March 13, 2025 – B

What we see is how we look. 

This image of the Buddha free from all assumptions, inferences, projections, presuppositions, conclusions, impressions, etc., is just what it is, which is an accurate impression of the Buddha himself who was "One thus come," like a rock on the road or a wave on the ocean -- and anything more that is said about this image, rock, or wave, is something we add to the thing we see when we look at it. 

Anything more than the image, rock, wave that we would say about it is ourselves we are talking about and not the image-rock-wave. To see what we look at it "as it is" requires us to see our seeing, and to empty ourselves of all that is not "there" before us, as it is.

What I see when I look at this image is serenity, tranquility, equanimity, peace, acceptance of reality "just as it is."

This image--which is of my statue of the seated Buddha--reminds me of, connects me with, the Buddha's statement about "How to meditate." He said, "Peaceful abiding, here, now." Implying that there is nothing more to Meditation than that. And suggesting (to me) that we can "drop into meditation" anytime, anywhere, just by entering the state of serenity, tranquility, equanimity, peace and acceptance of reality just as it is.

We step through an imaginary door and there we are. Just like that.

That is what comes to my mind when I see this image, view the statue. The image/statue is a doorway to the doorway. Reminding me, like a Tibetan Singing Bowl, to stop what I'm doing and drop into the silence, becoming serene, tranquil, at peace.

The trick is to do this with everything we see. We have to see how we are looking when we see what we look at, to make sure we are getting ourselves out of the way and seeing just what we look at "as it is," without our input jamming the signals coming from the thing to us.

What do you see when you look at at this image of the seated  Buddha?