1 of 16

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 2

simple as asking to talk to a certain voice, and answering in the affirmative, naming yourself as that voice. To get an idea I highly recommend watching the YouTube series of Genpo Roshi taking students through the process. You can find that series by going to YouTube.com and searching for "Big Mind."

This method is also very valuable for meditation. The simple process is to center yourself, like you would for Zen sitting, centered, relaxed, and breathing evenly. Then, in the roll of Facilitator, ask to talk to the Non-Seeking Non-Grasping Mind, "May I please talk to the Non-Seeking Non-Grasping Mind?" Then, answer back as that mind, "Yes, I am the Non-Seeking Non-Grasping Mind." Then you simply sit as that non-dualistic mind for the duration of your meditation.

As a testimony to the efficacy of this method I offer this: I was meditating a week back. My mind still, like a placid pond, reflecting all or nothing equally. Free of concerns, free of desires. Then, unbidden I moved up to the apex and saw the meaning of the Middle Way. Until that point I had understood that the Middle Way of the Dharma was a razors edge poised tenuously between complete indulgence and total restraint, worldliness and aestheticism. I saw the Middle Way as a balancing act, of infinite difficulty with the Buddha waiting at the end poised like some mad tight rope walker. But, that was wrong. That is not what the Buddha meant at all. Not even close. The Middle Way transcends, and includes all methods. The Middle Way is inescapable, we have never moved from it, and will never be anywhere but on it. It stretches from one end of the cosmos to the other, and beyond. It spans every second from the beginningless start of time, past the end of infinity. I have never been off the Middle Way, never stepped onto it. It is my home, and is the home of every other being that exists, ever has, and ever will. All of creation is on the Middle Way, and dwarfed by it.

Two days after this amazingly simplistic and silly realization, I was enjoying my morning cereal and watching one of Genpo Roshi's talks on my iPod. I had not seen it before. In it, Genpo talks about the Middle Way as the Apex, and that people mistakenly believe that the Middle Way is a thin line to walk, and that that is not what the Buddha meant at all. He said that the Middle Way encompasses everything.

I did not take this as a sign that I was right, or a validation of my realization, but instead I take it as simply this - The Big Mind process leads one in an highly effective manner and at speed to the only conclusions that the Dharma embodies. It is a blend of the best that the East and West have to offer, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Learn more about this author, Travis Eneix.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2

Add your voice

Know something about Practicing Buddhism in everyday life?
We want to hear your view. Write now!