Zazen Mind

Taigen Dan Leighton at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, March 12, 2007 • Download from Ancient Dragon’s Audio Dharma Talk page (donate)
A brief word about posture and breath • Thinking about mind in zazen • a traditional approach: the different consciousness • Eye consciousness: there is an eye object, an eye organ, and thus there is awareness, consciousness • Mind consciousness: There are thoughts happening • What our brain secretes • Settling into a deeper place, seeing the patterns of thinking • not the heretical lobotomy school of zen • a zen approach: thinking of not thinking, thinking beyond thinking • foreground and background • not getting rid of the ego, but not getting caught by it • an awareness of thinking beyond thinking • not the thinking that cuts things up • koans using words to put things together, not take them apart • difficult to discuss, but available to all, even first-time sitters • one way to get us to open the door