Yes, the Buddha was flexible, laid-back, and egalitarian, but his foolish cousin Devadatta was quite the opposite: rigid, controlling, and elitist. Sturgeon’s law reminds that the majority of humanity (and its meditation teachers) are much more like Devadatta than the Buddha. So it could come as little surprise that many teachers take great delight in making enlightenment’s path MUCH more difficult than it need be. Two of their favorite tools towards that end are cryptic terminology and erroneous metaphysics. For to understand the nature of mind or to transcend the tyranny of its desires one need not squander time and energy striving to navigate (no less) analyze the so-called layers of mind, like an archeologist at an excavation, or Indiana Jones on an adventure.
Each time we inhale (thanks to our sympathetic nervous system) we are wired to vulnerably, passively, viscerally, randomly, and fleetingly NOTICE mind’s: perceptions, emotions, intentions, cognitions, recollections and imaginings. Every time we exhale we are wired to physically relax and mentally release thanks to our parasympathetic nervous system. When we do whatever of minds actions we experienced during our inhalation could momentarily feel less solid, less permanent, and less defining.
Now let’s put a figurative spin on it. When we relax into our exhalation whatever of mind’s antics we noticed during our inhalation could feel as if it was as non-graspable as a vast, empty void; like the illusion of the infinite azure sky on a bright and beautiful cloudless morn which although tantalizing to the eye could be non-graspable to the hand. Our quest therefore is to FLEE neither dread nor desire but to notice it as we breath in and to relax into it as we breath out. Doing so that which we notice could fail to control our choices, utterances, or deeds.
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