Behind the Mind

by Wu Hsin

  This is your contemplation for today; more tomorrow

  The Master began:

  Entry to the Absolute requires leaving the particular behind.

  We disengage or detach. This detachment is not by the person; it is from the person.

  All attachment implies fear, the misguided assumption that something must be held on to.

  It is only when the death grip is released that true freedom from all fears can be known.

  All desiring is due to a misguided sense of insufficiency.

  All desires’ fulfillments are like a meal of rice; a short time later and you are hungry again.

  When you know that you lack nothing, that all there is, is you and yours, desire ceases.

  Dismount the pendulum of fear and desire. That ground beneath you is the Source and Support.

  Ponder this; more tomorrow.

  Master said:

  The primary benefit to believing in anything is that it keeps one inert and removes the need to investigate the validity of the belief.

  In that regard, believing is like a silk blanket that feels good and provides comfort. Sleeping is far more comfortable than the work required for waking oneself up.

  Most seekers of so-called truth gladly settle for improvements to their existing fictions.

  True investigation must not be supportive of collective pretenses. What the mob believes need not be right and usually isn't.

  The rantings of a crazy man have no power over us because we don't believe them. Likewise, the world only has the power we assign to it.

  As long as you hold unverified beliefs, believing yourself to be a body in the world for example, the world will impact you.

  Experience supports the notion that the greater the doubt, the greater the ensuing clarity.

  When you are no longer embrace your belief as a body, you are untouchable.

  When your problems are solved, you are also solved. To accomplish this, cease any and all involvement with your so-called life.

  In the absence of involvement, there is no judgment and in the absence of judgment, there cannot be any problems.

  Yet, paradoxically, you life continues on; you don't fall apart.

  He paused.

  The Master resumed:

  When we are unwilling to accept life on its terms, when we want things to be different from what they are, when we define ourselves by our preferences, all of these sow the seeds of conflict.

  What one is conscious of is "of consciousness" only. That is to say that in order to know itself, consciousness objectifies itself.

  Thus duality births experience.

  Every thing is consciousness. It is that which underlies and unifies all.

  Be this and be still.

  He sat for some time quietly.

  Then, Master continued:

  Before there is, before all beginnings, after all endings, I am.

  Neither inside nor outside, when all is gone, I remains.

  What I am is what I was before this seeming birth.

  Nothing has changed except for the fact that I have put on a suit of clothes called "body".

  In this world of duality, all I am is its Functioning, the seeing, the hearing, the perceiving, the knowing, and the doing.

  Like the wind, I can be experienced but cannot be seen.

  Ponder this; more tomorrow.

  Questions Answered

  On each day of the full moon, the Great Hall is open to visitors. On this day, numerous questions are put forth to Master Wu Hsin. Virtually all the disciples fill every available space toward the back.

  Wu Hsin enters and begins:

  The purpose of asking questions is not to create a chain of questions. It is to break the endless chain of questions. Bodily identification fuels the questioning.

  A single question by each may be put forth and an answer is provided.

  This answer must then be given full consideration.

  In this way, the cycle of question-answer-question is ended.

  It is an individual answer despite the fact that there is no individual.

  Now, let us begin.

  Q: Master, I have sought after this Totality everywhere without success. What am I to do?

  A: The paradox of this Totality is that It is everywhere, yet It cannot be found. Many there are who come to Wu Hsin asking how to find It.

  Is this not humorous, how to find "everywhere"?

  What shape has the wind?

  Very well, this is Wu Hsin's counsel: One can look for It in the space between two heartbeats, two breaths, two thoughts or two objects.

  Q: Master Wu Hsin, how can I obtain peace?

  A: If you want space, you remove all the rubbish obstructing the space. If you want peace, you remove all the mental rubbish obstructing the peace.

  You have been keeping your attention on states that are temporary; now, turn your attention to the Unchanging.

  Q: Master, I am worried that previous acts will send me to hell for all eternity. What can I do?

  A: Actions can only be deemed to be yours when you define yourself as a body with a name. The actions are the body's, not yours.

  Immortality is available to those whose belief “I am this body” has died.

  Q: Master, must I give up all my possessions to be with you?

  A: No my son. Merely give up the idea of “mine”.

  Q: Master, what is the importance of my dreams?

  A: In the highest sense, the purpose of dreaming is to exemplify how real dream can seem to be.

  It is acknowledged that the entirety of dream, that is the dream world and the experiences therein, are contained in the dreamer which is no different from mind.

