A Big Mind, a Big Heart, present and readily

accessible to each and every one of us. When we realize it, we see it is the source of
true peace, happiness, satisfaction, courage and joy. And yet, we dont now how to
access it, we dont now how to bring it into our awareness. We dont now how to
!anifest it or e!body it.
"or the past thirty#si$ years, % have been searching for a way to assist people to
access this awareness. %n &une '(((, after !uch study and difficulty, % finally found
a si!ple, effective way which % have been e$ploring and refining since then. % call it
the Big Mind)Big Heart process, or si!ply, Big Mind.*
+ ,en Master -ennis .enpo Merzel fro! Big Mind / Big Heart
,en Master -ennis .enpo Merzel. Also nown as .enpo 0oshi.
% was first introduced to hi! and his incredible Big Mind process during a wee#long event
produced by the %ntegral %nstitute in Boulder, 1olorado a few years ago. %t was stunning how
easily and 2uicly .enpo was able to bring us through his process to get a gli!pse of the higher
thresholds of consciousness nown as Big Mind.
%n this boo, he playfully and brilliantly articulates his wisdo! while presenting the Big Mind
process3a process that integrates ,en Buddhis! with 4oice -ialogue.
5oull need to get the boo to get a feel for the Big Mind process 6and % H%.H75 reco!!end
you
do8889. "or now, lets e$plore a handful of !y favorite Big %deas that you can i!!ediately apply
to your life.
:-o we need the self; 5es, absolutely. -o we need to be identified with it <= hours a day, >
days
a wee; Absolutely not. Because when were identified with the self, as the self, we live in fear,
we live in an$iety, we live in stress, we live in suffering. When were able to identify with that
which has no boundaries, with Big Mind3its a na!e, you could call it !any things, universal
consciousness or whatever3when were no longer identified with the self, fear doesnt co!e
up. When we identify with that which is ungraspable, that which is unna!eable, then there is
absolutely no fear. We live in fearlessness.*
0%.H? 4%@W
:Ao we end up with what the Buddha taught in his first teaching, which is called the @ightfold
Bath, when he said, Chave 0ight 4iew. 0ight 4iew is having no particular, fi$ed view, which
!eans seeing that all views are li!ited, that no particular view is the only view. ?heyre all
restricted, theyre all li!ited, theyre all frag!ented. Actually the right view is no view.*
0ight 4iew.
0e!inds !e of a story A.D. .oena 6well, a recording of hi! anyway E9 shared during the 'F#
day
4ipassana course % attended.
Big Mind / Big Heart
"inding 5our Way
B5 -@DD%A .@DBG M@0,@7 / B%. M%D- BHB7%AH%D. I <FF> / 'J( BA.@A
?H@ B%. %-@AA
0ight 4iew
And so!e blind doods.
A Maserati
Atuc in first gear.
-uha
K Auha.
?he ?e!ple
Without walls.
A -ysfunctional 1o.
?he perfect !etaphor.
%ntegrated 1o!passion
"e!inine)Masculine.
%ntegrated
"ree#"unctioning Hu!an.
.reat .ratitude
And appreciation.
?he ?rue Aelf
?ruly transcendent.
1an 5ou %!agine;
And will you help create;
' BhilosophersDotes L Big Mind / Big Heart
:%n reality, there are
an infinite nu!ber of
perspectives, but we act as
if there were only one.*
+ .enpo 0oshi
%!agine si$ blind guys. ?heyve never seen an elephant before and are each touching a
different
part of the big ol ani!al describing what an elephant is.
?he first blind !an grabs the tail and says the elephant is lie a rope. ?he second one grabs the
leg and is certain the elephant is lie a pillar while the third touches the trun and thins the
elephant is lie a tree branch. ?he others go for different parts and have different perspectives
6the bac is lie a throneM the tus is lie a spearM the ear is lie a hand fan9.
Dow, whats fascinating is that theyre all N'FFON sure theyre N'FFON right and cant
understand how so!eone else can have such a wildly different understanding of so!ething that
is AG obvious to the!8
@nterE the li!itation of thining yourperspective is the absolute truth. E9
Pen Wilber lies to tal about :partial truths* and re!inds us that no one is s!art enough to be
either 'FFO right G0 'FFO wrong. ?heres always a partial truth to a perspective3no !atter
how li!ited. AD-, theres always a partial li!itation to a truth, no !atter how profound.
