Originally Posted by
Omoi Otoshi
I agree Chet,
Since we conjure up our own demons, we're really fighting ourselves, aren't we? How could we hope to win over ourselves? It's impossible. When we escalate the war, we reinforce the demon side too, unconsciously. By opening the hand of thought in Shikantaza, I guess we are slowing down or stopping the conjuring up of more demons to fight. In time, maybe one learns to recognize the demons for what they are and become aware of their presence, which makes them lose their power over you, just like thoughts can no longer pass your guard and 'kidnap' you as easily in Zazen as they do in our ordinary life. When we wake up from our nightmarish dreaming, maybe the necessary conditions for the demons to appear no longer exist.
Also, when we let life manifest life, the universal self manifest universal self, I imagine there is some sort of purification of the mind, a sort of natural healing process or returning to wholeness, a restoration of original mind, when the defiling of our mind stops. With time and practice, the evil 'seeds', the original cause for the demons to appear, may lose some of their power in our life, even when we are not sitting Zazen.
This is by no means a truth claim, just my way of looking at it, and it may be very, very delusional, as always. :wink:
Gassho,
Pontus