Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that forgetfulness is the darkness, mindfulness is the light.
Trouble is, most people have no idea what forgetfulness is. I have a good memory, they say, I am not at all forgetful. I never forget to watch the Dallas Cowboys play on Sunday afternoon. I never forget to watch Dancing with the Stars. I don’t even lose my keys or my smartphone.
Remembering to watch a TV show is forgetfulness. Filling all of your waking hours with things to do is forgetfulness.
I’m the active type, I hear people say. I always have to have something to do.
And when they say such things, they are bragging!
Living a life without meditation is a life of forgetfulness. Waking up is the only worthwhile goal of life and meditation is a key part of the waking up process. Following the precepts is a big part of it as well.
Do people really think they have accomplished something when they see a lot of sports on TV? A lot of movies? Read a lot of books? Travel to many shores? Have many conversations?
In my opinion, every human being has an affirmative obligation to wake up from the human dream. Everything is mind alone and everything we think is life is just thinking. It isn’t real. It is a dream. And our job is to wake up and realize that fundamental fact.
Of course, most people refuse to accept the fact that this existence is just a dream. But if they follow the most fundamental of meditation practices, described in the first step of Beginning Zen at www.howtopracticezen.com, they soon realize that life resides in the mind and has no external reality. There is no thinking subject inside, no external reality out there.
As The Heart Sutra says: Dharmas here are empty. All are the primal void. None are born or die. None are stained or pure. Nor do they wax or wane.
Yes, all of us are the primal void. To forget that is to forget everything. To be mindful of that dispels the darkness of forgetfulness.
Of course these words are nonsense to those who have never sat in silence. But to those who have, these words are so obvious they need not be said.
