Unconditioned mind is hard to really realize directly. The most I have been able to do is to use some kind of metaphor or analogy to get at it. My reflections this evening is that when there are no wandering thoughts in mind, there are spaces for things to simply happen: birds fly, a pine tree shimmers and shakes its topmost branches, some car honks. These things are registered in the blink of an eye, only to become part of the usual narratives of everydayness. Only when there are no labels and there are moments of clarity--pure presence--can I really behold something close to unconditioned. That is because in those moments there is no conceptual filter of self or other, and no intermediating thoughts. The experience has a certain quality that refuses to be described, and is sometimes best caught on camera, provided that one is not too focused on getting the shot correctly.
As crazy as it sounds, I think that everyday jaunts to the park and behind the school nearby have been giving me some glimpses into stillness, unconditioned mind. I want to bottle it, but it really cannot be bottled, any more than the dragonfly can be caught in an unskillful net. In fact, it seems to be peripheral to the grind of life--again, the dragonfly comes to mind because it cannot be caught so easily, and yet nobody would ever think to seriously catch one.
But sometimes these glimpses into the eternal serve to make me realize how the knots of the conceptual imprison, keep me chained in the fetters of habit. In daily life, there is certainly a way to bring this in, but one must allow it to come forward rather than aggressively pursuing it. The unconditioned is like a kind of stealthy animal or bird: it does not arrive according to agenda, it is not attracted to fear, and it won't simply respond to one's calls. Nameless, formless, but also demanding the utmost humility from a person: the humility of knowing that one is simply not calling the shots in this game.
I don't think one should worry too much: just carry on with daily life and sit still and meditate sometimes. But try not to do it in order to achieve something. This would be like trying to walk while standing on one foot. The leaf is ever wise: it drifts quietly off a tree branch without leaving traces of itself everywhere. Its name can be both a noun and a verb: a leaf gently leaving.
without the filter of mind, everything turns out there which are not aware of, and now are perceived/recongized, just like the five skandhas function as begining mode only if the consciousness gives a way to the others. How to tell a born blind about colors? but once he sees one, he doesn't need the explanation, anology and the like. I think it is about the "experience" and it has to be through in person.
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