Letting go of Mind

With regular meditation a relaxed mind can feel clear and peaceful. Vibrant and pleasant. Regardless of what is occurring around or even inside. The wholesome pleasure of meditation can be a guiding light deeper into mindfulness and a spiritual lifestyle. At some point it becomes easy to let go of material possessions and even the body... but harder to let go of the mind itself.

Mind can be a refuge but also something to cling to, even if only subtly. The clear mind is always there every time we look. It seems infallible and imperturbable, it never fails us once we learn to let go of everything else. Could this be the Ultimate?

Experienced practitioners can spend many years attached to the Samadhi of meditation. They want nothing more than to meditate without disturbance. Sometimes they might think that this is it. "This is enlightenment!". And yet when chores and disturbances inevitably appear there is subtle annoyance. Then they may learn to "meditate in motion" during quite busy activities. To continue their mindfulness. But even then there is a certain attachment to that mindfulness as a refuge.

So do we need to let go of mind sooner or later? If so, how can it be done?

We could examine to check... is the mind really permanent? Does it come and go? This is very difficult to see. Without mind, nothing can be seen or experienced. Our experience all seemingly comes through mind and occurs within mind. But even if, through grace, we realize the impermanence of mind, we may well find something else to cling to which we believe to be permanent - which might be even harder to let go of!

Even though we have accepted the impermanence of many apparent objects in the world, including the body, we may have not let go of impermanence itself.

We are still looking for something permanent to hold on to and we may find this in the mind itself.

In the end, what we really need to look deeply into, is the duality of permanence and impermanence as well as our own tendency to cling and to take ownership. To see through and transcend this whole entanglement. Does anything actually really come and go? Do these concepts even hold up? Can we let go of them altogether, even if for just a short time? Can we let go of permanence and impermanence and stop clinging... permanently?

For your contemplation 🙏