One Wonderful Technique

I continue describing the technique that will allow you to handle your mental problems - if you think you don't have any, perhaps you don't need this practice and this post is a reminder that for that you should already be sufficiently prepared. It's also about why the correct Zen practice is better than psychoanalysis, and in the end, I'll outline in general terms how works the very process of understanding, which would be just pointless philosophizing if in the following posts I weren't be going to give concrete practical recommendations how to have such an experience.

The objective perception of the Buddha is the perception of a mature, ie, independent, person. Roadblocks that prevent it are always your ties. All that you ultimately need to do is sever your bonds. This doesn't mean that as a result,
 you'll find yourself in a bubble all alone - only your interaction with the environment will change: instead of merging with it, you'll negate it. Let us also note that arguing, as Lenin did, that freedom is just an illusion on the grounds that, one way or another, we're still doomed to interact with the (social) environment is like denying the expediency and presence of the immune system.

There is always a deception at the heart of ties: it's always someone's mask that you've taken at face value; otherwise, we wouldn't let him or her inside you. The ties exist as long as we're hypnotized by the mask; as soon as the mask is ripped off, the bonds disappear - upon this is based psychoanalysis. But the process of identifying masks can be simplified and made much more effective if we're aware of the fact that behind them there is always the female aspect: it's the substance that calls to merge, convinces the immune system to let it inside giving knowingly false promises. This is true in all cases, even when it concerns the masks of men: when men try to impress women or men, they often resort not to seduction but to more straightforward if not brutal methods - and in this case too, you see not a real man but his mask. And to identify the mask, you need to see the female aspect of its owner - to imagine him as a woman: what would he look like if he were a woman? - ie, at the heart of the masks of men lies the same female aspect. [It should be noted, by the way, that at the heart of the male hierarchy lies homosexuality.] The female aspect is also the basis of mental problems which, at first glance, have nothing to do with people, such as fear of open or closed spaces, etc.

[It's true that a real person and the idea of him or her in your mind are two different things, but in this case we're talking about the mask that a person wore (or still wears) and which made an impression on you, and the image of this mask could be imprinted quite accurately because in fact it was an interaction of two (if not one and the same) substances speaking the same language.]

Naturally, to get rid of neurosis, you must already be sufficiently prepared, so you start with practising zazen (I prefer my own walking method which this blog is about.) If you have mental problems, obsessive thoughts, for example, you can't just remove them like a sick tooth leaving everything else as it was; you must change yourself, change your attitude to the problem. You can't solve a problem within the same concept, the same viewpoint, that generated this problem. Potentially, you must already be healthy, ie, free.

Therefore, at the beginning of the practice, try not to think about your problems, do sports exercises just for the sake of stopping thoughts, keep calm, and practise zazen - first you need to create a healthy viewpoint: a springboard for a further attack - before you take up your neurosis, you must already have enough energy for this.

Incidentally, obsessive thoughts are an example of an attempt to solve a problem within the same viewpoint that generated it. As a result, the whole energy of the efforts channeled and disappears as in a black hole - in this way you can maintain a dialogue all your life, and your internal interlocutor will always be the winner in the long run. Psychoanalysis in such cases doesn't always work in spite of the fact that in principle it correctly describes the very mechanics of the process: its inherent determinism is to blame, whereas in reality, you should go beyond determinism, break it so get over yourself. Psychoanalysis is too intellectual in this respect. Otherwise, all you should do is not speak to the internal interlocutor but kill him or her, which of course is not easy to do, but there are some subtleties here: in what order to clean up the shit, where to start, etc - in one of the following posts, I'll give practical advice how to do this.

At first, don't touch your old problems - start with simple things - just start with training your insight: try to guess the true intentions of people. You can watch the person you're examining, or you can just work on memories of him or her -  there is no fundamental difference - in any case since you'll work on the impression that he or she's made on you (the mask.)

So, if you feel you have enough energy, imagine him or her as a woman - even if you're examining a woman, imagine her pure female aspect - then exterminate her, tear her apart. If you do everything right, the moment you tear her apart, you'll understand what was behind the mask (I can only explain this by the fact that there is the oppositely directed time's arrow.) That is, the destruction of the roadblocks - ie, severing the ties - is the cause of the understanding of what was behind them, not the other way around as psychoanalysis declares.

See also here
and The Hell Gate