In the living method class, I said, "As soon as a thought arises, thousands of connections arise." I often say: "It is not necessary to meditate. In fact, when we do everything, we are exercising our observation and control of ourselves." "Thoughts." Yesterday, a student came to me and asked: "Teacher, I found that observation seems to be a thought. I am using thoughts to think about it. Which of the two things, observing or being observed, is the real thought?" If we don’t have thoughts, aren’t we just being stupid? …” My answer is as follows:

You need to relax when observing. The harder you observe, the more thoughts you will have; the more relaxed you are, the more you will remember. To sleep. Just like a small wave on the sea, the more consciously it jumps up to see the sea clearly, the more it becomes a big wave, the more it becomes individual, false and illusionary; on the contrary, the more relaxed it is to look, the more it can return to the world. Go to the sea, return to the whole, return to the real dharma realm.

In witnessing, there is no truth or falsehood of thoughts. In fact, we don’t have to distinguish between true and false thoughts at all, because the purpose of witnessing is not at all. Witnessing is a means, and its purpose is to allow us to stop turmoil, eliminate suffering, and live peacefully. We must move toward this goal and not remain in separation.

Of course, it is impossible for people to live in this world without thoughts. If we lose thoughts, we will become idiots, fools, and vegetative people. Cultivation is to get rid of delusions and be aware of your true heart. You must not dwell on delusions or dwell in thoughts.

In fact, what we can observe and what we observe are the same thing, because we only have one heart. Just like dreaming, everything in the dream is the manifestation of the dream - the transformation of the heart. Cultivation is to cultivate the mind. Everything is just your mind playing with itself. You learn to know it, find it, and master it, which is the purpose of practice.

The minds of ordinary people are like a cat chasing its own tail. Their minds run around with each delusion and can never catch up. Practitioners stop the cat and don't chase the tail that cannot be caught. If you can understand this, you can understand the key points of controlling your mind.

Controlling thoughts does not mean that we become idiots and dare not think about anything, but that we should be aware of discrimination, delusions, and attachments, and put an end to confusion, confusion, and annoyance.

To test whether your practice is in compliance with the law, see if your "cat" is still chasing its own tail? If it is still chasing, it is not following the Dharma; if it is not chasing, it should breathe when it should breathe, walk when it should walk, play when it should play, catch mice when it should catch mice... In this way, this is according to the Dharma.

Dharma is a natural method, not a stupid, nervous or artificial method. To see whether you have practiced the righteous Dharma, it depends on how pure your heart is and how happy and comfortable you are. If you become more tired as you practice, you are definitely not following the Dharma. You must quickly alert yourself and practice as per the Dharma as soon as possible.

Practice is to make you simpler and simpler, not to make you more and more complex. Cultivation makes you wiser, happier, and more relaxed. Cultivation will definitely not make you a fool, or your mood will become complicated, tired, or uncomfortable.

Don’t be pretentious when observing thoughts, just do it naturally and step by step. The ability to control delusions cannot be accomplished in a day.

Today, the world is in chaos, and the chaos is caused by too much care; the body and mind are tired, and the tiredness is caused by too much care.

Miao Xin 2018.03.25 Essay