Originally Posted by
Jundo
We should be a little cautious about falling into too much intellectual thinking and mental wheel turning on this.
Thoughts come and go in Zazen, just do not grab them or become entangled, just let them go. Sometimes there are also wide open spaces between thoughts, clear and still, in which nothing really is being thought, maybe just a kind of bare consciousness. Cherish the clear and silent spaces. However, also know that both are fine, and that both thoughts and spaces are the very same boundless, open, unobstructed sky. Know the clear, still and boundless that shines even through the passing thoughts. Risho and Tairin say it so nicely.
Strange images or thoughts sometimes arise in Zazen, like the smiley beer glass. Just let it go too. However, on the philosophical question of whether it is caused or "random," both Buddhism and physics leave room for debate. Oh there may be various intersecting causes (e.g., a beer commercial you saw months before which made you smile, your tiredness, the temperature in the room, what you ate for dinner which is upsetting your stomach, and 1001 other factors), but our human lives are the intersection point of so many factors coming together in a particular place and time in nearly chaotic fashion, emergence of properties very different from their constituent elements (e.g., how hydrogen and oxygen somehow become a "snow storm"), any quantum randomness and just blind luck, that life may be "random" in great aspect, or for all intents and purposes. Did we end up in this life, on this planet, because it is foretold in a "Great Book" somewhere, or are we basically a cosmic hiccup and roll of the dice, or something else?
In any case, here we find ourselves, living and dreaming. Live and dream well. If finding oneself near a stream with a pail in hand, dream or not, fetch water.
It is very simple to realize that one has been dreaming strange dreams when we wake up in the morning. It is much harder for human beings to "awaken" to realize that this ordinary, seemingly solid daytime world is also a dream.
(Sorry, I dreamt more than 3 sentences)
Gassho, J
STLah