  Is it at least not possible that the same applies to this waking state?

  Q: Despite all my efforts, Master, I have not yet been able to see my true nature. What must I do?

  A: One's essence, one's true nature, is not perceivable. All attempts to connect the perceptions with essence perpetuate the delusion. One is satisfied to imagine what one is rather than knowing it. Knowing is everything.

  Q: Mine is a similar problem and I have been unable to find the solution.

  A: All you have been doing is like washing fire.

  The only error is looking for solutions in what appears. A permanent solution cannot be found in the temporary.

  To cease being the accomplice of this error, one must be no longer willing to assume that what seems to be is what is in fact. It is only when the intellect is thoroughly confused that clarity can dawn.

  Direct the attention towards that which exists always and reality rushes in.

  Q: Master, when will I have a breakthrough?

  A: The initial breakthrough is knowing that Self-attention is far more important than any action that you have to do, than any word that you have to speak, or than any thought that you have to think.

  As one cannot obtain an accurate reflection of themselves in running water, so too what is real cannot be accurately discerned by an active mind.

  Q: Master, what is the role of the mind in your teaching?

  A: Mind is opaque; you cannot see clearly through it. Being a particular personality restricts the vision. It is like looking through a wormhole in a door.

  Clear sight is obtained by abidance behind the mind.

  Q: Two weeks before, Master, I had beautiful visions of selflessness, peace and unity, every day for six days. Now they are gone. What can I do to bring them back?

  A: Enslaved by circumstances, we don't see that we're controlled by the drive for control. Whatever we want to control is the controller. This cannot be taught.

  Understanding it is via direct perception, apperception. It does not proceed from or through the mind.

  Q: Master Wu Hsin, I feel that I am changing, improving, closer to my goal. What can I do to give more speed to this?

  A: Can you fold the sky?

  Do not be homesick for a home you never left.

  Abiding i
n Being Conscious is more than mere intellectual accomplishment. The seeker must dissolve.

  What remains is what was there at the outset, prior to the installation of any belief.

  Q: Master, although years have passed, this sense of a separate self is still here. Can you give me further advice so that I can end its reign?

  A: That which arrives spontaneously, departs spontaneously. The self consciousness, the I-am, appeared without any effort on your part. It goes in similar fashion.

  No body, no one, can make it go.

  I, me, and mine are all creations of the mind. When one abides behind the mind, the triad loses all meaning.

  Q: Master, you say that the world is not real. Yet, it continues to feel quite real. How can I reconcile this disparity?

  A: The mind imparts reality to everything without checking. As such, unless one is willing to investigate, everything will be real.

  Q: How is what I see different from what you see?

  A: Prior to clear seeing, what appears is seen as if looking through a keyhole in a door. With clear sight, the door has opened and the world is revealed as the ocean of the mind appearing to Conscious Seeing.

  I see myself as both the source and the substance of all there is. Wherever I go I find myself. Regardless of how far I reach out in time, I am there.

  Q: I find that it is difficult to move forward as I am beset by many problems. What would you advise, Master?

  A: All problems belong to either your body or your mind. Returning to, and resting at, the source of this "your" eliminates all problems.

  Q: My enlightenment remains in the distance Master. My efforts have not brought fruit. What should I do?

  A: An imagined entity desires to become an enlightened imagined entity. What's the point? It is like trying to measure space.

  Yet, this will continue until such time as the distinction is made between this that I am and that that I appear to be.

  Q: My life is filled with too many obligations. This, in turn, causes my practice to suffer. What can I do?

  A: If you turn the attention to that which illuminates everything, the obligations will be met and the goal will be achieved.

  Q: Master Wu Hsin, thoughts continue to intrude on my meditation. I cannot drive them away.

  A: One's natural stance is thought-free. Thought arises, projecting a person in a world. It is all imagination. What one truly is is beyond imagination. In that regard, we discover our true self when we stop imagining.

  Let the thoughts come but give them no attention.

  Q: How can you suggest that the individual is an illusion? It seems to me to be quite real.

  A: All apparent actions are the actions of the life force working through the body. It is the sole actor, our beliefs to the contrary notwithstanding.

  Upon waking up in the morning, the ‘I’ that is conscious becomes the ‘me’, the person. The memories of the previous day and previous days return. The plans for the future continue as before.

  This narrative of a self is a collection of past experiences and encounters that are selectively filtered and reframed to maintain a persistent characterization of who we think we are and more importantly, how we would like to be perceived by others.

