This is the second day of 10 days meditation retreat.
Now we will meditate together to fight against our own ignorance and attachment. In order to detach from what we know, we should accept what we don’t know in our mind. Most of the meditator are not knowing very well about meditation or mindfulness and detachment.
I have been teaching about not knowing or ignorance or misunderstanding for over 20 years continuously, but most of the meditators are difficult to accept my teachings about not knowing or ignorance of their mind.
If we cannot detach from what we know, we cannot understand about ignorance or misunderstanding of our mind. We used to think highly about ourselves, that’s why its difficult to think highly about the others. Now we should think highly of Buddha Dharma Sangha in order to detach from thinking highly about ourselves. Because of attachment on what we know, we cannot accept what we don’t know.
There are knowing and not knowing in our mind. We should try to use our knowing or not knowing to be using only without rejecting or attaching on our mind. Scientists or psychologists also discover that there is conscious mind and unconscious mind. We know about our conscious mind, we don’t know about our own unconscious mind.
Because of strong attachment on conscious mind, we are rejecting the unconscious mind. Both using of rejecting or attaching is wrong. Both using of not rejecting or attaching is right. Conscious mind or knowing mind is easy to understand. Unconscious mind or not knowing mind is difficult to understand. Attachment on knowing mind is easy to understand. Attachment on not knowing mind is difficult to understand.
Most of the living beings are using only the knowing mind, by rejecting the not knowing mind. The real creator is not knowing mind or ignorance and attachment. Not knowing mind or ignorance or misunderstanding or wrong understanding are similar to a father, attachment is similar to a mother.
Our own ignorance and attachment are our real parents who are creating our lives to be good or to be bad. Because of not knowing about our own ignorance and attachment, we cannot get what we want, we cannot be what we want to be.
Only when we are practicing meditation or mindfulness and detachment, we can learn more and more about the ignorance and attachment of our own or the others. In this way, we can create our lives more and more.
The real object of mindfulness is our own ignorance and attachment at the present moment. We should try to know what we don’t know as much as we know what we know. You may know about yourself only with ignorance and attachment. Now you should try to know about ourselves with mindfulness and detachment. Seeing from the side of ignorance and attachment is opposite from seeing from the side of mindfulness and detachment. Knowing ourselves as living beings or human being, male or female, life or dead, is knowing of ignorance and misunderstanding and attachment. Knowing as cause and effect cycle of evernew impermanent nature is knowing from the side of mindfulness and detachment.
Mindfulness and detachment may know living beings or non living beings as nothing, not something, not someone, just cause and effect cycle of evernew impermanent nature. Knowing from the side of mindfulness and detachment is also to be using only without grasping or attaching in the mind. Seeing from the side of ignorance and attachment as living beings or non living beings, good or bad, right or wrong, educated or uneducated, all these are to be using only with grasping or attaching in the mind.
We should try to use both of ignorance and attachment and mindfulness and detachment to be using only without grasping or attaching in the mind. Time place person condition or situation are to be using only without grasping or attaching in the mind. Discipline, law and regulations, money, technology, all these are to be using only without grasping or attaching in the mind.
Using with ignorance and attachment is what we used to do as a living beings. That is there is no end. Our own ignorance and attachment are the real creator of endless life cycle.
In fact, cause and effect cycle of impermanent nature is real. Life cycle of living being is not real. Our own ignorance and attachment are hiding or covering the truth of cause and effect cycle of impermanent nature.
Who are we or what are we doing or where we are going or what happens to us is not much important. To be doing with present action of mindfulness and detachment is really important. In sitting meditation, we should close the eyes gently, relax the whole body and mind. We need to use our eyes and our mind gently, not forcefully.
If the mind is gentle, our physical and verbal action will also be gentle. If our physical and verbal actions are gentle, the mind will also be gentle. Both of our body and mind needs to be gentle. We need to be mindful whatever we do. Every action of our body and mind need to be mindful. To be doing only, we should let go or abandon or stop whatever we do with our body and mind. Both of doing or not doing are to be doing or not doing only without grasping or attaching in the mind.
When we are practicing like this, we need to detach from both opposite situations or easiness or difficulties, short term or long term, failure or success, understanding or not understanding. All these situations need to be using only without grasping or attaching in the mind.
The mind can be changing time after time. Both of the mind of willing to meditate or not willing to meditate is to be using only, not grasping or attaching in the mind. We need to change the controller, from ignorance and attachment to mindfulness and detachment. We need to fight against our own ignorance and attachment by relying on Buddha Dharma Sangha.