The Middle Way: You're Soaking in It

I would like to indulge your imagination for a moment, with your kind permission. See a tall mountain, lightly capped with snow, its peak above the cloud line on a bright cloudless day. See the very tip, a jagged platform of rock stabbing heavenwards from the bowels of the Earth. See, balanced on that tip, me singing the praises of the Big Mind process.

A bit much, yeah maybe. But, seriously, the Big Mind process as discovered by Genpo Roshi is, in Ken Wilber's words, "Let me state this as strongly as I can: the Big Mind Process is arguably the most important and original discovery in the last two centuries of Buddhism."

Some have called the discovery of this process the fourth turning of the Dharma wheel. I am no Buddhist scholar, but I would not hesitate to take that claim seriously.

So, what is it? Put simply it is a blending of the current leading edge of techniques from the contemplative East, and the rational West. It combines the 30 years of dedicated Zen Koan study and mastery of Genpo Roshi with the Voice Dialogue technique of psychotherapy founded by Hal and Sidra Stone. Voice Dialogue is a therapeutic modality where the various aspects of personality, or voices, that each of us is capable of taking are invited to speak. What Hal and Sidra Stone discovered was that by acknowledging these voices and identifying oneself as them, a great deal of work could be done on integrating those voices, especially the disowned shadow elements of one's psyche.

What Genpo Roshi discovered was that one could choose to call forth directly the non-dualistic as well as dualistic voices of the mind, and ultimately the integrative voices as well. A facilitator might start with the voice of the Controller, move to the Skeptic, the Damaged Self, then to the Seeking Mind. Then you could cross over into the non-dualistic minds such as the Non-Seeking Mind, the Master, and, of course, the Big Mind. Finally you could call on the integrated minds, such as Big Mind/Big Heart, Fully Free Functioning Human Being, and the Ordinary Mind Way.

Genpo Roshi uses this modality in his Zen talks and Koan studies, and always begins with the dualistic minds to the non-dualistic minds and finally to the integrated mind which he often calls The Apex. In this way he builds a triangle of realization where you have the dualistic as one side of the base, the non-dualistic as the other, and finally the apex which transcends and includes both.

The process really is as simple as asking to talk to a certain voice, and answering in the affirmative, naming yourself as that voice. To get an idea I highly recommend watching the YouTube series which you can find by doing a search for "Big Mind" at YouTube.com.

This method is also very valuable for meditation. The simple process is to center yourself, like you would for Zen sitting, centered, relaxed, and breathing evenly. Then, in the roll of Facilitator, ask to talk to the Non-Seeking Non-Grasping Mind, "May I please talk to the Non-Seeking Non-Grasping Mind?" Then, answer back as that mind, "Yes, I am the Non-Seeking Non-Grasping Mind." Then you simply sit as that non-dualistic mind for the duration of your meditation.

As a testimony to the efficacy of this method I offer this: I was meditating a week back. My mind still, like a placid pond, reflecting all or nothing equally. Free of concerns, free of desires. Then, unbidden I moved up to the apex and saw the meaning of the Middle Way. Until that point I had understood that the Middle Way of the Dharma was a razors edge poised tenuously between complete indulgence and total restraint, worldliness and aestheticism. I saw the Middle Way as a balancing act, of infinite difficulty with the Buddha waiting at the end poised like some mad tight rope walker. But, that was wrong. That is not what the Buddha meant at all. Not even close. The Middle Way transcends, and includes all methods. The Middle Way is inescapable, we have never moved from it, and will never be anywhere but on it. It stretches from one end of the cosmos to the other, and beyond. It spans every second from the beginningless start of time, past the end of infinity. I have never been off the Middle Way, never stepped onto it. It is my home, and is the home of every other being that exists, ever has, and ever will. All of creation is on the Middle Way, and dwarfed by it.

Two days after this amazingly simplistic and silly realization, I was enjoying my morning cereal and watching one of Genpo Roshi's talks on my iPod. I had not seen it before. In it, Genpo talks about the Middle Way as the Apex, and that people mistakenly believe that the Middle Way is a thin line to walk, and that that is not what the Buddha meant at all. He said that the Middle Way encompasses everything.

I did not take this as a sign that I was right, or a validation of my realization, but instead I take it as simply this - The Big Mind process leads one in an highly effective manner and at speed to the only conclusions that the Dharma embodies. It is a blend of the best that the East and West have to offer, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.