Mindfulness and Traces of Shadows.
In his book, "Zen Mind, Beginners Mind", Shunryu Suzuki talks about Mindfulness and how our mind and our thinking is made complicated by 'traces of shadows'. If we are mindful, we use our minds clearly - and we will do our thinking with clarity - without our mind being hampered by shadows. In other words, when we are truly mindful, we will think, we will act without preconceived ideas or traces of shadows clouding our perception, our understanding, our observation, our awareness.
"if you compare the kind of life based on this practice with what is happening in this world, or in human society, you will find out just how valuable the truth [Buddha left us] is. It is quite simple, and [the] practice is quite simple..."
Sometimes when we hear something simple, we think to ourselves "yes, of course, I know this, it's simple" But even so, we should not ignore it. We should seek the value in it. If we only understand it intellectually, and do not feel or see the value in it, it is worthless. It is the same as not knowing. The more you understand mindfulness meditation, the more you will understand how important this teaching is.
"When we practice Zazen (meditation), our mind is calm and quite simple. But usually our mind is very busy and complicated, and it is difficult to be concentrated on what we are doing. This is because before we act, we think, and this thinking leaves some trace. Our activity is shadowed by some preconceived idea. The thinking not only leaves some trace or shadow, but also gives us many other notions about other activities and things. These traces and notions make our minds very complicated. When we do something with a quite simple, clear mind, we have no notion or shadows, and our activity is strong and straightforward. But when we do something with a complicated mind, in relation to other things or people, or society, our activity becomes very complex.
Most people have a double or triple notion in one activity. There is a saying "To catch two birds with one stone." That is what people usually try to do. Because they want to catch too many birds, they find it difficult to be concentrated on one activity, and they may end up not catching any birds at all! That kind of thinking always leaves its shadow on their activity. The shadow is not actually the thinking itself. Of course it is often necessary to think of prepare before we act. But right thinking does not leave any shadow. Thinking which leaves traces some out of your relative confused mind. Relative mind is the mind which sets itself in relation to other things, thus limiting itself. It is this small mind which creates gaining ideas and leaves traces of itself.
If you leave a trace of your thinking on your activity, you will be attached to the trace. For instance, you may say: "This is what I have done!" But actually it is not so. In your recollection, you may say: "I did such and such a thing in some certain way," but actually that is never exactly what happened. When you think in this way, you limit the actual experience of what you have done. So if you attach to the idea of what you have done, you are involved in selfish ideas.
Often we think what we have done is good, but it may not actually be so. When we become old, we are often very proud of what we have done. When others listen to someone proudly telling something which he has done, they will feel funny because they know his recollection is one-sided. They know that what he has told them is not exactly what he did. Moreover, if he is proud of what he did, that pride will create some problem for him. Repeating his recollections in this way, his personality will be twisted more and more, until he becomes quite a disagreeable, stubborn fellow. This is an example of leaving a trace of one's thinking. We should not forget what we did, but it should be without an extra trace. To leave a trace is not the same as to remember something. It is necessary to remember what we have done, but we should not become attached to what we have done in some special sense. What we call "attachment" is just these traces of our thought and activity.
In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should to do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smokey fire. You should burn yourself out completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do. You will have something remaining which is not completely burned out. Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ashes. This is the goal of our practice. That is what Dogen meant when he said, "Ashes do not come back to firewood." Ash is ash. Ash should be completely ash. The firewood should be firewood. When this kind of activity takes place, one activity covers everything. So our practice is not a matter of one hour or two hours, or one day or one year. If you practice zazen (meditation) with your whole body and mind, even for a moment, that is zazen. So moment after moment, you should devote yourself to your practice."
(From Shunryu Suzuki's teaching on "No Trace", page 62 in Zen Mind, Beginners Mind)
