Bankei's "method" of abiding in the unborn

[Matt J]

I don't how it is for you, but this is definitely not how it is for me. For me, thoughts, feelings, etc. appear fully formed, sometimes in succession. For instance, if some says something I don't like, I don't think, "Well, I am this body-mind..." and so on. Those thought processes, if any, happen off-line. In fact, because they happen off-line, I'm not sure we can say they happen at all, except via inference.

Anger, anxiety, fear, lust, etc. don't arise spontaneously, we give rise to them by first identifying with our thoughts and making judgements about things being attractive, repulsive or uninteresting, then again holding the emotion generated by our thoughts thus eventually giving rise to action. When it seems that emotions or actions appear by themselves it is the case that we don't recognise our thought processes, which is ignorance, unawareness. That's why abiding in the unborn means that no ideas and impulses take over the control.

[Astus]

Matt,

Whatever appears, see that it is something born, not your real nature, and let it return to the unborn, let it dissolve on its own. You have to maintain grasping at an emotion or thought to make it stay, and grasping happens because you regard it as your real nature.