"Intention is not the same as having a goal.  

Intention is direction, and direction is most important. The intention must be to let go, to drop off body and mind. It can not be your intention to hold on, to gain, to accumulate,or you will never be able to do it. Only when your intention is clear, when you are just sitting without trying to get someplace, or attain something in your practice, only then can you really let go of body and mind. Having the courage to look at your own mind you realize: Aha! No mind. It is unsubstantial, it is not fixed, solid thing. There is no self, no ego." But when we watch these thoughts more closely we find ourselves wondering "where are these thoughts coming from? I don't know! They seem to be coming out of nowhere, out of empty space. "

pg 8 to be continued

When we are first asked to find the thinker, we all say "obviously I am the thinker, and I have all these thoughts."

Who produces these thoughts in me?

the Eye Never Sleeps by Dennis Genpo Merzel


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Most people would say that goals are to increase our "stuff" -- our knowledge, our influence, our bank account... but rather than such a material goal, how about increasing our non-attachment, increasing our acceptance of others, increasing our acceptance of ourselves.

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