality and free ourselves from fear. When we are able tot share our way of being and our insight with others, we offer the greatest gift there is, the gift of nonfear.
