Mike Monson's notes on nothing

Since I believe I can talk about nothing ad infinitem, I thought I'd start a practice thread on that very subject.
I'm finding lately that :
If I don't do anything, I get a lot more done;
if I don't think anything, I become more intelligent;
if I have no ambition, I become accomplished;
if I don't worry, my problems disappear;
if I miss anything important, it'll come back again;
and,
that it's better not to begin, because I'm already there (that's my favorite, it completely takes the guess work out of everything)

much more to come

"
much more to come"

looking forward to it! And really enjoying your dry humor--glad you're doing this, Mike!

If you really do nothing, then you'll aways be in the present, cause you can only do nothing right now. If you try to do nothing in the past or the future then you're doing something.

"looking forward to it! And really enjoying your dry humor--glad you're doing this, Mike!"

I guess this is funny (actually, it is hilarious), but, I'm not joking.
This is my practice right now.

this morning at work I was doing nothing while getting a lot done. at times there was great stress but i didn't do anything about it and now it's gone.

All the people who make a living teaching people how to be spiritual would be out of a job if everybody started doing nothing.

" If you try to do nothing in the past or the future then you're doing something. "

I spend a lot of time trying to do nothing in the future, it's exhausting!

"I spend a lot of time trying to do nothing in the future, it's exhausting!"

True, but there is nothing you can do about it.

Don't just do something, stand there!

"
Don't just do something, stand there!

"

I would, but I'm too busy.

"I would, but I'm too busy. "

That's the problem with doing nothing, there's always nothing to do and you can never get nothing done!

There's nothing to it.

Cheers,
Florian

Nothing has ever happened and nothing ever will happen; nothing has ever been understood and it never will be.

The witness of every-thing is no-thing.
No-thing knows no thoughts, a silent hum, potentially every-thing.
Now no-thing knows no-thing!

"The witness of every-thing is no-thing.
No-thing knows no thoughts, a silent hum, potentially every-thing.
Now no-thing knows no-thing!

"

There is no way to not agree.

"There is no way to not agree. "

Sorry to disappoint. Maybe there is enough ambiguity and confusion to have everybody in agreement.

"One asks oneself then whether it is possible to come upon this thing without inviting, without waiting, without seeking or exploring -- just for it to happen like a cool breeze that comes in when you leave the window open? You cannot invite the wind but you must leave the window open, which doesn't mean you are in a state of waiting; that is another form of deception. It doesn't mean you must open yourself to receive; that is another kind of thought"

I read this Krishnamurti quote for the first time probably 30 years ago.
here is another:

Every thought and feeling must flower for them to live and die; flowering of everything in you, the ambition, the greed, the hate, the joy, the passion; in the flowering there is their death and freedom. It is only in freedom that anything can flourish, not in suppression, in control and discipline. Flowering and freedom is goodness and all virtue. To allow envy to flower is not easy; it is condemned or cherished but never given freedom. It is only in freedom the fact of envy reveals its colour, its shape, its depth, its peculiarities; if suppressed it will not reveal itself fully and freely. When it has shown itself completely, there is an ending of it only to reveal another fact, emptiness, loneliness, fear, and as each fact is allowed to flower, in freedom, in its entirety, the conflict between the observer and the observed ceases; there is no longer the censor but only observation, only seeing. Freedom can only be in completion not in repetition, suppression, obedience to a pattern of thought. There is completion only in flowering and dying; there is no flowering if there is no ending. . The flowering of thought is the ending of thought; for only in death there is the new. The new cannot be if there is no freedom from the known. Thought, the old, cannot bring into being the new; it must die for the new to be. What flowers must come to an end

You can stop now. Stop trying to figure it out. Stop trying to get enlightened. Stop concentrating. Stop investigating. Stop meditating. Stop trying to stop.

- Kenneth Folk

"Meditation is not control of thought, for when thought is controlled it breeds conflict in the mind, but when you understand the structure and origin of thought, which we have already been into, then thought will not interfere. That very understanding of the structure of thinking is its own discipline which is meditation.
Meditation is to be aware of every thought and of every feeling, never to say it is right or wrong but just to watch it and move with it. In that watching you begin to understand the whole movement of thought and feeling. And out of this awareness comes silence. " - Krishnamurti.

""Meditation is not control of thought, for when thought is controlled it breeds conflict in the mind, but when you understand the structure and origin of thought, which we have already been into, then thought will not interfere. That very understanding of the structure of thinking is its own discipline which is meditation.
Meditation is to be aware of every thought and of every feeling, never to say it is right or wrong but just to watch it and move with it. In that watching you begin to understand the whole movement of thought and feeling. And out of this awareness comes silence. " - Krishnamurti.

"

Right on.

I have discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color - something which exists before all forms and colors appear. This is a very important point. No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea... In constantly seeking to actualize your ideal, you will have no time for composure. But if you are always prepared for accepting everything we see as something appearing from nothing... then at that moment you will have perfect composure.
Suzuki Roshi

Excellent! I love this! It rings true to me.
"But if you are always prepared for accepting everything we see as something appearing from nothing"
This is the theme of my life at the moment.

I'm realizing that nothing can make me happy.

Which is great, because nothing is something you can always count on.

" In constantly seeking to actualize your ideal, you will have no time for composure. But if you are always prepared for accepting everything we see as something appearing from nothing... then at that moment you will have perfect composure.
Suzuki Roshi"

beautiful! beautiful!

"I'm realizing that nothing can make me happy.

Which is great, because nothing is something you can always count on."

When asked what Zen was, Bodhidharma said:
"Open spaces. Nothing's sacred."
Or something like that heh heh!
Oh i just realized I said nothing's sacred! hahaha