“For [Zen master] Dogen’s part, his Zen shifts attention from the simple interior state of mind to all the realities of the self and universe – the anthropo-cosmic totality – that are precisely what he means by the “body-mind.” In other words, meditation is not so much a retreat from the external world as it is an opening up of the body-mind to the mystery of the inner and outer world and beyond.” Hee Jin-Kim,- Dogen on Meditation and Thinking: A Reflection on His View of Zen
Most people think that their mind is more valuable than their body. This accompanies a bias in us; that is, that we are a mind (a consciousness or a soul) in a body. And, giving preference to what we think is more valuable, we create cultures dedicated to the mind’s future and to the superiority of mind over the body. But, who says the mind is different to the body, and who says that mind is more important? Mind, of course.
We are locked into a view create by mind, and have no way of assessing this claim while it is mind that sets the criteria for the inquiry. It limits the discovery of what intelligence the body has. Meditation, then, gets to be all about ‘mind,’ and the body is just what you put on the cushion, before you get on with mind cultivation. Ironically, meditation is then made into a very slow process of disabusing oneself of that very duality, and its displacement of value.
But, if we consider the words ‘body’ and ‘mind’ (and ‘self’) as being conventions indicating viewpoints on ‘This,’ then they needn’t by ‘symbolic’ of something that you think is ‘real.’ What if we approach speaking (and thinking) as how ‘This’ communicates itself in us (in speaking) and to us (in listening)?
Can you sense how this changes what I am wriiting? ‘This’ – with its implicit fullness, and all its possibilities – is finding a way of carrying itself forward through these words. Their meaning is in how they change me and you – me in the writing of them, and you in the reading of them. The meaning of these words, right here, is in our sentient process, not in the dictionary.
Practice 01: When next having a significant conversation with someone, reserve between 5-10% of your attention for tracking how what you are saying and what you are hearing changes you and the other person. If you notice that, give the changes an opportunity to make their way into the conversation. How does this change the relationship? Does it change your sense of possibilities?
Practice 02: For a few days, in all your conversations, reverse your bias (make a mark on your hand, to remind yourself) by participating in all conversations as though it really were true that language is something that bodies do. How does this re-orientation change the quality of your communication? What does it do to your normal identifications?
With such experiments we are opening ourselves up to an inconceivable dimension of our life, the ‘This’ of my previous sentences. A dimension of utter openness may present itself. Don’t be worried if it feels a little spooky – that is usually because mind has gotten used to dictating the terms on which you can be you, world can be world, and even ‘This’ can be ‘This.’ Mind has decided that ‘body’ is what mind says it is; and, in particular, that body is the house for the mind.
“Somehow we need to awaken to the urgency of our situation. Each day and each hour we are confirming limits that exist only because we confirm them. We are stepping into the same prison cell, refusing to pick up the key that could unlock the prison gates.” – Tarthang Tulku, Visions of Knowledge