What is your original mind?

I think that this is something that if more people understood what it means at it’s core, that it may help with a deeper understanding of meditation. I was talking with a friend today about finally getting into a regular practice. Fore reference, I have known how to meditate for more than 10 years, and just never really did it every day. Partly because I didn’t think it was necessary. With a lot of the things that have happened in my personal life recently, I have turned to a daily practice. Even getting lost and practicing multiple times a day because it is clear how much I needed it. Since I have known for years how to meditate, it has come rather easy to me. Where my friend said that he really had to focus. Also, that he was easily distracted. I smiled and said that is because you are doing it wrong. I know this, because I used to do it wrong as well. This was the hardest part for me, and not that I can speak for everyone else, it seems like it is one of the hardest parts for everyone. This is because we are so used to ‘doing’ whereas meditation is ‘not doing.’ 

So what do I mean when I say ‘not doing.’ Not doing is stopping what you are doing, and opening to the moment. My friend pointed out to me that everyone journey or understanding is different. Which is a yes and no answer. Bird’s don’t have a word for love, but they understand it. While their experience is remarkably different, some of the things that they feel are universal. 

That being said, there is a universal understanding of our original mind. That understanding is awareness. If you were to go backwards until you were an infant and unlearned everything along the way, you would go back to the pure awareness of a newborn baby. Hearing the rain for the first time, but not knowing what that even is. Hearing the sound of a cat before you knew what a cat was. Your original mind that asked, “What was that?” Before you even knew the words, ‘what was that?’ That is your original mind. The mind you were born with. Like a blank sheet of typing paper ready to be filled. Just aware and nothing else.

Older Buddhist teaching say that our mind is a vessel, or a cup. When it is full to the brim, the more you try and pour in, the more that pours out. If that is true, that the mind is a cup, then meditation is simply emptying the cup. Reminding yourself that you are not really your job, or how much money you have in your bank account, if you want to get all Tyler Durden about life. While that may seem like a joke, when I was learning how to meditate years ago, I was reading a lot of Chuck Palanunk. It is still one of the exercises that I do when I am sitting and getting into a mindset that is conducive for letting go.

That is the last point that I want to make before I finish this post. Letting go. I want you to take this as a metaphor for your emotions. That is because the act of letting go, this non-doing, is unlike what you are used to thinking as doing something. 

Pretend that you have been carrying a 20lb weight in your hand for a few hours. After a while, your muscles start to scream and get tired. Then there is the relief of finally putting it down. Your muscles loosen, you feel relief. Your emotions are a lot of the same thing. You carry some for a long time before you finally put them down. Not knowing how much pain you were causing yourself from carrying them for so long. With meditation, this feeling of letting go of the weight of your emotions is ready at hand. You just let go of the chain of suffering. This is non-doing, this is opening. Returning to your original mind. Where the mind is empty and ready. 

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Phoenix.