Self-observation and mindfulness
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
It seems to me that a key aspect of mindfulness lies in how you observe yourself. I find that I can observe my thoughts and emotions quite well while sitting still in a chair or on my bed, but when I am moving and doing things my attention is otherwise engaged and I have only a little spare capacity for observing thoughts and feelings.
When I am doing something complex like cooking which involves multiple tasks to track at the same time, I often lose self observation entirely, and find myself back in “just doing”. I have this while bicycling as well… there’s balance, steering, speed, the traffic, and the rushing environment to consider, and it’s altogether too complex an activity to not be wholly engaged.
I find that “just doing” refreshing, it’s like everything naturally finds its position, while when observing myself things internally seem to stop. It’s like not being aware allows everything magically to function perfectly and smoothly, while when observing there is some inner tension slowing things down.
How do you observe yourself?
Comments
The most common difference between mindfulness within stillness and mindfulness in activity.....is one of objectivity.
Mindfulness dependent on stillness, describes an attachment to one's mentality.
Mindfulness when independent from such attachments describes objectivity.
In some Zen traditions, a teacher might suggest that you do kinhin until the objectivity in stillness is indistinguishable from that which you experience in movement.
Of course, since I've just tested positive for Covid 19 and have a fever, who knows what gibberish I'm currently penning here?
It's okay, I can understand you @how , I'm fluent in Gibberish...
Hope your recovery is a speedy one... ....
I'm reminded of Mr Watts...
"There was a young (wo)man who said though, it seems I know that I know, what I would like to see is the "I" that knows me when I know that I know that I know
At cushion time (and off cushion time, but not as often as on cushion time) "I" begin to fade as the mind's eye opens...
I guess one could call it the third eye ("I")... The eye (or "I") which is conscious of being aware of being aware of the sense of itself in motion... thoughts feelings e(nergy in) motion...
This happens a lot when one is driving, the mind switches to autopilot. cruise mode while it's tied up in thoughts for most of the journey... Wow I've just had an epiphany...the car becomes a "Self driving car"
my dao is be u be and do be do. be present and get on with life. mantra flow and hustle in this wonderful dharma we call life.
so all is karma actions we do every day. the aproach to karma is dont lose yourself in the process. be you in all you do. daozen continues to be u. being present is an anchor, through breath if we want to return to our awareness focus.
I'll bite. What is Daozen? I did some googling, and it seems like Daozen is a company that makes hemp products. I don't think that's what you mean.
So do tell and be brief. I don't care enough for the whole dig-and-pony.
daozen my brand "I" be you through "I" see U. the approach same nature through the tool E^3. What we see is what we are too. buddha nature. i also dab in tantra connection with goddess tara buddha smoking my buddha....weed.
this reminds me the flow state in dao and in zen. in the dao state you connect to the behavior of an earth element such a water.you enter the state of water, with mind be the state of water,the behavior property of flow. and in zen , the perspective all being is karma,moving. zen practice do be do with the season. what must be done with dao earth. eat,eat.poop,poop, ects. zen is all about hear and now to sustain your chi--life force. the spiriual and natural is one in daozen where the completness of yin,be u be, is the other halve of yang, do be do.
10 years of theravada, remove behavior obstacle through 5 precept. now i play with daozen with tara mother of all godbuddhas. no extinction approach.
Glad I asked - LOLz.
That makes absolutely no sense. None.
ty ssso much. made my day.dao laughter is wow for our "I". zen joke:what is one clap sound? it's a bitchslap. im naughty.
gotta go do zen landscaping--do be do, scoobydo,,yahhzz.
Your personal history with the dharma?
If you had to use the 5 precepts to remove behaviour that would have been an obstacle, then you must’ve been a bad-ass: killing, lying, stealing, misbehaving sexually and intoxicated.
Something on the Taoist side of Zen, where you play with Tara. Godbuddhas sounds somewhat Tibetan perhaps, but more power to you!
It sounds like you are not in favour of Nirvana, the “blowing out” of the candle flame.
im a regular with the handle paulyso. when my mother died, i said goodbye, but im back to share what i found out about zen humor. yes i started with theravada.
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im a good boy an ok guy, little stealing, smoking, lying, killed lots of bugs while lawn mowing. i killed a bird once as a teanager. but ten years of thera helped me safe in the world with my human neighbor. i still do theravada. I still go to my theravada buddhist center and do alms to our monk. and i do landscaping there.
tantra pourpose is to open the mindheart towards unothodox enlighten activity towards a bigger perspective why she is the dao, diety,dharma supreame. an example of tantra act is smoking weed or drink liquar. orthodox buddhism say it violate the precept refrain intoxicant.but theratraining breath awareness the weed does not lead to misconduct.
in mahazen for buddhas theres no extinction. arahan think nirvana is extinction. buddha nirvana is to be here and now wanting friendship with all which dharmakeya give to all.
we zen bodhi trust in buddhas,lord and lordette of shakti power their nirvana. namaste.
so theravada is neccessary train the mindheart to try zen. to do tara oneness you need a tibet guru. but tara seazed me when she was with her mother the Dharmakaya the reality of the all mind to mind interface. i guess tara choose me her pet project. she is an amazing woman power.
I wonder sometimes what the Buddha would think about all these meditative practices and mindfulness practices. Did he ever think his teachings would split into so many fractions? And so many techniques would arise?
I do not know so I am asking, isn't self-observation and mindfulness the same thing? It is the focus of attention upon the present moment?
@Avisitor
Whether a dharma jewel has eight or eight thousand facets, each mirror simply reflects the truth of the other facets. When they represent the truth of the four seals, I suspect a Buddha would just say they are worthy signage pointing the way along his path towards suffering's cessation.
The question isn't whether self-observation and mindfulness is the same thing.
They can be possibly both and/or neither.
The real question should be whether you are softening & dissolving or hardening & increasing the conditioned state of your ego in either practices.
from a buddhist persepective, our actions can be beautiful for teaching. an enlighten activity can awake a student. shakimuni twerling a flower was to those ready to recieve the transmission dharma is, more than words but, is what you are. the man buddha is same with flower buddha in the field of transformation of our grace maa dharmakaya.
dharma is her power to evolve samsara to in seeing she is m.o.m of everything and nothing. henze we zen void the "I" and be one with her void quality.
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same coin as one. mindfulness is the aspect of focus awareness in whatever you do. in our zen we put of whole being to be aware of the equality of "I" (ego) making with do be do awareness. hope it helps.
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henze in mahayanna bodivasatta training, you chant no eyes,no ears,ect. to feel the void or the nature our emptyness.
in tantra meditate on corpse or ashes, is to realize death and life is the void too. simple dao, life and death is one.
The question then becomes how do we know if it is at all a facet of the Dharma Jewel? Much like the game of telephone, how do we know if the last iteration is properly aligned to the Dharma? The truth?
Yeah, I think that was my question.
True. But, I tend to think it is the same thing.
Shouldn't the answer be in the results from the practices?