They come unbidden in the night. They sneak in uninvited during the day. They seem to have a mind of their own; bringing a pang of anxiety about our health, or a flare of fear about a recent climate disaster. So here we are once again: colonized by the thinking mind. In that instant of recognition, we’re at the heart of practice — bringing awareness to whatever arises whether thoughts, emotions, sensations, or any other aspect of our experience.
I once heard a dharma teacher say that Buddhism’s foremost mantra must be the two words: “let go.” When teaching outpatient clinics at the Mind/Body Medical Institute, we emphasized how to link letting go with the out-breath. We called it “the letting go breath.” Simple, yes, but an effective tool for letting go of mental, physical, or emotional suffering.
Pema Chödrön teaches that letting go is “the main method for working with chaos.” Whether the chaos of thoughts running wild or the chaos of this turbulent world, Pema continues, “This is probably one of the most amazing tools you can be given, the ability to just let things go, not to be caught in the grip of your own angry passionate, worried, or depressed thoughts.”
The moment we recognize that the thinking mind has taken over, we can repeat, or just sense — “let go.” That may ease into “let be”— abiding in pure awareness. We can use either “let go” or “let be” as a tool for working with the mind/heart. There is a subtle inner shift from the thinking mind to pure awareness – a moment of freedom.
Ajahn Buddhadhasa, the Thai Buddhist monk, encouraged his students to look for nirvana (freedom) in ordinary moments. In his words, “Nirvana is the coolness of letting go, the inherent delight of experience when there is no grasping or resistance to life. It is always available.”
Our lives are an ongoing dance is between attachment and aversion, between serenity and distraction, much of it going on beneath our awareness. Yet with ever more refined awareness, however, we practice letting go and letting be until every moment of awareness becomes a sacred moment.