The Danger of Watching Too Much Mind Television
Many adults complain about the amount of time children spend watching television, but the habit of watching television five or six hours per day is relatively insignificant compared with the adult habit of watching mind television fifteen or sixteen hours per day. As adults, we often spend less than fifteen minutes each day perceiving or experiencing the real world while the rest of our time is spent glued to the internal tube of cognition perceiving an endless stream of images, ideas and symbols produced by our own minds. What’s worse, most of us watch mind television unconsciously, don’t understand the consequences of this habit, and don’t know that it is possible to quit.
In a nutshell, learning how to turn off mind television is what the spiritual life and Zen practice is all about. All of the other distractions, the ideas, interpretations, and beliefs are just a fantasy broadcast from our internal television station. Only by turning off our mind television does the welfare of all human beings become as important as our own. Only by turning off our mind television does the need for external security or recognition disappear. Why? Because reality is a unified whole whose wholeness can only be perceived when the image/idea/symbol-making function of mind is transcended. If we think about the world or see a mental image of the world, it is too late; we have already lost the real thing. Reality is alive and present whereas the image, idea, and symbol are dead constructs we carry with us.
The choice in life is whether to wake up and become conscious of what is real or remain asleep in a television dream world created by our intellect. The reason that so many great spiritual masters have gone into the wilderness to find enlightenment is to get away from the social distractions that stimulate reflective thought processes. They intuitively realized that mental silence is a prerequisite for perceiving the Absolute. The Bible sums it up in two verses, “Be still, and know that I am God,” and “The kingdom of God is within you.” The Hindu Upanishads are even more explicit, “The wise shall surrender speech in mind.” If we insist upon using our mind solely to conceive and project ideas on the television screen of our mind, then we will never experience the world of unity; we will only experience our own thinking.
To break the habit of watching mind television requires great effort because the habit is far more powerful, pernicious, and addictive than the habit of watching ordinary television. If we want to verify this fact, we can sit down and silently watch what goes through our mind for five minutes and then try to shut it off.
The Pharisees couldn’t perceive the reality about which Christ taught because they were in the habit of watching endless Pharisee mind television programs. Today, many of us are addicted to personal perception mind television programs. Ironically, the world about which all spiritual teachers have taught can never appear on anyone’s mind television because it cannot be captured in images, ideas or symbols. Alive and incomprehensibly vast, that world can only be perceived by a far deeper level of mind than the intellect.
In a nutshell, learning how to turn off mind television is what the spiritual life and Zen practice is all about. All of the other distractions, the ideas, interpretations, and beliefs are just a fantasy broadcast from our internal television station. Only by turning off our mind television does the welfare of all human beings become as important as our own. Only by turning off our mind television does the need for external security or recognition disappear. Why? Because reality is a unified whole whose wholeness can only be perceived when the image/idea/symbol-making function of mind is transcended. If we think about the world or see a mental image of the world, it is too late; we have already lost the real thing. Reality is alive and present whereas the image, idea, and symbol are dead constructs we carry with us.
The choice in life is whether to wake up and become conscious of what is real or remain asleep in a television dream world created by our intellect. The reason that so many great spiritual masters have gone into the wilderness to find enlightenment is to get away from the social distractions that stimulate reflective thought processes. They intuitively realized that mental silence is a prerequisite for perceiving the Absolute. The Bible sums it up in two verses, “Be still, and know that I am God,” and “The kingdom of God is within you.” The Hindu Upanishads are even more explicit, “The wise shall surrender speech in mind.” If we insist upon using our mind solely to conceive and project ideas on the television screen of our mind, then we will never experience the world of unity; we will only experience our own thinking.
To break the habit of watching mind television requires great effort because the habit is far more powerful, pernicious, and addictive than the habit of watching ordinary television. If we want to verify this fact, we can sit down and silently watch what goes through our mind for five minutes and then try to shut it off.
