Attention, Attention, Attention

There is a classic Zen story about a student who goes to his teacher and asks what to do. The teacher replies, "Attention, Attention, Attention."

When you STOP! sit up straight and stay still you need to put your attention on something, otherwise the wild, untamed mind will roam the past, the present and the future images of the mind and you will be swamped.

It requires repetition.
Repetition requires commitment.
Commitment requires willingness.
Start with 10,000 times.

So...your attention can be on one of many things. But an easy thing to start with is your breath because it is always with you until you die. You bring your attention to your breath over and over again. It sounds simple, but it isn't easy to do since your untamed mind wants to run off like a wild animal or a young child into a worry, a plan, the past, a dream, a feeling, a perception...and it wants to think how to fix it, keep it, repair it, change it, control it...because not only is it wild, it thinks it is in charge.

It requires that you determine time to practice. It's like learning anything. If you want to learn to play the piano, you must practice the same thing over and over again until you need something else to practice. And sometimes you have to return to the basics before you can acquire the next skill.

Discipline is required to unlearn and let go of the many mistaken ideas that you have about yourself. The mind and body need to be tamed and in order to do it you must make an inner turn within yourself that you want to spend your effort and power on practice.

It's up to you.

This mastery is not the mastery of a gymnast nor is it the mastery of intellectual knowledge although it requires the same effort of time and power. It is the mastery of the self that is driven by patterns and blindness that keep you going round and round in ignorance. It means taking the pot off your head and having a look at where you are and what you are up to moment by moment.

Thomas A Kempis, the author of The Imitation of Christ, written in the late 14th or early 15th century captures this mastery in this passage:

If you seek the Beloved in all things, you will surely find the Beloved in all things,
if you seek yourself, you will surely find yourself, only to your ruin.


Consider:  Reflect on whether you want to master your mind and body? Are you willing to labor not knowing exactly what might occur?

Recommendation: The Imitation of Christ, Thomas A Kempis.
The Imitation of Christ