THE VOICE WITHIN

Once when Gautama Buddha came to teach his disciples, he was holding a silk handkerchief. Thousands were waiting to hear him speak, and as they saw him walking towards them, they wondered at the fine cloth in his hands.

Addressing the gathering, Buddha asked “what do you see?”, and they replied “a silken handkerchief”. Slowly the Buddha started to put knots on the handkerchief, one after another. He then asked whether it was the same handkerchief. His disciples agreed it was the same handkerchief — yet different — as it was all in knots now.

“That is what I want you to understand. You are all Buddha but you cannot see the fine silken fabric because you are in knots,” the Buddha said.

Pausing awhile, he added: “I am like the same handkerchief but without knots.”

He then pulled the handkerchief hard from both sides and asked whether the knots would open. The disciples spoke in unison, saying that this way the knots will in fact tighten and become more difficult to open.

At once Buddha asked, “Why do you then try to open your inner knots by pulling? While your intention in doing so is good, your very doing is its undoing! It is trying too hard, taking too much trouble. You are actually making it more complicated.”

He now asked the assembly what was to be done if the knots were to be untied. A monk answered that he could come up close, observe and try to understand how the knots in the handkerchief were formed. “If I get to see how the knots were formed, maybe I can undo them,” the monk said.

“Rightly said!”, smiled the Buddha. He then ended the sermon saying this was all he wanted to teach them. “Meditate upon your inner knots,” he advised.

This is why proponents of mindfulness practice ‘watching’ instead of ‘fixing’. They know that all human beings have their ‘knots’, their problems, their difficulties. People try to untie knots in the same manner for years. It becomes part of their mental habit, their conditioning, to try the same things over and over to fix whatever is troubling them.

However, most of the time, instead of finding a solution, they end up feeding their ‘problem solving’ mind which keeps getting stronger. This is essentially akin to tightening the knots.

Practitioners of mindfulness, on the other hand, slow down, become silent, let the noise in their mind settle and begin to observe. At all times, they are gentle and patient with themselves. They let their assumptions about what is ‘problematic’ and why it is so, rest. Instead of thinking and fixing, they create some acceptance and try noticing.

With kindly focus, they are more likely to start seeing the nature of their inner knots, and hear what their mind is saying about it. With real understanding, a more fruitful and creative approach becomes possible.

The knots could begin to loosen. And even if they don’t, the practitioner is far likelier to find the courage to confront or let go...

the harbinger