I had a student from the sitting group on campus come up to me yesterday asking me about makyo. He didn't use the word, but that's what he was talking about. He seemed utterly bemused by what kept coming up for him (it was some kind of visual thing, if I remember right) whenever he began to sit, and it was his bemusement that caught my attention more than anything.
I can't imagine a better approach to all this.
Somewhere between "we're already enlightened" and "we need to scratch and claw our way to the other shore" is "wow, this is a pretty curious thing, this mind, and just look at what funny things it kicks up." It's an attitude that has just the right amount of "touch" to it (for lack of a better word): a picking up but not a grasping, a letting go but not a chasing away. There's enough "mind candy" about it to entice to further practice, but also enough of a "you've got to be kidding me" quality about it to see that it needs to be gotten past as well.
If there were a contest for adding a ninth factor to the Eightfold Path, my submission would be Right Bemusement.
I can't imagine a better approach to all this.
Somewhere between "we're already enlightened" and "we need to scratch and claw our way to the other shore" is "wow, this is a pretty curious thing, this mind, and just look at what funny things it kicks up." It's an attitude that has just the right amount of "touch" to it (for lack of a better word): a picking up but not a grasping, a letting go but not a chasing away. There's enough "mind candy" about it to entice to further practice, but also enough of a "you've got to be kidding me" quality about it to see that it needs to be gotten past as well.
If there were a contest for adding a ninth factor to the Eightfold Path, my submission would be Right Bemusement.
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