On Taking Note Twice
Below method is (or at least has been) used in the Vipassana group in Osho′s Ashram in Poona. During Vipassana all kinds of thoughts and emotions may surface and in order to lessen their distressing impact, one can take note of them twice. A method which may also come in handy in daily life.
The word ′suchness′ is of immense importance in Buddha′s approach
towards reality. The word ′suchness′ is as important in Buddhism as
′God′ is in other religions.
The Buddhist word for suchness is tathata. It means ′Seeing things
are such, don′t take any attitude, don′t make any opinion, don′t
judge or condemn.′ The Buddhist meditation consists of suchness. The
method is very practical and very deep-going. Buddha has said to his
disciples, ′Just watch things as they are, without interfering′. For
example, you have a headache. The moment you note it, immediately
the opinion enters that this is not good: ′Why should i have a
headache? What should i do not to have it?′
You are immediately worried, you have taken an opinion, you are
against it, you have started repressing it. Either you have to
repress it chemically, through an Aspro or Novalgin, or you have to
repress it in the consciousness - you don′t look at it, you put it
aside. You get involved in something else, you want to be distracted
in something else so you can forget it. But in both ways you have
missed suchness.
What will Buddha suggest? Buddha says take note twice, ′Headache,
headache′. Don′t feel inimical towards it, neither friendly nor
antagonistic. Just take simple note, as if it has nothing to do with
you: ′Headache, headache′. And remain undisturbed, undistracted,
uninfluenced by it, without any opinion.
See the point. Immediately, ninety percent of the headache is
gone...because a headache is not a real headache, ninety percent
arises out of the antagonistic opinion. Immediately you will see
that the greater part of it is no longer there. And another thing
will be noted: sooner or later you will see that the headache is
disappearing in something else - maybe you are now feeling anger.
What happened?
If you repress the headache you will never come to know what its
real message was. The headache was there just as an indicator that
you are full of anger in this moment and the anger is creating a
tension in the head, hence the headache. But you watched, you simply
took note of it - ′Headache, headache′ - you remained impartial,
objective.
Then the headache disappears. And the headache gives you the message
that ′i am not the headache, i am anger′. Now, Buddha says, take
note again: ′Anger, anger′. Now don′t become angry with anger,
otherwise again you are trapped and you have missed suchness.
If you say, ′Anger, anger′, ninety percent of the anger will be gone
immediately. This is a very practical method. And the ten percent
that will be left will release its message. You may come to see that
it is not anger, it is ego. Take note again: ′Ego, ego′. And so on
and so forth. One thing is connected with another, and the deeper
you move the closer you come to the original cause. And once you
have come to the original cause the chain is broken - there is
nothing beyond it.
A moment will come when you will take note of the last link in the
chain, and then nothingness. Then you are released from the whole
chain, and there will arise great purity, great silence. That
silence is called suchness.
This has to be practiced continuously. Sometimes it may happen that
you forget, and you have made an opinion unconsciously,
mechanically. Then the Buddha says remember again: ′Opinion,
opinion′. Now don′t get distracted by this - that you have made an
opinion. Don′t get depressed that you have missed, just take note,
′Opinion, opinion′, and suddenly you will see - ninety percent of
the opinion is gone, ten percent remains, and that releases its
message to you. What is its message? The message is that there is
some inhibition, some taboo; out of that taboo the opinion has
arisen.
A sex desire comes in the mind and immediately you say, ′This is
bad.′ This is opinion. Why is it bad? - because you have been taught
it is bad, it is a taboo. Take note, ′Taboo, taboo′ and go on.
Sometimes it will also happen that you have judged - not only
judged, you have made an opinion; not only made an opinion, you have
become depressed that you have missed. Then take note again,
′Depression, depression,′ and go on.
Whenever you become conscious, at whatsoever point, from there take
note - just a simple note - and leave the whole thing. And soon you
will see the entangled mind is no longer as entangled as it has
always been. Things start disappearing, and there will be moments of
suchness, tathata, when you will be simply there and the existence
is there and there is no opinion between you and existence. All is
undisturbed by thought, unpolluted by thought. Existence is, but
mind has disappeared. That state of no-mind is called suchness.
