Notice where the mind has settled during a dispute
In a conflict, find the point where your mind has fixed on one side, and let that grip loosen without pretending the issue is absent.
Por que funciona
The Sudden and Gradual chapter defines nonabiding as considering, in one’s fundamental nature, that all worldly things are empty, so that good and evil, pleasant and ugly, enemy and friend are not held on to “during times of words, fights, and disputation.” An earlier chapter says that a mind which resides in the dharmas is “fettering oneself.” On this account the practice works by interrupting the fixed position that starts retaliation. It does not ask you to stop caring about what is at stake.
Como fazer
- Before or after a difficult conversation, pause for a few breaths and feel both feet and the seat under you.
- Recall the exchange and ask: which position has my mind become attached to, as if it were the whole truth?
- Name that position plainly to yourself, such as “I am holding on to being right,” and name the real stake as well.
- Hold your view loosely, and let the other person’s view also be a passing one, without deciding who is good and who is bad in the exchange.
- Return to the conversation with the next thing you actually need to say or do.
Evidência
The passage on nonabiding during “words, fights, and disputation” is in the Sudden and Gradual chapter of McRae’s translation, and the “fettering oneself” line is in the Meditation and Wisdom chapter. The application to conflict is the page’s reading and has not been tested. (anecdotal)
Nonabiding is not written as a rule for when to act or what to tolerate. The sūtra’s ethics sit mainly in its precepts and repentance sections, so this practice should not be used to drop a real boundary or grievance.
Fontes
Erro comum
Using nonabiding as a reason to let go of a wrong that needs addressing. The practice loosens the grip of the mind on one position; it is not a verdict on whether the issue matters.
Pratique isso com IX Coach
Mais práticas para Sudden Awakening in the Platform Sūtra: Seeing One’s Own Nature
- Practise nonthought without pushing thoughts away
Let thoughts arise and pass without taking hold of them, instead of trying to stop them from coming.
- Set the two verses side by side and look at what you are wiping
Compare Shenxiu’s verse with Huineng’s, and notice whether you are carrying a cleaning project into your own practice.
- Sit with stillness and clear knowing as one lamp
Sit with the sense that calm and clear knowing are not two separate achievements, in the way a lamp and its light are not two things.
- Keep one straightforward mind in every posture
Carry a single, undivided attention through walking, standing, sitting and lying down, without performing it for anyone.
- Reflect on the formless repentance: the past, and the future
Look honestly at the three defilements the sūtra names, stupidity, deceit and jealousy, and form a resolve about how you will meet them next time.
- Test your stillness by how you speak about others afterwards
After sitting, check whether the mind is still in the way it talks about other people, because the sūtra says a body still while the mouth judges others is going against the Way.
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