The mind is all sky,

The heart utterly empty,

And the perfect moon

Is completely transparent

Entering western mountains.

--Saigyo

 

The Zen concept of emptiness can be misleading. To be utterly empty is to be utterly open to life's moment-to-moment experience. I have been listening to many people this past week. They come into their sessions afraid and angry about the election. We sit together and step into their fears with boundless minds to deepen their understanding of the strong feelings they are experiencing. We focus on self-care and self-advocacy while acknowledging the uncertainties we all face in this time of transition. By opening that space for the transparent and perfect moon of our self-awareness we can enter this uncertain time with loving-kindness and compassion for ourselves and others.

 The teaching of the one vehicle that reveals the true nature holds that all sentient beings without exception have the intrinsically enlightened true mind.

From time without beginning it is permanently abiding and immaculate.

It is shining, unobscured, clear and bright ever-present awareness.

It is also called Buddha-nature, and it is also called “tathagata-garbha."

 From time without beginning deluded thoughts cover it, and sentient beings by themselves are not aware of it.

 

Tsung-mi

 

I think about Emily Dickinson and how hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. When someone sits in my office or lies down on the analyst couch, I believe that their intrinsically enlightened mind will be realized as they tell me about their life and their struggles to cope with the demands of this world. Our conversation follows the links that bind their assumptions to the meanings they hold about themselves. We create our inner world from the beginning of our life. As infants, we learn but do not have the capacity to understand how we learn. Our strategies for survival emerge as our needs are met or frustrated by those who care for us. Over time those strategies reside as a basic assumption about ourselves and others. Critical life events become mileposts in our life’s journey. They initiate points of change that can distance us from our true mind.  When someone embarks on the journey of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. I sit with them, and we travel through those basic assumptions that cloud their enlightened true mind. Thoughts about themselves become points of interest, and I help them to sit with their anger, fear, and shame with a curious and unencumbered mind. Possibilities emerge where certainties are held firm, and their unobscured and ever-present awareness allows for a more integrated and balanced identity.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

 

 

To study Zen you must penetrate
through the barrier of the ancestral teachers.
To learn the Path you must come
to the end of the road of mind.
When the road of mind is cut off,
the whole body appears.
It’s like a person drinking water:
she knows for herself whether it’s cool or warm.
When you reach this stage,
do not ask just anyone about it.
If you can find a real Zen teacher
show them how your mind is working.

 —T’aego (1301-1382)

Psychoanalytic training always begins with Freud.  He was responsible for pointing us in the right direction to understand the subtle and dramatic influences on our thoughts and feelings. My first encounter with his work happened in our beginning year. We held a “reading Freud” session.  Everyone took a turn to read a passage followed by a discussion of his theory and our impressions of his thinking. At the time it felt almost sacred, the passages held a biblical quality that was embodied in our measured reading of each word.  I found myself gazing up at a great wall of knowledge about the mind and the Path before me held many uncertainties. Will I be able to have three patients willing to meet with me four times a week for two years? Can I meet all the writing requirements and meet the expectations of my supervisors? My road of mind threatened to block my experience of the water I was drinking. It was in the moment-to-moment encounters with those who rested on my couch and allowed themselves to dream with me that I stepped off that road and drank the water. The wisdom of the Analytic teachers challenged and resonated with my mind. The Path became illuminated with my experiences in analytic training which allowed me to cut off those uncertainties and walk with gratitude for the great work of Freud and those who refined and expanded his theories as we discovered more about the mind. The whole body of our shared embodied experiences in life appear before me. My steps are sure on this wonderful path.

 

Pure morning, near the old temple

Where early sunlight lights the tree tops,
My path has wound, through a sheltered hollow
Of boughs and flowers.
Here birds are alive with mountain light,
And the mind touches peace in a pool,
A thousand sounds are quieted
By the breathing of a temple bell.

— Ch’ang Chien

Seven years ago I began a journey that has wound through many sheltered hollows. I return to these entries along with the early sunlight as a psychoanalyst. My vow to perceive the boundlessness of reality is strengthened by the deeper understanding of my fears and desires. I sit with those who seek the same thing. As they face away from me on “the couch” and dream aloud of the thousand sounds that dominate their mind we find the temple bell of their true self. Our journey reaches the light and the dark that dwells beyond awareness. We discover links to the past that open new vistas along the tree tops of their basic assumptions about who they are. A new life emerges and they are liberated from the dread that shrouded possibilities and inhibited their curiosity. The journey of psychoanalysis allows the mind to find that pool where peace can be touched and the birds and flowers and boughs of joy and imagination are brought to life.

 

The bird’s path, winding far,

Is right before you. 

Water of the Dokei Gorge,

You return to the ocean,

I to the mountain.

- Hofuku Seikatsu (d. 976)

 

 

The challenges of this past year are unprecedented. We were exposed to a life ending virus and instead of gathering to support each other we had to isolate ourselves from the world. The shift to teletherapy was the only way to continue providing help while we complied with the mandates from the government. It was the beginning of a new path for both of us. Psychotherapy is unique in bringing the known and unknown into the same space. The bird’s path before us holds what is familiar and strange. When we come upon a new thought or a strong feeling we can pause and share our experiences. The dialog will always produce a narrative that can bring a new and deeper understanding for my client. The river in Dokei Gorge is constant with an ever-changing flow of water. Our regularly scheduled meetings become a constant space for the ever-changing flow of experience. Even as we sit in our separate homes, the video connection allows that space to exist. We have been able to continue our journey on this far and winding path in these uncertain times.

 In these remote and secluded depths

of quiet mystery,

silence boundless, 

distances empty,

you see endeavor denies

our nature

and appearance the inner pattern.

When eyes and ears can tell us

nothing of such things,

how could anyone follow

the path with mere footsteps?

- Hsieh Ling-yun (385-433) 

Intuition is an elusive concept in therapy. To have a funny feeling about something is a profound and meaningful experience without the benefit of a clear understanding of cause and effect. To be distraught over the tragic loss of someone close is a clear and traumatic part of our ourselves. To feel unsettled about a situation or a relationship is to be subject to uncertainty and self doubt. We try to avoid conducting an investigation; to find some proof for this elusive experience. In therapy we honor the quiet mystery of intuition and allow the thoughts and feelings to guide us to a new understanding. Intuition is a gateway to change. By transcending mere footsteps we become open to the experience of insight that can only be realized by sitting with the mysterious and elusive intuitions. It becomes the teacher within and provides a new space for our perceptions and feelings.

 

Consciousness and perception range from shallow to deep. As for profound perceptions, they are pure through the ages. They are the basis to influence and cultivate mind from the first generation of the aspiration for enlightenment until the achievement of buddhahood without falling back.

- Records of the Lanka

 

The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos and kairos. Chronos refers to the seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years in our life. Kairos are the profound moments in our life. They happen when they happen.  In therapy I meet with my patient once, twice, even four times a week if it’s psychoanalysis. We talk about the experiences they have and how they compare with other experiences from the past. We contemplate the future and their fears and hopes about what is to come. In the midst of our reflections a profound moment occurs. They make a new link between an assumption they have carried all their life and an observation I share about our conversation. A new awareness emerges and the aspiration for enlightenment influences and cultivates a more balanced and mindful understanding of all the positive and negative parts of who they are becoming.