Why do people suffer?
What is the source of pain?
The root of human suffering is thinking and time.
We are controlled by our thoughts without even realizing it.
Because we cannot find any button on our body that can stop our thinking immediately.
Thought creates the ego, and the soil on which the ego relies for survival is external things from the outside world.
For example, social status, wealth, fame, etc., everything in the past creates the ego.
The ego means the negative aspects such as resistance, intolerance, conflict, and contradiction to the present, which is also the foundation for the existence of the ego.
A beggar had been sitting on the roadside for more than thirty years.
One day, when a stranger passed by him, the beggar said: "Give me something."
The stranger said: "I don't have anything to give you."
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Then asked: "What are you sitting on?"
The beggar said: "It's nothing, just an old box, and I have been sitting on it since I can remember. ."
The stranger asked the beggar to open the box. Unexpectedly, the box was filled with gold.
"Beggars", even though they have a lot of material wealth, are empty inside, looking for the joy and satisfaction brought by achievement, security or love.
But they don’t know that they already have these things, and that they have something far more precious than that.
How can these "beggars" find real wealth - a state of bliss.
This requires reaching a state of "enlightenment".
The Buddha defined "enlightenment" simply as "the end of suffering"
But this is incomplete.
"Enlightenment" is actually "a simple natural state of oneness with being. It is a state of connection with something immeasurable and indestructible. Almost paradoxically, it It is you, but it is greater than you."
To regain the lost awareness of the essence and maintain this state of awareness is enlightenment.
What is existence?
Existence is "a life" that transcends the various life forms that are limited by life and death.
Don't try to understand its meaning. You can only understand its meaning when your mind is still.
You have access to it in every moment.
You feel presence when your mind is still, when your attention is fully focused on the present moment.
Many people think that the biggest difference between humans and animals is that humans have minds and can think.
The philosopher Descartes has a famous saying "I think, therefore I am"
But he made a basic mistake:
Treat thinking as existence and identify with it To think. ?Thinking is the source of people's suffering.
Many people do not realize that they are controlled by their thinking. Correct use of thinking will be a super powerful tool. If used improperly, it will be very harmful.
It can be said that 80% to 90% of thinking is useless and harmful.
Many people think that human thinking is very useful, and people have used their brains to create and accomplish many things.
Just because you can solve a crossword puzzle or build an atom bomb doesn't mean you use your brain.
The brain likes to think about things just like a dog likes to chew bones. You may not be interested in these activities at all.
A strong evidence is:
Thinking does not stop when you say stop. There is no button on your body that you can press to stop thinking.
The reason it’s so hard to stop thinking is because you get a sense of yourself from the content and activity you’re thinking about.
You think that if you stop thinking, you will cease to exist.
You use your own thinking to outline an image of yourself in your mind. This illusory self is called the ego, the wrong self.
It is composed of thinking activities. It exists only through continuous thinking. It is produced by our unconscious identification with thinking.
You cannot achieve inner peace if you cannot stop thinking. Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering and conflict within and outside the body and mind, but also the end of thinking.
The first step to ending thinking is to realize that you are not the entity doing the thinking - the thinker - but the observer.
When you start observing the thinker, the stop-thinking button is activated.
So, how to end thinking?
On the street, you may encounter a "madman" muttering to himself
He is constantly commenting, comparing, complaining, etc. This voice may have nothing to do with the current moment. It may be about the past or he may be imagining the future, and sometimes the sound may be accompanied by some visual imagery or "psychomovies."
In fact, these "lunatics" are not much different from most people, it's just that we don't express our inner voices.
These voices are human beings' own worst enemies. The more entangled people are, the more voices they hear, and they are tortured and even schizophrenic.
This is the reason for countless disasters, sufferings and diseases.
The only way to escape is to free yourself from your thinking and create a mental blank.
So what are the effective methods? 1. Listen to the voice in your head and be present as an observer.
When you listen to the voice in your head, do not make any judgments, because this will create another voice.
