When one is sitting one should simply sit. When one is observing thought it is not our thoughts as they naturally arise that will be of benefit. It is the observation of though as a reaction to the world that is of benefit. So a better time to observe thought would be when one is talking to another. Not when sitting. So let's say I am speaking with someone and something they say irritates me. This is the moment to observe thought. To see how this irritation arouse and to make peace with the mental cause of irritation. A neat trick to observe how one should be while sitting is to pay attention to the ears when dealing with the internal narrative. For just a moment when you focus on what your hearing the internal dialogue ceases to arise. The same with mental images. When I am having a mental image if I focus on what I am looking at for just a moment the mental images cease to arise. It is the same with the body and emotions that are accompanied by a physical reaction. By this I mean if I am sad then there should be a corresponding shift in my facial features that reflect this sadness and then i know it is an emotional reaction. So for just a moment I focus on body and for just a moment the sadness dissipates. Observing thought is done to figure out the root causes of reactionary thinking. Reactionary means that something must occur in the environment for a thought to arise as opposed to memory plan fantasy which do not require outside stimuli.
I was actually on the last chapter of Don't Be a Jerk (I've read most of your books now, and I think I own them all?). I was just thinking today how I feel about Shobogenzo, and, despite your reverence towards it, I honestly don't care about it. Your books, however, are incredible. Shobogenzo is important to me indirectly, because they inspire your works, which are applicable to me. But, to be blunt, Shobogenzo itself simply isn't applicable to me, it's from a time and place so far removed from me that it may as well be written by aliens. Your paraphrasing of it is useful to me, but that's because you're there to translate it (not just linguistically but conceptually), but the raw material just doesn't click with me. This will probably sound weird to you, but your books are far more important and influential to me than Shobogenzo or any other Buddhist writing, because you're in this perfect position to have dipped your toes into eastern and western society and aren't really stuck in any particular one, and it puts you in this unique position where you can translate experiences between eastern and western cultures in a very intuitive way.
"I feel about Shobogenzo, and, despite your reverence towards it, I honestly don't care about it. " He gets his reverence for it from his first teacher, Tim McCarthy. When I was hanging out with Tim, he wanted to have gatherings and lessons on Shobogenzo without really addressing why we should care in a very effective way. The main thing I remember from those meetings was, he didn't like how hippie types described it as "unexplainable" (or similar such words).
Good instruction for people earlier in their practice and for the rest of us that need reminding of this misunderstood part of practice. Yesterday, following a thought snuck up on me. After zazen, I went into the kitchen, but my last thought of my current divorce process stuck in my head. What helped me is that I caught my insepid rumination, reflected on where and when this thought occurred, and laughed to myself: I followed a thought off the cushion. 23 years of practice, and what most of us call a basic part of our practice, happened, but that's what this practice is about. Granted that it doesn't occur that often - but it does happen. Thanks Brad. Viva Ziggy!
David Bohm's colleague, a Finnish philosopher Paavo Pylkkanen, told that he once called David Bohm and asked what has Mr. Bohm been up to today and Bohm said "I have been watching thought."
I have always thought of that phrase "observe your thoughts" as having to do with what to do outside of formal meditation practice. In formal sitting it is more of just letting go, not necessarily observing thoughts or anything at all, yet it can give one the ability or the matrix develop the capacity "observe your thoughts" outside of formal sitting.
Apart from zazen, in my daily life, I have found that observing thoughts is the most useful thing I can do to avoid afflictive emotions. Most, if not all, emotions and moods are directly related to the thoughts passing thorough the brain. Thoughts are powerful. It is said that the universe is created by the power of thoughts and words. Seems to me then that making a habit of observing thoughts, or being aware of what thoughts are passing through the mind, in an objective manner (when off the meditation cushion) is a really useful thing to do if you want to live a more serene and happy life.
an important correction: the brain's evolved role is not thinking and analyzing and pondering... it's allostasis; predictive regulation of metabolism and organismal functions, coordinating the trillions of cells to stay alive. 7 and a 1/2 lessons about the brain by lisa feldman-barrett is an excellent short introduction that debunks some myths about how brains work and why they evolved.
I think observing thought and 'noticing it and letting it pass' as you mention is the same thing, just different way of expression. Anything extra IS thinking.
"observing thought" gives the impression that we should be examining the contents of the mental narrative - notice that you're lost in thought (again) is probably a more accurate description of meditation.
You can also use the mantra: “Thank you for everything, I’ve no complaints whatsoever”. This was actually recommended by a famous zen nun in Japan, because when you’re “Ok and Save” then you don’t need to think much about anything! Of course this will work. Don’t listen to Brad!
