The Zen student sitting on a cushion doing a breath meditation "practice" is shifting attention away from thoughts to the breathing process. S/he is either observing the process or feeling the process or being the process.
The advantage of informal ATA over formal meditation is that it does not require sitting in what, for many people, is an uncomfortable position for a limited period of time. Informal ATA can be pursued anywhere and at any time. One simply shifts attention away from thoughts to what can be seen, heard, felt, etc. As noted in earlier posts, 95% of most people's thinking is unnecessary. This means that attention upon thoughts keeps most people unnecessarily lost in the mind.
Nisargadatta was told by his guru, in essence, to shift attention away from thoughts to the sense of "I AM." Niz singlemindedly did that and found the truth in three years.
Rinzai was told by his teacher, in essence, to shift attention away from thoughts to pure awareness (shikan-taza). He was told to abide in a state of alert attentiveness equivalent to someone standing in a jungle at night surrounded by wild animals. Rinzai did that singlemindedly and woke up to the truth in three years.
Is ATA a practice? Not in the way that the word is usually understood. There is no separate practicer; there is only THIS. THIS can either attend thoughts or it can attend sounds, sights, smells, etc. If a thought arises, such as, "I'm making progress with ATA," or "This practice of ATA will help me get enlightened," these self-centered thoughts are recognized, and attention is shifted back to what can be seen or heard. THERE IS NO SEPARATE PERSON WHO DOES THE SHIFTING! Separateness is the illusion, and ATA cuts through the illusion by not reinforcing the idea of separation. THIS is intelligent, and when thoughts cease to be attended, they cease to obscure the obvious. Thought structures thereby collapse along with the illusions they support.
As Niz once said to one of his students, "You didn't get into this mess overnight." By this he meant, "You didn't acquire your sense of selfhood overnight. It happened gradually because you didn't realize how attention to thoughts was insidiously altering your perception of the world."
In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus is reported to have said, "Become as a passer-by." IOW, look! Attend! Don't get sucked into believing that you're separate from THIS.
All there is is THIS--the click of computer keys, words on a screen, the hum of a fluorescent light fixture in the background..........
The advantage of informal ATA over formal meditation is that it does not require sitting in what, for many people, is an uncomfortable position for a limited period of time. Informal ATA can be pursued anywhere and at any time. One simply shifts attention away from thoughts to what can be seen, heard, felt, etc. As noted in earlier posts, 95% of most people's thinking is unnecessary. This means that attention upon thoughts keeps most people unnecessarily lost in the mind.
Nisargadatta was told by his guru, in essence, to shift attention away from thoughts to the sense of "I AM." Niz singlemindedly did that and found the truth in three years.
Rinzai was told by his teacher, in essence, to shift attention away from thoughts to pure awareness (shikan-taza). He was told to abide in a state of alert attentiveness equivalent to someone standing in a jungle at night surrounded by wild animals. Rinzai did that singlemindedly and woke up to the truth in three years.
Is ATA a practice? Not in the way that the word is usually understood. There is no separate practicer; there is only THIS. THIS can either attend thoughts or it can attend sounds, sights, smells, etc. If a thought arises, such as, "I'm making progress with ATA," or "This practice of ATA will help me get enlightened," these self-centered thoughts are recognized, and attention is shifted back to what can be seen or heard. THERE IS NO SEPARATE PERSON WHO DOES THE SHIFTING! Separateness is the illusion, and ATA cuts through the illusion by not reinforcing the idea of separation. THIS is intelligent, and when thoughts cease to be attended, they cease to obscure the obvious. Thought structures thereby collapse along with the illusions they support.
As Niz once said to one of his students, "You didn't get into this mess overnight." By this he meant, "You didn't acquire your sense of selfhood overnight. It happened gradually because you didn't realize how attention to thoughts was insidiously altering your perception of the world."
In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus is reported to have said, "Become as a passer-by." IOW, look! Attend! Don't get sucked into believing that you're separate from THIS.
All there is is THIS--the click of computer keys, words on a screen, the hum of a fluorescent light fixture in the background..........
