Use mind as the door to meditation

What the Method Is

The core instruction or sutra for this method is: “Wherever your mind is wandering, internally or externally, at this very place, this”. This sutra implies that the present state of the mind, regardless of its content or direction, holds the key to discovering one’s true being.

How It Is Done

To practise “Use mind as the door to meditation”, the guidance involves a shift in attentional focus:

  • Observe the Mind’s Wandering: Begin by simply observing where your mind is currently wandering, whether its focus is internal (thoughts, desires) or external (objects, sensory input).
  • Shift Focus from Object to Subject: When a thought or desire arises – for instance, a sex desire or greed for a bigger house – do not get lost in the content of the thought itself. Instead, shift your focus to “to whom it has arisen, to whom it has happened”. This means turning your awareness from the “cloud” (the thought or desire) to the “sky” (the consciousness or space in which the thought appears).
  • Change the Focus: The essence of the practice is a “change of focus from the object to the subject, from the outer to the inner, from the cloud to the sky, from the guest to the host”.
  • Be Present in Simple Acts: Apply this principle to daily activities. As taught in Zen, if you are eating, just eat; if you are carrying water, just carry water; if you are sleeping, just sleep. The key is to be fully merged with the moment, without allowing the mind to stray into the past or future. For example, when reading, be solely with the reading, not thinking of other tasks or desires.
  • Recognise the “Knower”: Through this practice, you will become aware of the “knower” within. This is the inner center where all sensory reports (hearing, seeing, touching, smelling) converge and unify, revealing “the same man that you are hearing and seeing and touching and smelling”. This “knower” is your pure awareness, which you may have “forgotten completely”.
Commentaries and Insights

Osho’s commentaries provide deep insights into the philosophy and practice of this method:

  • The Mind as the Door, Not an Obstacle: This method is revolutionary because it redefines the mind not as a barrier to be destroyed, but as the “door” itself. Even a wandering mind, “crowded with ugly desires, passions, anger, greed” and “beyond your control,” is seen as this door.
  • Transformation to “Buddha-Mind”: By simply changing focus from the content of the mind to the awareness that holds it, the ordinary mind can be transformed into a “buddha-mind”. Osho asserts that “You are already a buddha, you are just burdened with many clouds,” and this method helps shed these burdens by detaching from identification with the “clouds” (thoughts).
  • Beyond Fragmentation to Wholeness: Modern life often leaves individuals fragmented, with their minds constantly elsewhere (e.g., in the office while at home). This practice encourages being “merged with the moment with no future, no past,” thus bringing clarity and wholeness to existence.
  • “Being” is the Revolution: The method emphasizes a shift from “doing” to “being.” Osho states that your “presence is the turning point. Your being is the revolution”. Meditation, in this context, is not an act but a “quality of your being” – an “inner breathing” of consciousness.
  • Effortless Awareness: While initial efforts are needed to break old habits of mental wandering, the ultimate goal is an effortless presence. If you can “simply carry the water” or “just eat without doing anything else,” with an “unclouded” mind and “vacant” inner sky, then “you are a buddha”.
  • Self-Created Suffering: The misery and suffering experienced are often “your own doing,” stemming from identification with the false self created by the mind. By using the mind as a door, one can step out of this self-imposed suffering.
  • Ignorance as Forgetfulness: The fundamental problem is not a lack of knowledge, but a forgetfulness of your own being. The mind reflects everything else, but cannot reflect you. By becoming aware of the “knower” behind the reflections, one transcends the mind.
  • The Simplicity and Depth of the Method: While the technique appears “so simple” – just a change of focus – Osho warns that the mind often dismisses such simplicity. However, these seemingly simple methods are “powerful because they touch fundamental realities”. The “knowing is bound to be difficult not because of reality, but because of your mind”.
  • Reorganization of Qualities: To become a buddha, a “reorganization of your qualities is needed”, shifting energy from identification with thoughts to the awareness of the self.
  • Connection to Zen and Gurdjieff: This sutra has been “used deeply in Zen tradition” and the concept of “self-remembering” (from Gurdjieff) is derived from similar Tantric teachings.
  • No Need for External Authority: The practice encourages an internal validation of experience. Your “own feeling is not an authority at all” for the mind, which often seeks external validation from scriptures or traditions. This method, however, guides you to rely on your direct experience.
  • The Path to Samadhi: Although cosmic consciousness or samadhi is not called “centering,” centering (which this method facilitates) is the “path” or “method” to samadhi (the “goal”). When you are deeply centered, the individual self explodes, and you become “one with the cosmos” – this “oceanic feeling is samadhi”.
  • Acceptance as the Framework: Tantra’s fundamental principle of “total acceptance” is crucial. Instead of fighting the wandering mind, this method accepts its presence and uses it as the entry point, fostering a deep relaxation that allows transformation to occur.