Awareness That Does Not Try to Grasp

Today's teaching begins with the phrase that even if we seek the mind, it cannot be obtained. It also connects with the Diamond Sutra's words that the past mind cannot be obtained, the present mind cannot be obtained, and the future mind cannot be obtained. The mind is not an object that can be held in the hand and stored away.

When the mind is uncomfortable, we try to get rid of that mind; when a good mind appears, we try to hold on to it for a long time. Yet the movements of the mind arise and disappear according to conditions. Thoughts, emotions, and wandering imaginings appear for a while and then scatter again. The more we try to grasp them as fixed substances, the more burdensome thoughts increase.

So we also need to look carefully at the instruction to let go. If we grasp the thought that we must let go as one more assignment, that too can become an attachment that makes the mind strain. Today's teaching tells us to look lightly not only at the mind that grasps, but also at the mind that struggles to let go.

Practice is not helplessly doing nothing. It is carefully observing the mind that is arising now and noticing that it appears and disappears. When we know that a happy mind, an uncomfortable mind, and thoughts of past and future are all passing functions, we no longer add unnecessary attachment on top of them.

Today, do not try to solve the mind by grasping it, and do not cling even to the thought that you must let the mind go. As if opening your hand and seeing the light, quietly notice what is arising now just as it is. Within that awareness, burdensome thoughts naturally lose their strength.