From where do thoughts arise? Where do they go after they have been thunk? After one thought, then memory, then the next thought, then memory, thought, memory, thought, memory, space… … And when you are quiet in that space between you may find that you re-cognize that certain thoughts seem to always precede or follow other thoughts, like a train. Some thought trains you have been on, some go to a planned destination, some go who knows where… Do you hitch onto that train? Where will it go? Will it ever come back? Before you know, you’re on a train. Maybe you’ll go in a big loop and come back… Maybe you will arrive at another station… With study or luck you can avoid certain undesirable destinations and that may help you live in a so-called “right” way (according to some religion or lineage); and that is often useful in the physical world… But I think, anyway, that the purpose of no-thought is you can just sit in an empty station and love the sound of trains in the distance. And when it’s time to move on, you’ll hear the trains coming from miles away and learn their schedules and whenever you want, you can go for a ride on the ones you like best. Some trains are scenic loops, some express… Some stations are empty with trains once a day and some crowded with dozens of trains coming and going all the time… and some are just right, big historic stations, once will traveled, but now mostly empty with one or two other people you might strike up a conversation. For some of us, maybe with enough study of the whole workings of the system, maybe we can design and build our own tracks! Maybe we can build them right in front of us while also driving the train, or maybe we get others to build them while we ride along stoking a fire. And maybe we take a taxi or a hot air balloon or just walk off into the desert and get abducted by a UFO… What was the question? – A Reddit Post
James: Good metaphor. An intelligent thoughtful post. Yes, “sit” in an “empty” station, meaning I am an empty station. Thoughts come and go and I don’t move because I am where they are coming from and going to.