From my understanding “observe your thoughts” is a way to differentiate between thought (a function of the body) and thinking (a deliberate action). I might be totally wrong, who knows
I think Peter Matthiessen once said that one would be hard pressed to achieve more than a couple of minutes of mental quiet during a day. Makes a lot of sense to me, and I believe Matthiessen practiced sitting meditation for decades.
The goal is not to achieve mental quietness. The goal is to know who is behind the observation of your thoughts! Mental quietness is just a side effect of long periods spent as a witness to thoughts and letting them pass without attachment to them. It became a habit like any other habits that you developed.
While you silently observe your thoughts using your awareness, that’s not a thought. When you said to yourself in your mind that you’re observing your thoughts then that’s a thought. It’s a big different!
@@k14michael What I'm saying is that "the observer" is not compatible with buddhism--especially not Zen. There is no observer. You can't be aware of something without thinking about it. Or, as J. Krishnamurti said, "The observer IS the observed."
I had to look up observe in the dictionary. Somehow I had missed that the meaning contains ”pay close attention to”. I had always translated it as more as seeing something (thoughts in this case) from a distance or recognising that it (thoughts) is taking place. I’ve been sitting with this idea of seeing from a distance and maybe also with the idea of ”seeing what happens” for some years. Maybe this is not completely against what Dogen wrote. I hope I don’t have too many of this kind of misunderstandings. It’s not easy to learn Buddhist ideas in a foreign language. See you in Suomi.
Thanks, I've been wondering about this for a couple of years. This 'observe your thoughts' comes up so often in Zen instruction and 'mindfulness' (sic) meditation. My experience: When a thought comes up, it feels like I'm that thought, until I realize that I've exchanged the Buddha mind for a thought. Over and over, endlessly.
thankyou Brad for interesting commentaties on Fukanzazengi. I"m from Spain and like to assist some sesshin of you n Europe. Please inform me which is the less expensive one. I'm observing that zen buddhism is becoming a luxury practice in €urope. It's sad that zen buddhists follow the business buddhism of Tibetan buddhism in the West.
The retreat in Hebden Bridge England is the least expensive I think. The one in Finland is probably nearly the same but I think going to Finland is expensive. Benediktushof in Germany is not much more expensive than the others.
Hey, Brad - Nishijima Roshi’s translation seems to be available as four hardback volumes on Amazon. Thought maybe you just hadn’t searched for it in a while and didn’t know since you already have copies.
Hmm…doing zazen for 40 years and you can’t even give a clear explanation about something as simple as “observing thoughts” even after 19:27 minutes of ranting and talking about your Godzilla T-shirt. You’re a hardcore zen alright 😂 Let me help. When you sit down to meditate you will notice your five external senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch (bodily sensation and emotions) and what Buddha call the 6th internally mind sense, which are thoughts. You simply notice or “observe” them and let them go, don’t get involved with them. In the beginning if you cannot let go of the habits of getting involved with your senses then there is a method in Vipassana called labeling. Like one of Brad’s teacher that taught him, example is when a thought came up you simply just labeled them as thinking, thinking, thinking. That’s all, then come back to the present without any judgement. Do this over time then your attachment to these 6 senses will subside and you will begin to notice the witness behind these senses more and more. That is your awareness or simply put, that’s your Buddha nature. Or in the non-dual school they call it your true SELF (or SELF-realization) and that my friend is the end of the story or the endgame 😊 In the Sutra, Buddha promised that if you do this correctly and earnestly, and depends on your constituents, you will reach this realization within 7 years, or 7 months, or 7 weeks, or even 7 days.
What helped me greatly is how my teacher puts it: There’s a difference between ‘thinking’ and just ‘having thoughts’
@@tommyeadg Good distinction!
I think this was one of the most helpful videos you’ve posted.
When one is sitting one should simply sit. When one is observing thought it is not our thoughts as they naturally arise that will be of benefit. It is the observation of though as a reaction to the world that is of benefit. So a better time to observe thought would be when one is talking to another. Not when sitting. So let's say I am speaking with someone and something they say irritates me. This is the moment to observe thought. To see how this irritation arouse and to make peace with the mental cause of irritation. A neat trick to observe how one should be while sitting is to pay attention to the ears when dealing with the internal narrative. For just a moment when you focus on what your hearing the internal dialogue ceases to arise. The same with mental images. When I am having a mental image if I focus on what I am looking at for just a moment the mental images cease to arise. It is the same with the body and emotions that are accompanied by a physical reaction. By this I mean if I am sad then there should be a corresponding shift in my facial features that reflect this sadness and then i know it is an emotional reaction. So for just a moment I focus on body and for just a moment the sadness dissipates. Observing thought is done to figure out the root causes of reactionary thinking. Reactionary means that something must occur in the environment for a thought to arise as opposed to memory plan fantasy which do not require outside stimuli.