You soon realize: there is a sound there, and I am here to listen to it, to observe it.
This is the beginning of the end of obsessive thinking, and you will experience a brief mental blank.
When this blank space appears, you will feel a state of stillness and tranquility in your heart. With more practice, this feeling of peace and tranquility will deepen.
As you move further into this state of "no thought," you will recognize a state of pure consciousness and enter a state of selflessness.
2. Focus your attention on the present moment and create a mental blank.
For example, when washing your hands, pay attention to all the feelings related to washing your hands: the sound of water, the movements of your hands, the scent of soap, etc., and become aware of that quiet and powerful presence. The more you are immersed in the present, the more you can Feel the tranquility.
Therefore, the most critical step on the road to enlightenment is: transcending your thinking.
What is the state of presence?
Do a little experiment.
Close your eyes and say to yourself, "I want to see what my next thought is?"
Then focus and wait for your next thought to come to you.
Like a cat watching a mouse hole, you will find it takes a long time before the next idea comes to you.
As long as you are intensely present, you will be free from thoughts.
At this time you will be very calm and in a state of high concentration.
However, once your attention relaxes, thoughts will take advantage of it, your thoughts will appear, and you will be back in time.
In Buddhism, Zen masters would test their disciples' presence by quietly hitting them from behind with a stick.
If the disciple is in the presence, he can feel the master approaching quietly, and he can stop the master or hide aside.
But once it is hit, it means that the disciple is immersed in thinking, absent-minded, and in an unconscious state. ?Being present in your daily life will help you to fully access yourself.
Regularly focusing on your body's inner energy field and feeling your body from the inside can help you stay calm in the present moment.
In a state of presence, you need to be fully present and focused on the present moment.
In this way, there is no room for daydreams, thoughts, memories and expectations. There is no tension, fear, only an alert presence.
Zen masters use the word "sudden enlightenment" to describe a brief moment of enlightenment or a brief state of mindlessness and total presence.
You may have experienced this state of "enlightenment" many times without knowing it.
To feel the beauty and sacredness of nature, you need presence awareness.
Have you ever stared at the night sky on a clear night and marveled at its absolute tranquility and incredible vastness?
Have you ever listened carefully to the sound of mountain springs in the forest?
Or have you ever listened carefully to the singing of birds on a silent summer night?
You will only pay attention to these when your mind is quiet and you are fully in the present moment.
You must temporarily unburden yourself of personal problems, past and future baggage.
Otherwise you will be blind and unable to appreciate the beauty of nature.
When you experience these moments of presence, you are in a brief state of thoughtlessness.
It may only be a few seconds before your mind comes alive again.
Otherwise you cannot experience this beauty.
The mind is powerless to perceive and create beauty.
Many people think too deeply, and the beauty of nature does not exist for them.
They may say: "What a beautiful flower"
But this is just a mechanical psychological mark.
Because they are not in the present moment, they are not truly seeing and feeling its essence and sacredness, just as they do not understand themselves.
Being in a state of thinking is the normal state of human beings, and thinking is internal and invisible.
The human body is external, full of joy and anger.
The human body reacts to thoughts, which is why people have emotions. ?Many people have difficulty controlling their emotions, such as grief, anger, and sadness. They will be controlled by emotions and do irrational things unless you have enough awareness of presence.
At this time, you should learn to observe your own emotions.
Learn to ask yourself: "What is happening inside me at this moment?"
But don't analyze, just observe.
Of course, people also have positive emotions, such as love and joy.
When a mental blank appears, you will feel love, joy or tranquility, but it is short-lived and may develop in the opposite direction in an instant, such as love giving rise to hate.
Because the brain quickly carries out thinking activities.
Love, joy, and peace will not last unless you stop thinking.
As long as you identify with your thinking, that is, you are unconscious, pain is inevitable.
Think hard and understand that pain is divided into two levels: the pain that occurs now and the pain that occurred in the past but is still left in your mind and body. The above are reading notes from the book "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle.
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