The purpose of practice is to habituate ourselves to openness. This means we need to understand reactive mind. How do we experience the difference between reacting and staying open? At what point do we decide to go with the habitual tendencies of exaggeration and denial or try something new? Where is the fork in the road? We need to explore these two experiences: reacting… staying open… reacting… staying open… reacting… staying open again. We begin to see the difference. It’s a process of refinement. Our investigation cultivates a discerning intelligence and guides us in a positive direction. We need to ask ourselves: “If our confusion finds its genesis in our habit of turning away from the open state, what would happen if we habituated ourselves to staying open?” Surprise: another koan. – Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, The Power of an Open Question
Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel’s Tricycle Retreat starts September 6th on Tricycle.com! Join the Tricycle Community to enjoy the retreat and get her book, The Power of an Open Question, at 30% off. [Image: whatknot]
Thank you for subscribing to Tricycle! As a nonprofit, we depend on readers like you to keep Buddhist teachings and practices widely available.
Subscribe now to read this article and get immediate access to everything else.
Subscribe NowAlready a subscriber? Log in.