I was actually on the last chapter of Don't Be a Jerk (I've read most of your books now, and I think I own them all?). I was just thinking today how I feel about Shobogenzo, and, despite your reverence towards it, I honestly don't care about it. Your books, however, are incredible. Shobogenzo is important to me indirectly, because they inspire your works, which are applicable to me. But, to be blunt, Shobogenzo itself simply isn't applicable to me, it's from a time and place so far removed from me that it may as well be written by aliens. Your paraphrasing of it is useful to me, but that's because you're there to translate it (not just linguistically but conceptually), but the raw material just doesn't click with me. This will probably sound weird to you, but your books are far more important and influential to me than Shobogenzo or any other Buddhist writing, because you're in this perfect position to have dipped your toes into eastern and western society and aren't really stuck in any particular one, and it puts you in this unique position where you can translate experiences between eastern and western cultures in a very intuitive way.
"I feel about Shobogenzo, and, despite your reverence towards it, I honestly don't care about it. "
He gets his reverence for it from his first teacher, Tim McCarthy. When I was hanging out with Tim, he wanted to have gatherings and lessons on Shobogenzo without really addressing why we should care in a very effective way. The main thing I remember from those meetings was, he didn't like how hippie types described it as "unexplainable" (or similar such words).
“This is thought” is something I do when my mind starts to wander, similar to what your teacher taught you. Works surprisingly well.
Good instruction for people earlier in their practice and for the rest of us that need reminding of this misunderstood part of practice. Yesterday, following a thought snuck up on me. After zazen, I went into the kitchen, but my last thought of my current divorce process stuck in my head. What helped me is that I caught my insepid rumination, reflected on where and when this thought occurred, and laughed to myself: I followed a thought off the cushion. 23 years of practice, and what most of us call a basic part of our practice, happened, but that's what this practice is about. Granted that it doesn't occur that often - but it does happen. Thanks Brad. Viva Ziggy!
Really one of your best, best description of what happens in the head when practicing zazen :)
Thanks Brad! Appreciate the down to earth explanations of Zen.
David Bohm's colleague, a Finnish philosopher Paavo Pylkkanen, told that he once called David Bohm and asked what has Mr. Bohm been up to today and Bohm said "I have been watching thought."
Tää oli sama näkökulma mitä tuossa itsekin hain. Sä vaan löit hole in onen. T. Mikko
Love the new shirt!
I have always thought of that phrase "observe your thoughts" as having to do with what to do outside of formal meditation practice. In formal sitting it is more of just letting go, not necessarily observing thoughts or anything at all, yet it can give one the ability or the matrix develop the capacity "observe your thoughts" outside of formal sitting.
Apart from zazen, in my daily life, I have found that observing thoughts is the most useful thing I can do to avoid afflictive emotions.
Most, if not all, emotions and moods are directly related to the thoughts passing thorough the brain.
Thoughts are powerful. It is said that the universe is created by the power of thoughts and words.
Seems to me then that making a habit of observing thoughts, or being aware of what thoughts are passing through the mind, in an objective manner (when off the meditation cushion) is a really useful thing to do if you want to live a more serene and happy life.
an important correction: the brain's evolved role is not thinking and analyzing and pondering... it's allostasis; predictive regulation of metabolism and organismal functions, coordinating the trillions of cells to stay alive.
7 and a 1/2 lessons about the brain by lisa feldman-barrett is an excellent short introduction that debunks some myths about how brains work and why they evolved.
I think observing thought and 'noticing it and letting it pass' as you mention is the same thing, just different way of expression. Anything extra IS thinking.
"observing thought" gives the impression that we should be examining the contents of the mental narrative - notice that you're lost in thought (again) is probably a more accurate description of meditation.
It's easy:
Deliberately apply and sustain happy wholesome thoughts like "I'm okay. I'm safe." and the mind will naturally relax.
That never works. Every happy or wholesome thought contains its opposite.
@@HardcoreZenAny idea when the guru viking with Shozan Jack and you is coming out?
HAIL ZIGGY 🙏🐺
You can also use the mantra: “Thank you for everything, I’ve no complaints whatsoever”. This was actually recommended by a famous zen nun in Japan, because when you’re “Ok and Save” then you don’t need to think much about anything! Of course this will work. Don’t listen to Brad!
Undoing the brainwashing of human society. Like deprogramming cult members.
