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Listen, observe, feel. Still.
lobster
Crusty Veteran
As we all know.
Senses can be highlighted, Thoughts focussed.
We can hear a mediation pin clang drop ... Observe the nurtured mine, mined mine. Feel the arisings.
Still we are.
Ain't it so? Same as it ever is ...
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Comments
Well, I often have a bit of tinnitus, which rather interferes with hearing a pin drop... but I understand the sentiment.
But I often wonder about statements in the sutras to ‘guard the senses’, it’s not entirely clear to me exactly what is meant by that.
No, you're in good company; Nobody has ever heard a pin drop.
Which is different to hearing a pin land ...
My personal interpretation would be to be cautious or mindful about your reaction, based on what your senses perceive...
In my view....YMMV...
Tinnitus can be a very fruitful object to focus lightly on. It becomes a series of notes at various pitches. It’s a handy focus too, it’s always there and is highly portable..😎
This might just be a Zen specific view but....
I think of a fruitful object of focus as an object that transcends our manipulative or conditioned reflex of focusing on one sense gate to the exclusion of the others.
Most folks with tinnitus find that any specific focusing upon their tinnitus results in a intensification of its presence which then dominates over all of the other sense gate inputs.
Doing the exact opposite, which is focusing on our wider range of sensory options, brings the tinnitus pushed auditory dominance to heel when it is forced to assume a more collegial position within the 6 senses. This generally gets reported then as a reduction in a tinnitus persons suffering.
I have tinnitus following a reaction to an antibiotic. I was advised by a teacher to take it as a meditation object, for a time, and not exclusively. I tried it and it was interesting. I found concentration on the sound came easily, and between formal meditation times the sound was less intrusive. Now most of the time I am only aware of it if I consciously choose to be.
I am not suggesting of course that it would be a skillful means for everyone..we come to these things with a range of emotional responses and personality types.
I do agree that what we think of as obstacles are often exactly the teacher that we best need at that moment. What often gets overlooked though is that the teaching that it offers might just be as much about focusing on something as about not obsessing's on it.
Well put.
I very much liked @federica insight and not being swallowed by noise, opinion or partiality.
Personally I am an obsessive. Fanatically or extremely so. I may bee an agent of chaos? [lobster hangs head and tail in shame]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_magic
How to loosen up, let go, hear the other voices? Well here is the buzzz ...
Like @federica and others I was bored born a Catholic. It is why I have monomaniacal monotheistic tendencies. For example the holy trinity - Father, Sun and Mr Spooky [from what I remember].
What if I was as deluded now as I was then? It does not bear thinking about ...
So I don't.
[in theory]
Lobster rambles off into the sunset ...
...meanwhile ...
http://doctorlobster.blogspot.com/
I agree with you @lobster, there is wisdom in her words.
It helps to spend some time around the dharma and the sangha, these things relax the mind and bring you into alignment for a little meditation. When in doubt, read dharma books with an aim to being inspired.
mediation is The Middle Way between
Listen, observe, feel. Still moving ...
Exactly so.
Believe it or not, the Buddha Nature is Nothing Impersonal. In other words it is:
@lobster
HUH? What ya' say? Couldn't hear you over the earbuds.
Pay attention: Two bucks were having a go at it for herd dominance. The cougar ate well that day.
I'm trying to improve my musical taste. And that means in my opinion focusing on a narrower range of artists, rather than flying here and there indulging in mere 'hits.'
It's the difference between a nutritious meal and sugar candy. Or between fine German chocolate and... starbursts... not knocking starbursts but chocolate is ... a more mature dessert. IMHO.
We are all awash in a world of senses, but to truly get the most out of them, you need to pair it all down a bit. You have to seek the Real through these wonderful senses. Then the senses don't run away from you like shocked horses.
It reminds me of a saying by Papaji, that “if you can keep Quiet for just one second, all further searching becomes unnecessary.” Its interesting to see where his teachings are similar to Buddhism, and where they are not. When he was a young man he spent time in the Indian Army, and even towards the end of his life when he was asked by a young man who was about to be conscripted into the Israeli army, he mentioned some positives.