Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘In order to align our senses, we have to align our mind. But this does not mean that we negate anything: we can’t force the mind to be suddenly still. This is clear in the Buddha’s explanation about the minds of the past, present, and future, and the Sixth Patriarch is very clear about this as well. To align the mind we must bring it into oneness – into focus on one thing. This is why the Sixth Patriarch says not to give attention to the constantly changing aspects of the mind. But this does not mean to stop seeing or hearing or smelling. If we negated the mind, we would stop responding, and that is not the point. So what does alignment mean? It means to not be moved by what is not real, but also to not move blindly, to know that which does not change no matter where we are or what we’re doing.’ (Not One Single Thing)