1996-07_07 Vipassana Retreat, Part 7 of 8 - Q&A 3

Talk: 19960707-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-vipassana_retreat_part_7_of_8-43311 Start_time: 00:31:00 Display_question: Do I go further into deep questions when they arise during sitting? Keyword_search: sitting, question, silence, understand, nature, rabbi, Hebrew, blood, God, Buddha, Buddhism, active, mantra, fruit, faith Question_content: Questioner: There are times that questions will arise while sitting, and I don't know if there's a way to further question or if I should go to the… Larry: Like what kind of question? If it's too personal, give me a… Questioner: Like you said, in my mind, what's motoring this whole process? What’s behind this? Larry: Yes, I understand. Questioner: What's the nature of the silence? Larry: Yes. Questioner: And then there's nothing, so I just go the… Larry: Yeah. The truth is that the practice is “Who am I?” Remember, they're just words. Who am I? They're just words. This looking, that's taking us deeper and deeper into that which we think of as being me. And so, the whole thing is about finding out who that I is. What does that mean? When we create a word “I, me, mine,” those are just words. Look them up in the dictionary. They're pointing to something. Now, the use of those words are skillful methods that have been used, including in Buddhism, “Who am I? What is this?” And if those words help you, fine. This path is not so much using the words as the intensity builds up from the observation itself. And wonder is a wonderful quality for all this. Break_line: At a certain point, you're going to see you don't know what anything is really. It's very humbling, especially some of us who have read a lot of books and have certificates to prove it. When you begin to understand, and you may find that you're a mystic, but that's another label too. When you start getting into silence big time, thinking any kind of thought, including “What is this, the nature of this silence?” that crushes the silence, doesn't it? Questioner: <inaudible> Larry: Yes. And yet it's imperative that we learn what silence is and enter into it. Do you know, I had lunch with the rabbi who's teaching here today, and we were talking a little bit about silence, and he said that there's an old Hebrew scripture, his wife said it, that says “Silence is the blood of God.” I think the Buddha would agree. Even though there's no God in Buddha, Buddhism. It's just words. So, now I'll tell you what you can do now and then if you're feeling, if a question comes up, there's no law to not say, “What is this? Who am I?” But the practice wouldn't be repeating that over and over. Then it's more like a mantra. But from time to time, if the words kind of give you some energy and increase the thrust of your seeing. Break_line: Sometimes I'll do it. I spent a number of years practicing, five years practicing “What am I?” And I don't use that so much anymore. But now and then, when my mind is dull and sleepy—yes, me too; even Mr. Wonderful gets sleepy—I'll ask, “Who am I?” Because it's a more active thing or “What is this?” And just by doing something a little more active has a bit of doing in it. It sometimes will bring more energy. But I don't keep doing it over and over and then I'm back to just the looking. It's the seeing that will free us. That's the assumption of this path. Some of you, I know, have seen if you've practiced for a while, you've seen the potential in it already. If you're very new, I think you're going to have to be patient and have faith. But you shouldn't depend on faith forever, because some fruit should be coming out of this. Yes, please. End_time: 00:35:06