Merely the seen
Today, let one sight or sound be just what it is, before the story starts.
- Read · about 2 minutes
“In that case, Bāhiya, you should train like this:‘In the seen will be merely the seen; in the heard will be merely the heard; in the thought will be merely the thought; in the known will be merely the known.’That’s how you should train.Ud 1.10 · Bāhiya Sutta · “With Bāhiya” · tr. Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0)
From the text
Bāhiya is told how to train: in the seen there will be merely the seen, in the heard merely the heard, in the thought merely the thought, and in the known merely the known. That, the passage says, is how he should train.
In everyday life
This instruction is short, and it is about attention. 'Train' here means practice, something done again and again. Take an ordinary moment: a car horn outside. First there is the sound. Then, almost at once, there is 'that idiot', or 'I hate this street', or a plan to move house. The instruction points at the first part. In the heard, merely the heard. One way to take this is that most of the weight of a day is added after the bare sight or sound, by the story that follows it. You do not have to stop the story by force; you only have to notice where the sound ended and the story began. Today's sit with the breath is a simple version: a breath is felt, and then the mind comments. See if you can catch the breath before the comment. Then try the same with one sound in the day.
- Sit · 3, 5 or 10 minutes
Breath Awareness
Sit comfortably upright, hands in your lap or on your knees. After reading a cue, you may close your eyes and rest with the breath until the next one appears.
- Live · during your day
Once today, when a sound reaches you, such as a siren, a door, or a voice, let it be just a sound for a moment before you decide what it means or whether you like it.
- Reflect · this evening
What did you notice today in the gap between seeing or hearing something and your reaction to it?
Answer on paper, or in the app’s journal, which stays on your iPhone.