The ZM responds, "Attend." The guy asks, "What does attend mean?" The ZM says, "Attend means attend." The guy says, "I don't understand; can you explain it more clearly?" The ZM shouts, "Attend, attend, attend!"
As an adult, you only have two choices. You can either attend thoughts or what is seen, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted. Most people spend all of their time attending thoughts. They talk to themselves all day long imagining, commenting, interpreting, speculating, fantasizing, reflecting, regretting, judging, cognizing, calculating, thinking, idealizing, wondering, etc. They spend all of their time mesmerized by images, ideas, and symbols. They spend almost no time at all looking at the world in silence or looking within themselves.
You THINK you are a human being, but you are not. You THINK you control "your" body, but you don't. Blood cells move through the body; hair, fingernails, and teeth grow; neurons fire; muscles contract; and thoughts appear on the screen of consciousness. Who you THINK you are has nothing to do with any of that. Who you THINK you are is a story that the mind repeats that is FICTIONAL.
You do not need a teacher to find the truth. Simply stop thinking and look. Watch thoughts without becoming attached to them or becoming psychologically carried away by them. Look at the world without naming or interpreting what is seen. Stop talking and become silent. Look around without imagining what is being seen. Look around without imagining that you are a separate entity. Look without knowing. Become like a little child for a while. Go contemplate a tree or a cloud. Go watch a bird or an insect. Go smell a flower or a dead animal. Watch the body as it moves and breathes. Attend, attend, attend!
As an adult, you only have two choices. You can either attend thoughts or what is seen, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted. Most people spend all of their time attending thoughts. They talk to themselves all day long imagining, commenting, interpreting, speculating, fantasizing, reflecting, regretting, judging, cognizing, calculating, thinking, idealizing, wondering, etc. They spend all of their time mesmerized by images, ideas, and symbols. They spend almost no time at all looking at the world in silence or looking within themselves.
You THINK you are a human being, but you are not. You THINK you control "your" body, but you don't. Blood cells move through the body; hair, fingernails, and teeth grow; neurons fire; muscles contract; and thoughts appear on the screen of consciousness. Who you THINK you are has nothing to do with any of that. Who you THINK you are is a story that the mind repeats that is FICTIONAL.
You do not need a teacher to find the truth. Simply stop thinking and look. Watch thoughts without becoming attached to them or becoming psychologically carried away by them. Look at the world without naming or interpreting what is seen. Stop talking and become silent. Look around without imagining what is being seen. Look around without imagining that you are a separate entity. Look without knowing. Become like a little child for a while. Go contemplate a tree or a cloud. Go watch a bird or an insect. Go smell a flower or a dead animal. Watch the body as it moves and breathes. Attend, attend, attend!
