AboutJoe McSorley Expertise I can answer questions dealing with Taoist philosophy and Zen and not the historicity and religion of Buddhism and its different schools. I studied under Dr. Richard DeMartino and Masao Abe of the Kyoto School of Zen.
Question Hello, I have a question about mindfulness.
I do breath meditation twice a day, each time for about 20-30 minutes.
However, I try to just generally be mindful throughout the day as well. For
example, I bike places very often, so while I am biking I try to pay attention to
the movement of my body and my breathing.
The odd thing is that I am usually better at being mindful while biking (or
other things, for example doing the dishes) than when I sit down to meditate.
Is this normal, is it anything to worry about? You see when I sit down to
meditate I can usually only stay mindful for a few minutes, after which I will
be caught up in a thought or other, and after a few more minutes I will
realize this, and will return to the breath. But when being mindful in daily
life, for some reason there are far less thoughts occurring, and if they do
occur they are 'quiet' thoughts, ones which quickly go away by themselves,
and it almost seems like I go "under" them, being aware of their occurring. I
am much less restless.
Do you have any idea what might cause this?
Answer Dear Nicholass,
Thank you for your question. When you are being mindful during activity there is an object of your mindfulness, that being what you are doing. When you are riding the bike you are mindful of the action, it is something tangible that your mind is so-called mindful of. The one analogy many people use is mountain climbing because being mindful of your actions is life and death. Here it is extreme and forced so your whole being encompasses it without distraction. It is easier to do this because it is not an arbitrary practice; it is life and death. When you sit alone there is not that ‘thing’ to be an object of your mindfulness; now you have to be mindful of being mindful and that’s much more difficult to do. So there is nothing wrong with you other than you are fully human and living this dilemma – to practice being mindful means that you are not mindful because there is a ‘you’ that is practicing it that remains apart from it to practice it. In other words the very act of trying to be mindful creates non-mindfulness and this is everyone’s dilemma in Zen practice but it is a dilemma that must be overcome.
You might also want to think of mindfulness as alertness or full attention without discrimination. By this I mean that you observe without inner conversation or judgment- you just fully observe. Trying to be mindful is a little more abstract than just trying to be alert or observe, though they are really the same thing. It’s not that you are trying to observe or be alert to a particular thing but to all at once. When riding your bike you are mindful of your body, the road and motion but that can go deeper into an overall awareness that is neither mind nor body. In Zen parlance ‘to ride without riding’ or ‘no rider above the saddle, no horse below’.
So, you are right, to just sit is difficult but when real mindfulness grips you or ‘pure alertness’ it will no confine itself to any activity or posture, it will be at all times and without effort and totally liberating.
I hope this has helped you. Take care,
Joe
