Don't Believe What You See

Idea Go/freedigitalphotos.net

"Seeing is believing," right? Didn't the Buddha himself urge us not to take his word for anything, but to put his teachings to the test and see for ourselves? Instead of being asked to blindly follow his teachings, we are encouraged to use our own power of observation and discernment, so what is the problem?

The problem is, the world is full of illusions. What you see with your physical eye is not necessarily what the Buddha was referring to when he said to not believe anything we are taught, but rather to observe and come to our own conclusions. What I believe he meant was to observe with the mind, what you might call the mind's eye, or the third-eye. This is our capacity to take a step back from an experience and know it as it really is. It's not allowing ourselves to be entangled by the internal processes that lead to delusion.

Just last week, while staying at the monastery, I had an insight to this truth when a newbie showed up to practice, and was obviously having a hard time. It reminded me of my first meditation retreat, just over 3 years ago, and how difficult it was for me to sit still. My body was stiff and inflexible, and the sheer pain of sitting on the floor for extended periods throughout the day was torture. Now, three years and many hours later, that aspect of the practice is getting much easier.

So as I opened my eyes after sitting for an hour, and got up to do my walking meditation, I saw this young Spanish man, named Daniel, fidgeting about like a fish out of water. In this particular meditation center, at Wat Bhaddanta, you do your walking meditation in the space between your mat and the next one in front of you, which is spaced out about 15-20 feet apart. As he wasn't there when I had sat down an hour earlier, I was surprised to see him when I opened my eyes. I didn't make it a point to watch him, but as I walked back and forth between our two mats, I couldn't help but to notice his inability to sit still. He couldn't go for more than a few seconds before having to move something, his arms, his head, his legs.

When we sit for meditation, especially in the beginning, there is much resistance, and the brain will send lots of signals to the body to make readjustments. Over time, we learn to sit through these impulses to move and we sort of soften ourselves into stillness. Eventually, we become quite comfortable sitting in stillness for extended periods.

Seeing him instantly made me think back to that first retreat I sat and the next thought was remembering what I used to think about the other meditators who were able to sit still all day. "Wow, look at that guy, he must be having the best meditation ever right now! I wonder how close he is to enlightenment." The next thing I realized was that this guy, Daniel, could have very well been thinking the same thing about me, after seeing me sitting there like a stone Buddha statue for so long.

And what followed was the insight that compelled me to write this article: don't believe everything you see. Appearances are just that, they are projections, and the truth lies hidden somewhere behind them. Our inability to see this truth causes us to believe in the appearances, which is the most readily available and tangible thing to process. But the problem is, that appearances are rarely accurate.

master isolated images/freedigitalphotos.net

The truth was, that I was far from having an amazing meditation experience. In fact, I spent most of the 4 days just drifting in neural space, trying to focus, and moving back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness.

When I have gone to monasteries, meditation centers, or on retreats, I have always found it difficult to be around others who seem to be having such an easy time, especially if I'm not. From what I know based on talking to others and reading about this, it seems to be quite a common experience. But we should remember, take only inspiration from others. You never know what they are experiencing, so why allow yourself to become discouraged by comparing yourself to them?

If we watch this process, of how we interpret our surroundings, much insight is to be gained. How we see the world is largely written off to familiar experience, and we look no further. For example, when we see a tree of a familiar species, we say to ourselves, "Oh, it's just another _______ tree, no big deal, I've seen it a million times." But are any two trees the same? We do the same with people, we stuff people into these little boxes and slap a label on them, so we can feel like we have understood them without having to do any real inquiry. "Oh he is a jock, she is a slut, I've seen it all before, nothing different here."

One of the problems with people is that many also strive to be put into these boxes, and become more like two-dimensional characters than real people, but that is a different story. What we can do is choose not to honor their desire to be deemed as this or that, if that is indeed what they desire, and instead, look to their character, look at them as constantly changing life-streams, and look at them as just doing the best they can with what they have. When we do this, compassion follows.

Instead of seeing something with our eyes and labeling the object as familiar and known, can we focus more on the experience of seeing? Let's bring the experience of our lives back within and stop throwing our attention away on things that don't matter. That doesn't mean that we should just think about ourselves, thinking has nothing to do with it. It's about intention, attention, and love. When we put the world into little boxes and think we understand everything, we are failing to connect with the process of observation within. The observer within doesn't understand everything, nor does it care to, it only observes and recognizes. It recognizes swirling energy as shapes and forms, and it is quite happy to keep it that way. The brain then comes in and reifies everything into concrete, unchanging realities, and delusion follows.

Let's not believe in the lies of our eyes, the deception of illusion, and look no further. Keep looking, keep observing, and keep noticing what's happening within. To do anything else is to allow yourself to be lost in the illusion of the world, drifting around in the mind and it's crazy misconceptions, fears, and desires. Let's keep coming back to the present moment, instead of being lost in judgment and comparisons. Let's see things for what they really are, and not just our loaded interpretations of them. Can we see with our eyes without the mind jumping in to make a statement? Can we perceive without judging?

Just by staying with the bare sensations of our lives, we stay in the present moment and we don't get trapped in the game of identifying with our thoughts. I know it's easier said that done, because I've made a serious effort in the past few years to do this. I can't say that I know what it's like to be free from this identification, but I can say that any progress has been more rewarding and fulfilling than anything else I've experienced in this world. It might seem impossible, or too much work to justify, but what is more important than waking up to your highest potential? How can it not be worth it to want to develop an intimate relationship with your life as it unfolds? For me, the choice is clear. Good luck to those of you who also choose to work towards peace, freedom, love, and wisdom. And if that path isn't for you, well then, there's nothing wrong with that either, and I love you anyway!