  The body originated as a fertilized ovum. Before it was infused with consciousness, it was inert, dead. When the consciousness is finished, the body is again dead. The body is inert in the same way that a flag is inert. Only when it is powered by the wind can the flag fly. See what it is that powers the body and take your stand there.

  Q: When you say that we are blind to the way we are, what do you mean?

  A: Our drives as a species are devoted to satisfying desires of sensuality, acquisition, self-affirmation, and security, while protecting ourselves against death or abandonment.

  We are blind to the habitual. That which is habitual does not receive attention. As such, we are unaware of our mechanical nature unless it is brought into attention. This requires us to become conscious of things that we normally aren’t conscious of. It is only in seeing it that we can begin to transcend it.

  Q: Master, I am struggling. The world imposes so many distractions. I can’t seem to focus. What would you advise?

  A: Treat the world as if it were your shadow. It is there but in no way impedes you. You imagine otherwise, but it is not the case.

  Q: Master, what must I give up and what can I retain?

  A: Before initiating any strategy of renunciation, initiate a cessation of acquiring.

  Once the acquiring has ceased, the renunciation may begin.

  This begins by considering what is truly yours that you can give it up.

  Q: I feel that I am no nearer to my goal than I was five years ago. What is my error?

  A: The fault may be with your goal. The ultimate goal is goallessness. When that is attained, nothing further is required.

  Q: What do you advise when seeking a teacher?

  A: It is of lesser imperative to seek a teacher than it is to seek what the teacher sought.

  Q: Almost every night, out of the silence, a great fear arises. I cannot name it and I cannot control it. What is it, Master?

  A: The fear of impersonal being, of not being any thing in particular, restricts almost all from seeing matters clearly. You are face-to-face with nothingness. It cannot harm you. As such, see the baselessness of the fear and allow it to pass.

  Q: Master, I have a problem………………

  A: When "I have a problem" is properly seen as "I' is the problem", the problem dissolves.

  Q: What is the purpose of practice?

  A: The purpose of practice is to make something more natural.

  What is already present is what is natural.

  How can one practice to be what one already is? It is like looking for shadows on the sun.

  What collection of concepts and directions can ever be adequate to the task of taking one beyond all concepts and directions?

  Direct apperception cannot be practiced. It is a spontaneous, acausal event.

  Q: Is the world of an enlightened one such as yourself the same as my world?

  A: The outer world is nothing but sense perceptions. The inner world is nothing but mental conceptions. Since the functioning of the senses and the mind are personal in quality and output, all worlds are personal.

  Q: How can I transcend time?

  A: Time ceases when the past and the future don't matter any more.

  All events are transient. An event becomes an experience only when there is involvement. Involvement with the transient is the antithesis of freedom.

  Q: Master, I fear death.

  A: Only what is temporary can die. Lose your identification with what is temporary and death cannot touch you.

  Q: Master Wu Hsin, you said all worlds are personal. I don’t understand. Can you speak more on this?

  A: Looking through colored glass colors what is seen. Everything depends on the instrument. In that sense, "my" world and "your" world cannot be the same. Whereas seeing is one, seers are infinite.

  Q: Master, how am I to act in the world?

  A: The world is mere entertainment. It is the enjoyment of the experience of Being Consciousness. The world is nothing but Consciousness, a series of sensations. It is this Consciousness that creates its instrument, its vehicle, the brain in the body.

  Have no preoccupation with “how”. You will act as is in accordance with your nature. Of this Wu Hsin is certain.

  The Short Discourses, Part Two

  Today, the Master began:

  Most of you are dissatisfied with the way things are. You believe that there could be something more.

  Some are just beginning to search for it. Others have been searching unsuccessfully for months, years, and decades.

  Why is this so? Maybe it’s because you’ve been looking in the wrong place.

  We believe that we know what we are. Wu Hsin challenges that.

  What you believe is mere hearsay, told to
you over and over by your parents, peers, teachers and society.

  You’ve never taken the time to look and see for yourselves.

  That’s what is done here…………… and we do that by removing what we aren’t and seeing what remains. It is the same method as the sculptor uses.

  Many believe that the sculptor adds shape and texture to the raw material to create the sculpture. That’s one way of looking at it.

  Wu Hsin prefers to see the sculptor as simply removing from the raw material everything that isn’t the sculpture.

  What remains is the sculpture.

  Ponder this; more tomorrow.

  Today, the Master began:

  In order to examine anything thoroughly, we must be outside of it.

  Begin by standing outside yourselves and take a bit of time to view what's there.

  Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience.