Neither Adding Nor Subtracting

 When our minds are fixated on gaining something, we tend to be narrow. We define things in terms of what we predefine rather than seeing the totality and resting in it. This can take the form of a kind of empty space or a feeling of not knowing what comes next or what to do next. It's important in that moment not to try to "add anything" or "subtract" from the experience as is.

  If we are trying to add something, it's like sticking a conclusion on top of something that has already concluded. We are straining to complete an already completed moment, which adds to our view that the moment is incomplete. This only creates vexations.

   On the other hand, trying to subtract from experience through simplifying it, is yet another subtle form of vexation. It is as though we are seeing a big banquet and then we tell the host that this is too much food and we are overwhelmed by the selection---so much so that we can't make any choice.

   In between these is the view that mind in the moment has already been perfected. We don't need to add anything new to it or take away from it. We are free to observe things arising as they are.

    This practice needs a sense of clarity and being in the moment that is sometimes hard to realize. But we can use anything to practice on it. When we are working, we practice resting contentedly in the exact nature of the work itself even when we may sense we lack the tools needed to perform the job thoroughly. Simply observe the unfolding process and trust that the mind is already deeply connected to it. When resting, we simply rest in the enjoyment of resting, without adding more or less to the experience. Encountering others, we don't need to add anything additional to what is really unfolding, and there is no need to placate others. This involves simply letting things be, but also open to taking on whatever needs doing. In other words, we don't need to be afraid of any phenomena.

Integration

  We often try to do well for ourselves by climbing a ladder: leaving behind the bad in favor of the good. I would suggest a different approach, which is to integrate disowned elements of the self.

   Platform Sutra talks about the sentient beings that exist within us:

Learned Audience, to take refuge in a true Buddha is to take refuge in our own Essence of Mind. He who does so should remove from his Essence of Mind the evil mind, the jealous mind, the flattering and crooked mind, egotism, deceit and falsehood, contemptuousness, snobbishness, fallacious views, arrogance, and all other evils that may arise at any time. (p.60)

When I read this passage, I reflect on how we contain all of these different elements of sentient beings. There isn't a single thing that a person has done, thought, felt, etc. that does not also reflect within ourselves. When I react to someone else, I create in my mind the idea of that person's motivation, and then reject that person for their perceived motivation. But what I am rejecting is really my own creation, since we can never truly know a person's mind. At most, we can guess, but beyond that, our guesses are based on our own train of thought. So we create cloud beings out of our mind that, at most, are only shadowy things that have no real substance.

Subduing or removing all these selves requires love and equanimity. Love: we accept and take in all these elements as parts of the same mind, just like the waves are parts of the same ocean. We don't separate or cast our one wave. Instead, we treat them all as just different forms. Even if we cannot embrace all these different forms, perhaps we can see that they are potentials that lie within all of us, which can emerge from many complex conditions. At the very least, we can cultivate the humility to know that what we don't like about someone is a seed that is within us. We can choose to accept that what we dislike is only temporary and arises from conditions.

Second is about equanimity. Having a balanced view allows all those states of mind that are unwholesome and partial to arise without taking over the show. To identify too closely with those elements of mind is to become imprisoned to them. They become compulsions rather than being integrated elements within the whole. 

Lastly, I try to observe deeply the mind that beholds all these elements. Is that mind inseparable from these mental states, or do the mental states only pass through mind as a function? Staying in that sense of mind can allow us not to become entangled in the sub-personalities. 

When I let go of clinging, naturally they liberate because these sub-personalities were always pure to begin with. It's like imagining that our toy soldiers were really "real", only to find that they were only real because we made them to be real through our imaginations.

The Sutra of Hui Neng. H.K Buddhist Book Distribution Press.