Silent Illumination by Guo Gu

Author:Guo Gu [Gu, Guo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2021-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

WANDERING THOUGHTS

The opposite of the ghost cave is having scattered thoughts. We are linguistic beings, so thinking is natural to us. However, just because thinking is natural, it does not mean that we should let our thoughts run wild. That’s how we become deluded in the first place—we become conditioned by thoughts and feelings. The way we think shapes our lives. Thoughts, subtle or coarse, dictate our choices and actions. So we have to be careful what we think, how we think. If we don’t create a healthy relationship with our thoughts, if we are enslaved by them, then life will inevitably be hard.

How does meditation practice help us establish a healthy relationship with our thoughts? By going through the process of mental cultivation, we begin to expose our subtle thinking processes, learn to embrace them, work with them, and be free from them. It’s like cleaning a room. If the room is cluttered, we can’t do anything in it. If we clean the room, making it tidy and organized, we are able to work well; plus, we just feel more comfortable. That said, whether the room is clean and tidy or not, the room’s spaciousness remains unchanged.

From the perspective of ultimate truth, we are originally awakened. Thoughts, good or bad, cannot affect our true nature. Clean or dirty, cluttered or vacant, our self-nature is not sullied by afflictions or thoughts. Still, from the perspective of conventional truth, we are often enslaved by thoughts. When we think sad thoughts, we’re distraught; when things are going well and we’re thinking happy thoughts, we’re ecstatic. This shows that we’re prisoners of our ever-changing thoughts. Besides, when our minds are cluttered, especially with self-referential thoughts, we have no control over how we feel. As I said before, we make life very hard for ourselves and those around us.

So we clean the room of clutter so we can experience the spaciousness of the room. Once we have gone through the process of self-cultivation and have cleaned our own room, we won’t see thoughts as enemies. We won’t be enslaved by them either. We will experience them as the natural expression of the mind, and we will be less likely to generate self-referential thoughts. Instead, our thoughts—and therefore our actions—will benefit those around us and will be appropriate for each situation. In addition, our wandering thoughts will diminish, and we will be clear and focused.

Some thoughts are beneficial and some not so much. But irrespective of what they are, if we’re scattered, we can’t accomplish anything. In general, the process of cultivation involves bringing the scattered mind to a concentrated mind; then from a concentrated mind to a unified mind; and from a unified mind we see through the nature of mind. In this process a method is of utmost importance. This process may sound linear, but it is not. Sometimes we may be scattered or tired, but after shifting our posture or approaching our method in a different way, we suddenly become clear and can use the method effectively.

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