Formations

During my time away from Ox Herding, I read Thich Nhat Hanh's book, The Heart of Buddha's Teaching. In one passage on the Eightfold Path, he writes:

To be aware of the mind is to be aware of the mental formations (chitta samskara). "Formations" (samskara) is a technical term in Buddhism. Anything that is "formed," anything that is made of something else, is a formation.

A flower is a formation. Our anger is a formation, a mental formation . . . Some are uplifting and help us transform our suffering . . . and others are heavy and imprison us in our suffering.

These formations don't just appear willy-nilly - we create them, fabricate them in response to conditions.

So how can we work responsibly with these formations, not just on the cushion but also throughout daily life?

We can first begin by seeing what is actually present in any moment. We can ask: why this formation? What in me produced this?

We can get to know ourselves as we actually are. Isn't that the work?

Photo by Michel

Comments

[jill]

I like the way you articulate our "formations"....I think without formalizing the process I have been trying to do that the last few years more as I go. Good reminder to dig deeper.

Enjoy what appears to be another few days of summer ahead!

[Barry Briggs]

Seems like there's always a "deeper" in this work - try try try, 10,000 years!

Oh, these are lovely summer days, Jill!