Consider these first few lines of Sengstan's "Verses on the Faith Mind:"
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When clinging and abhorrence are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make even the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is a disease of the mind.
What is Sengstan pointing to? Is he saying that a sage walking into an ice cream shop can't (or won't) choose between vanilla and chocolate ice cream? Of course not; he's pointing to a life lived free of reflective thought. Such a life is unimaginable to people who can't stop imagining and are trapped in reflective thought processes.
I have met Buddhists who were actually paralyzed by their incorrect understanding of this issue. Some time ago I recounted a story of working with two Buddhist monks on a retreat facility. When we got to a corner of the building where the plywood soffits could be run in either of two directions, I asked them if they had any opinion of which way we should install the panels. One of the monks said, "We're Buddhists, so we have no opinions." I laughed and said, "Well, that's okay because I have enough opinions for all three of us." I then told them which way we would install the panels.
Let's say that a man gets up from his home computer, goes to the kitchen for a snack, and then returns. When considering the isness of THAT, we could imagine that the man felt hunger, had an intent to alleviate his hunger, acted upon that intent, and thereby improved his situation. We would thereby be imaginatively breaking apart the seamless being of isness into component parts either unconsciously or consciously for some purpose of discussion. If the man was not thinking at all, then the body/mind was acting spontaneously and intelligently without an intellectual overlay or interpretive filter.
Senstan is saying that most people unconsciously think, "I like x instead of y," and they thereby reinforce the illusion that there is someone having a preference. In the total absence of thought the body/mind will move toward either x or y spontaneously, so any thought about that action is unnecessary.
Most of the ancient masters (and quite a few modern ones) had silent minds, so for them intellectual silence is a common reference.
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When clinging and abhorrence are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make even the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is a disease of the mind.
What is Sengstan pointing to? Is he saying that a sage walking into an ice cream shop can't (or won't) choose between vanilla and chocolate ice cream? Of course not; he's pointing to a life lived free of reflective thought. Such a life is unimaginable to people who can't stop imagining and are trapped in reflective thought processes.
I have met Buddhists who were actually paralyzed by their incorrect understanding of this issue. Some time ago I recounted a story of working with two Buddhist monks on a retreat facility. When we got to a corner of the building where the plywood soffits could be run in either of two directions, I asked them if they had any opinion of which way we should install the panels. One of the monks said, "We're Buddhists, so we have no opinions." I laughed and said, "Well, that's okay because I have enough opinions for all three of us." I then told them which way we would install the panels.
Let's say that a man gets up from his home computer, goes to the kitchen for a snack, and then returns. When considering the isness of THAT, we could imagine that the man felt hunger, had an intent to alleviate his hunger, acted upon that intent, and thereby improved his situation. We would thereby be imaginatively breaking apart the seamless being of isness into component parts either unconsciously or consciously for some purpose of discussion. If the man was not thinking at all, then the body/mind was acting spontaneously and intelligently without an intellectual overlay or interpretive filter.
Senstan is saying that most people unconsciously think, "I like x instead of y," and they thereby reinforce the illusion that there is someone having a preference. In the total absence of thought the body/mind will move toward either x or y spontaneously, so any thought about that action is unnecessary.
Most of the ancient masters (and quite a few modern ones) had silent minds, so for them intellectual silence is a common reference.
