Thinking and not-thinking

Zen, perhaps a bit more than other traditions, seems to have an emphasis on not-thinking. This doesn’t mean no thoughts, being unintelligent, compromise of reason, blanking the mind. It means more like:

• letting go of compulsive thinking, habitual stringing together of thoughts;
• letting go automatic mental habits, compulsive subjective rationalisation;
• letting go of desires and attachments.

Thinking is doing. Thoughts always contain something to do. Be without thinking. Just do the verb. Just do what needs to be done.

The mind

The mind creates thoughts, that’s what it does.

Don’t attach yourself to them, don’t hold on to them, don’t push them away, don’t help them grow.

Don’t be upset by anything that arises in your mind, no grasping or rejection. When thoughts arise, just leave them alone.

Zen mind

The mind before thinking is Zen mind.

Thinking creates names and forms. A stick doesn’t say “I’m a stick,” people make it a stick.

Understanding is thinking. Attainment is before thinking.

Wanting enlightenment is thinking. Liking and not-liking is thinking. Wanting is thinking. Easy or difficult is thinking. Good and bad is thinking.

Things are the one until we explain them, add thoughts, add language; then they become separate, different.

Non-duality of thinking

We say thinking and no-thinking are different to understand, gain clarity. In the end, though, Zen says don’t be attached to thinking or to not-thinking. Integrate the two, in a non-dual way. They are distinct, but not divided.

Raw notes

• Names and forms are made by thinking. Before thinking there are no names and forms.
• Don’t be attached to thinking or to not-thinking.
• The verb, the action, of being without thinking or desire or attachment.
• If you keep the mind that is before thinking, that is Zen mind.
• Opposites are mutual. Their names and forms are different, but their substance is the same. Names and forms are made by your thinking.
• Anything can be written in a book, anything can be said–all this is thinking.
• It’s very important not to be attached either to thinking or to not-thinking. You mustn’t be upset by anything that goes on in your mind. Only don’t worry and keep don’t-know mind.
• Wanting enlightenment is only thinking.
• After thinking, there are opposites. Before thinking, there are no opposites.
• “Difficult” is thinking, “easy” is thinking.
• Noisy and quiet are made by your thinking. If you think something is noisy, it is noisy. If you think something is quiet, it is quiet.
• Saying it’s both is doubly wrong. A stick is made by thinking. It does not say “I’m a stick.” People make it a stick.
• “I want to cut off anger.” – this is thinking. Anger is not bad, not good. Only don’t be attached to it.
• When you are thinking, our minds are different. When you are not thinking, our minds are the same.
• When you think death, you make death. When you think life, you make life. Where you are not thinking, there is not life and no death.
• If you are thinking, samadhi and enlightenment are different. If you cut off thinking, samadhi and enlightenment are the same. But when we explain them, they are different.
• Thinking is no good, so put it all down.
• Sitting means cutting off all thinking and keeping not-moving mind.
• Understanding is thinking. Attainment is before thinking.
• As long as we have minds, we cannot help thinking of various things one after another. What’s important is not to attach yourself to them, not to retain thoughts and let them grow. As thoughts arise we say, “There they are again.”
• Za (sitting) means to not give rise to thoughts (no dualism) under any circumstance. Zen (meditation) means to see your original nature and not become confused.
• As for the images and sounds whizh arise during meditation, they are all right if they do not give rise to dualistic thought and if they do not cause thoughts to follow.
• Do not pile thoughts up and let them grow, do not attach yourself to them, and they will have to disappear.
• What is wrong is to retain thoughts and let them grow, to become attached to various thoughts one after another.
• ‘As long as we have minds, we cannot help thinking of various things one after another. It is not right, however, to let one thought follow another endlessly and permit ourselves to develop those thoughts. What is worse still is to be annoyed by them and to pay attention to them. As soon as random thoughts arise we should say, “There they are again.”‘
• If disturbing thoughts and fantasies want to arise, I will let them arise. I am as free as ever to count my breaths and concentrate on my koan.
• If we sit earnestly, free from any disturbing things and thoughts, we become one with zazen. There is no room left for anything to intrude between zazen and us.
• Detaching from thoughts means stopping habits and compulsive thinking, not having no thought or being unintelligent.
• While Zen does involve detachment from thoughts, this is not an end but a means, and does not include destruction or compromise of reason.
• Detachment from thoughts is a means of undermining automatic mental habits and compulsive subjective rationalization. It is not for blanking the mind or diminishing the intelligence.
• Substance and function of true mind are differentiated for expedient reasons, in order to avoid mistaking subjective feelings for true substance and conditioned thoughts for true function. If substance and function were to remain separate, however, the individual would be split between stillness and activity, with no way to integrate them.
• Cut off thoughts and prevent thoughts from arising. The instant a thought arises, you immediately break through it by awakeness.
• “Do not fear thoughts’ arising; just be wary of being slow to become aware of it.”
• Stop all random thoughts. Paying no attention to external objects, you just stop your own mind.
• Since indifference is not allowed in tranquillity, and random thoughts are not used in alertness, where can any confused mind come from?
• Without a single thought of grasping or rejection, it comprehends everything it encounters.
• Now you jump for joy, thinking everything is settled. What you do not realize is that the demons have gone into these subtle thoughts of joy and are hiding there, completely intact.
• When thoughts arise, just leave them alone.
• Behind every thought is a push to do: to fix, to improve, to protect, to seek, to grasp.
• Let time pass, without any ulterior motive or thoughts about the experience. Like you did when you were a kid.
• In our doubt, we cling to overt or subtle meditative techniques to minimize the amount of time we spend caught up thoughts while sitting zazen. Our natural preferences morph into judgments, even if parts of us resist those judgments.
• When various thoughts arise in your mind, do not become caught up by them or struggle with them; neither pursue nor try to escape from them. Just leave thoughts alone, allowing them to come up and go away freely.
• How can we spend more time awake to what’s going on in our life instead of being pushed around by thoughts? This is a sincere and important question.
• one of the things you don’t do is conceive of your wandering mind as separate from yourself. When you’re caught up in thought on the meditation seat, it’s because you got pulled into the habit of doing.
• Behind every thought is an obvious or subtle compulsion to do something – to fix, improve, protect, seek, grasp, etc.
• chill out like you naturally did when you were a kid: Letting time pass on a mellow summer afternoon, noticing the bees buzzing around – without any ulterior motive or any thoughts about how mindful you were being.
• Wu wei. Avoid assertion, practice inaction.
  • Flow without forcing or coercing.
  • Act without acting on, work without working at.
  • Work with, not work against.
• Actions are changes made by a self-conscious agent, a manifestation of purpose. So the Tao has no actions.
• Choosing obscures the Way.
• Language has evolved to describe purposive action, making it hard to describe spontaneous, actionless, activity.
• The Tao is the source, the unconditioned prior to conditioning.
• The “just” means no “in order to.”
  • No attachment to a particular outcome.
  • No intention to gain something.
  • No goal or ulterior motive.
• Intuitive action, wu wei, means acting without any desire of attachment.
• Don’t think. Just do what must be done.

Added 2024-07-04, last updated 2024-07-09.