See photo of top of desk at home. What is this? Does your response come from the deep or the mundane?
You won’t find the Buddha claiming mindfulness means moment to moment attention. He does not carry expecations we should try to be mindful all the time. He states we explore “mindfulness to the extent necessary,”
Priority goes to the deep and what comes from the deep. Pali language has a key term yoniso manasikāro. Yoniso means womb or source. Mana means mind; sikaro implies action. We bring mindfulness steadfastly to bear on an object. We wait patiently to see what action/movement comes to the mind from the womb, from the depth of our being.
The teachings emphasise awakening of the heart-mind due what arises from the source.
Here is a photo of items on my desk. This desk sits next to my desk with a computer and a couple of loudspeakers.
If you see the desktop as untidy, you have an ordinary mind.
If you only see office items on a desk, you have a mundane response
If you see it as tidy, you are deluded.
What is it?
Clever answers confirm absence of depth.
Establish an unwavering and focussed mindfulness of what you see or carry the image of it to meditate on.
Meditate on it until you see what you did not see before.
The deep might release a single word or two.
If the awakened mind speaks to you, don’t hesitate to enter in space below for subscribers at foot of this item.
You will know you have explored mindfulness/meditation to the extent necessary on the photo.
I will respond in a week to any submissions
Love
the Buddha Wallah
I downloaded the image so I could look at it more carefully. I I downloaded the image so I could look at it more carefully. I then realised it would make a good jigsaw puzzle. There is an interesting variety of objects and a tangle of wires which would take some time to put together, if the image were split into pieces and converted to a jigsaw puzzle. I noticed my initial judgement: "what a mess" vanished. My irritation at the mess also vanished. Instead I noticed the individual objects and how they related to one another. There is a sense of attention to detail and cognitive satisfaction if one completes a jigsaw puzzle of a painting by Van Gogh or Picasso. One gets to know the image much more intimately. But I noticed the same process happen here!
I see life - ideas, action, ready to grab and continue to the next moment. A life in the making.