The Pharisees couldn’t perceive the reality about which Christ taught because they were in the habit of watching endless Pharisee mind television programs. Today, many of us are addicted to personal perception mind television programs. Ironically, the world about which all spiritual teachers have taught can never appear on anyone’s mind television because it cannot be captured in images, ideas or symbols. Alive and incomprehensibly vast, that world can only be perceived by a far deeper level of mind than the intellect.
Labels: christianity, zen
posted by Wonji Dharma at
September 26, 2009
8 Comments:
it goes deeper that just television; a blight of our modern society is the inability to STOP. Everything is in constant motion; from the moment we wake in the morning and prepare for work, to the whole working day, then how the evening flies by; every moment is filled with activity.
the inability to just step back and take a look at where our lives are heading, to observe ourselves in action - this is dangerous.
I noticed how much things would run on autopilot during a full work week. If I had a spare moment, I would find something to fill it - such was the fear of facing my own shadow.
television is a HUGE distraction; but so too is much of our modern paraphrenalia.
Yes indeed - and Gary invokes shamatha, the practice of inserting stops throughout the day, not just at "practice time" but throughout, wake-up calls pervading our waking life.
I'm not sure if I can turn it off. I know that I can be more mindful, and note when I catch myself watching the "television". I can say to myself "seeing a car", or "feeling the wind", to remove the I/object dichotomy of "I see a car", "I feel the wind".
This is a wonderful post and such an effective way of describing the state of our minds much of the time.
In Zen practice we use various tools, one which is called huàtóu practice. Huàtóu can be translated as “before words,” or a state of mind that exists before a single thought arises. What exists prior to a single thought arising? It is Before Thought. Before thought is our own Pure Mind, our own Buddha Nature, and our own Original Face. Meditating on a huàtóu does not mean repeating the word or phrase, because the repetition of the huàtóu can also become a great false thought. Rather, to recognize our own Original Face is the purpose of the huàtóu. Huàtóu is also sometimes translated as “word-head; “the point, punch line, or key line of a kōan, the word or phrase in which the kōan resolves itself when one struggles with it as a means of spiritual training .... In the famous kōan Zhàozhōu’s Dog, for example, wu is sometimes identified as the huàtóu. Kōans frequently have several huàtóus contained within the story.
A huàtóu that we often use is "What is this?" If we are going about our normal routine and we realize that we have been caught up with our mind televion show, we can simply ask ourselves, "What is this?" and my Grandteacher would often respond with "Don't know!" This don't know allows us to return to this very moment. Please realize that this a method for helping us return to this moment, it is not an end in itself, nor is 'don't know' some magical incantation. Daesonsa-nim often said that if you believe in 'coca-cola' one hundred percent that will help you.
In the example of the Great Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, if we practice each moment of our lives with great dilligence, we can discover ourselves in the midst of the 'confusion' and right in the midst of our 'thoughts.'
Thanks for all the great comments and all of you keep up the great work of love and compassion.
Metaphors are always tricky and only go so far . . . so I hesitate to offer this . . .
Perhaps the point of practice isn't so much to turn off the television (the skandhas will continue to arise, exist, and pass away), but to "leave the room" - which is a faulty way of saying that we don't have to get engaged with the stories playing on the tube.
Thanks, Paul.
Barry,
Yes, you are right, metaphors are merely more constucts. But, as Katigiri Roshi once said, you have to say something. Any attempt at explaining this is frought with complications, and daesonsa-nim always warned us of this. It is like Bankei once said, Zen practice is wiping off blood with blood. Or perhaps Baizhang said it a little clearer, "Zen practice is about getting rid of the thorn in your side, the problem is that Zen practice inserts another thorn in your side, and once you come to its fruition both thorns are removed at once."
Thanks brother, I love you.
I like the TV metaphor. Sometimes it’s nice to watch with the sound off, especially the commercials. That feature that allows you to pause live TV is pretty cool also. You can pause the program you’re watching, turn the TV off, and come back to it later. Before thought yes, and of course, beneath thought, don’t forget the beneath. Oh . . . and the above thought too, that thought was just an after-thought, but you know what I’m getting at . . . freedom of thought/no thought. Anyway, nice post.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home