Notes:
- There are commentators who claim that Buddha adviced to take note not twice but thrice, for it to be efficient.
- EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) offers a simple and fast technique to rid
oneself of different emotional and physical problems, often within minutes. The idea behind it is that "the cause of all negative
emotions is a disruption in the body′s energy system". Balancing this system does away with the ailment. Balancing supposedly happens
because a particular sequence of 13 acupuncture points is tapped with two or three fingers. Each time a point is tapped, the problem is
focussed on.
Perhaps EFT does indeed work because actual acupuncture points are tapped, but there′s reason to believe that its effectiveness depends on Buddha′s method of taking note and then leaving the whole problem behind. In the EFT procedure one takes note, not twice, not three times, but up to 13 times; this should amply be sufficient.
By taking note without antagonism there′s no split created inside and the discomfort isn′t locked into our system for a prolonged period of time.There is enough evidence to support the thesis that EFT is a valuable therapy, but also that its benefits may have no connection to the acupuncture points and meridians themselves. A study, published in The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice in 2003, was conducted by Waite and Holder on 119 University students who reported specific fears or phobias.
This study compared four groups:
- A group that received regular EFT
- A second group that tapped on sham points that were not EFT points
- A third group that tapped on an inanimate object (a doll)
- A fourth group that received no treatment.
The first three groups did statistically better than the fourth group, but there were no significant differences between the three tapping groups. That is, the groups that tapped on sham points and on the doll did just as well as the EFT group, but all three groups did better than the no-treatment group. Since the group that used the doll was not tapping on meridian points, yet still benefited equally, the authors suggest this as a falsification of the theory that EFT works because of the body′s energy meridian system.
Besides by Buddha′s technique, the first two groups may also have benefited because of the placebo effect.
And all first three groups may also have benefited because the EFT-technique, in the setup, assists in accepting oneself:"If you have fear, you have fear - why make a problem out of it? Then you know that you have fear, just as you have two hands. Why create a problem out of it- as if you have only one nose, not two? Why create a problem out of it? Fear is there: accept it, note it. Accept it, don′t bother about it. What will happen? Suddenly you will feel it has disappeared. And this is the inner alchemy - a problem disappears if you accept it, and a problem grows more and more complex if you create any conflict with it. Yes, suffering is there, and suddenly fear comes- accept it. It is there and nothing can be done about it. And when I say nothing can be done about it, don′t think that I am talking about pessimism to you. When I say nothing can be done about it I am giving you the key to solve it."
(Osho in A Bird on the Wing #1) - Maurice Nicoll defines ′events′ in his
Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky:
"Life is a series of events on different scales. It is not things, people, objects, but events that bring these things and people and objects into different relations with you at different times. The pen on your table is not an event itself but becomes part of a small event when you pick it up to sign a cheque. In this event, the pen, the cheque-book, the table, the ink, and yourself and the person to whom you make out the cheque, etc. are all suddenly connected together. This is an event. Next moment, the pen, the cheque-book and so on, fall, as it were, apart, and lie silent and motionless.
(Maurice Nicoll in Commentaries vol.1)
...
Consider the world-event of the war. This is an event on the scale of humanity. The countries Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, etc. are not events in themselves, but when war suddenly descends like a whirlwind and whirls them round and round, bringing them violently into a certain relationship with each other, then this is an event. The war gathers people together, moves them about, and when it has passed, the objects, the things of war, the people, will fall apart, and everyone will go home.
...
Life can and should be seen as a series of events, not as things and people, as merely visible objects. If you can see what you are caught up by as a particular sort of event, it is an act of attention to do so, and makes it possible not to identify with it so much.
...
If you can draw back internally from whatever event you are identifying with in life, and try to formulate the event like this: "This is called being blamed for something I did not do," "This is called losing one′s temper," "This is called being insulted," "This is called being overlooked," "This is called losing something," "This is called being disappointed," "This is called being in a mess," "This is called being late," etc. etc. - then you will not identify so much."Ergo, By not being so much involved in an event, an accompanying negative emotion of necessity loses its impact. The main reason why EFT works would then be dis-identification.