From my understanding “observe your thoughts” is a way to differentiate between thought (a function of the body) and thinking (a deliberate action). I might be totally wrong, who knows
I think Peter Matthiessen once said that one would be hard pressed to achieve more than a couple of minutes of mental quiet during a day.
Makes a lot of sense to me, and I believe Matthiessen practiced sitting meditation for decades.
The goal is not to achieve mental quietness. The goal is to know who is behind the observation of your thoughts! Mental quietness is just a side effect of long periods spent as a witness to thoughts and letting them pass without attachment to them. It became a habit like any other habits that you developed.
Try saying thinking when thinking is noticed and say returning as you settle back into zazen. Hope that helps
you can't observe your thoughts. That's just another thought itself. You simply think.Also, there is no observer. that's the whole point.
While you silently observe your thoughts using your awareness, that’s not a thought. When you said to yourself in your mind that you’re observing your thoughts then that’s a thought. It’s a big different!
@@k14michael What I'm saying is that "the observer" is not compatible with buddhism--especially not Zen. There is no observer. You can't be aware of something without thinking about it.
Or, as J. Krishnamurti said, "The observer IS the observed."
Jesuszilla, son of Godzilla.
I had to look up observe in the dictionary. Somehow I had missed that the meaning contains ”pay close attention to”. I had always translated it as more as seeing something (thoughts in this case) from a distance or recognising that it (thoughts) is taking place.
I’ve been sitting with this idea of seeing from a distance and maybe also with the idea of ”seeing what happens” for some years. Maybe this is not completely against what Dogen wrote.
I hope I don’t have too many of this kind of misunderstandings. It’s not easy to learn Buddhist ideas in a foreign language.
See you in Suomi.
During walking meditation I often "lose" connection to my body (no sore feet or knees) and don't realize it for some time.
Thanks, I've been wondering about this for a couple of years. This 'observe your thoughts' comes up so often in Zen instruction and 'mindfulness' (sic) meditation.
My experience: When a thought comes up, it feels like I'm that thought, until I realize that I've exchanged the Buddha mind for a thought. Over and over, endlessly.
Have a look at Blue Cliff Record Case 80.
I am incredibly busy just now. Do absolutely nothing at all.
Meditation seems like too much hard work .
Europe is the best ❤ I didn't have to pick it or choose it
thankyou Brad for interesting commentaties on Fukanzazengi. I"m from Spain and like to assist some sesshin of you n Europe. Please inform me which is the less expensive one. I'm observing that zen buddhism is becoming a luxury practice in €urope. It's sad that zen buddhists follow the business buddhism of Tibetan buddhism in the West.
The retreat in Hebden Bridge England is the least expensive I think. The one in Finland is probably nearly the same but I think going to Finland is expensive. Benediktushof in Germany is not much more expensive than the others.
@@HardcoreZen 🙏
Hey, Brad - Nishijima Roshi’s translation seems to be available as four hardback volumes on Amazon. Thought maybe you just hadn’t searched for it in a while and didn’t know since you already have copies.
That may be the edition published by BDK. They eliminated all the Japanese text, but otherwise it’s the same as the standard edition.
Your Honor was okay, but it was no Breaking Bad.
Where did he even talk about these shows?
@@AkbarKarimi-y5xI mentioned Your Honor briefly in the video.
@@HardcoreZen I must have been in deep deep samadhi then 😆
@@AkbarKarimi-y5x It's understandable!
7:00 wait, you write books ?! 😱
isn't attention also something that goes on in your brain?
Hmm…doing zazen for 40 years and you can’t even give a clear explanation about something as simple as “observing thoughts” even after 19:27 minutes of ranting and talking about your Godzilla T-shirt. You’re a hardcore zen alright 😂
Let me help.
When you sit down to meditate you will notice your five external senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch (bodily sensation and emotions) and what Buddha call the 6th internally mind sense, which are thoughts.
You simply notice or “observe” them and let them go, don’t get involved with them. In the beginning if you cannot let go of the habits of getting involved with your senses then there is a method in Vipassana called labeling. Like one of Brad’s teacher that taught him, example is when a thought came up you simply just labeled them as thinking, thinking, thinking. That’s all, then come back to the present without any judgement. Do this over time then your attachment to these 6 senses will subside and you will begin to notice the witness behind these senses more and more. That is your awareness or simply put, that’s your Buddha nature. Or in the non-dual school they call it your true SELF (or SELF-realization) and that my friend is the end of the story or the endgame 😊
In the Sutra, Buddha promised that if you do this correctly and earnestly, and depends on your constituents, you will reach this realization within 7 years, or 7 months, or 7 weeks, or even 7 days.
You’re silly.
@@HardcoreZen
I’m silly sometimes but most of the time I just AM 😊 here and now.