We get in trouble when we thin our perspective is 'FFO right.
.enpo tells usE :?hat is why fro! the beginning its really i!portant that you learn to shift
perspectives. ?hat alone is going to help tre!endously in your life. &ust i!agine the ne$t ti!e
you get into an argu!ent with your partner or spouse, and you are able to let go of your view
and open up to the possibility that there !ight just be another perspective on the situation3her
view, or his view. ?he !o!ent you do that, it sets you free.*
Bowerful stuff.
?ry it out the ne$t ti!e you find yourself in an argu!ent with so!eone3whether its at wor
or at ho!e. Gdds are the tension co!es fro! you getting loced into your perspective and
the !o!ent you can create a little !ore spaciousness and see the possibility of the others
perspective you just too a HH.@ leap forward.
?he Big Mind process is all about being able to do that !ore and !ore consistently and, as a
result, create !ore and !ore love, co!passion and all thats good in your life.
A MAA@0A?% A?H1P %D "%0A? .@A0
:Being able to shift perspectives is lie having a freely functioning vehicle. %f a car is stuc in any
gear, what youve got is a dysfunctional car. @ven if its a Maserati, if youre stuc in first gear, or
youre stuc in reverse, no !atter what gear youre stuc in, its dysfunctional. But the !o!ent
you have fluidity and !ove!ent and youre able to shift up or down or into reverse, or whatever
you need to do, youve got a functional vehicle.*
?hats aweso!e.
%!agine your ideal car. %t loos soooo beautiful on display. 5ou buy it. AndQ %ts stuc in
reverse.
Hah8
Dow i!agine your life.
Are you stuc in reverse; Always looing bacwards; Atuc in 'st, never willing to tae a ris;
Gr
!aybe stuc in Rth, never able to slow down;
As .enpo says, it doesnt !atter what gear youre stuc in, if you cant shift as life de!ands,
your
car is dysfunctional. Aa!e with our lives.
Again, this is what the Big Mind process is all aboutE not getting :stuc.*
6And, while were on the subject of dysfunctional cars, how about so!e Anthony de Mello !ojo;
6Aee Dotes on his great boo Awarenessfor !ore9E :5oure !uch !ore energetic, !uch !ore
< BhilosophersDotes L Big Mind / Big Heart
:We see the world in
a dysfunctional way
and because of that
we suffer.*
+ .enpo 0oshi
alive. Beople thin that if they had no cravings, theyd be lie deadwood. But in fact theyd
lose their tension. .et rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding, you will be
yourself. 0ela$ed. 5ou wouldnt be driving with your braes on. ?hats what would happen.*
-HPPHA K AHPPHA
:What we do naturally is we cling, we grasp, we hold on to. We are not functioning freely, not
free, because were stuc. Buddha observed this tendency and gave it a na!e. He said when
the !ind is stuc, youre in duha6usually translated fro! the Aansrit as suffering9. -uha
literally !eans a wheel whose hub doesnt !ove. Ao what ind of a wheel do you have; A
useless,
dysfunctional wheel. What good is a wheel if it doesnt !ove;
What Buddha discovered and taught was to free up the wheel. He called it suha, a liberated
wheel, a freed#up wheel. ?hat !eans liberation, nirvana.*
-uha.
%ts the Aansrit word Buddha uses in the first of ?he "our Doble ?ruthsE :7ife is duha.*
As .enpo tells us, the word is usually translated as :suffering* but literally !eans a wheel
whose
hub doesnt !ove3a wheel thats stuc8
Were on a roll i!agining stuff in this Dote, so i!agine thatE a wheel whose hub doesnt !ove8
%ts NtotallyN stuc. ?HA? is what the Buddha used to describe suffering.
-ont want to suffer; Aweet. 7et your wheel !ove. @$perience suha. "low with life. Have the
spaciousness to hold !ultiple perspectives. 7ive fro! Big Mind.
?H@ ?@MB7@ W%?HGH? WA77A
:Were at the point in our evolution that we all have to beco!e conscious. ?his is a ti!e of
revolution. ?heres no holding bac. Ao %! about tearing down the !onastery walls and seeing
the whole world as the !onastery, as the practice, as the spiritual te!ple. What were all
woring
on is this very being, this very life. ?his is the te!ple, it has no walls.*
A!en. 6Gr, whatever the Buddhist e2uivalent is8 E9
?his is a!azingE :%! about tearing down the !onastery walls and seeing the whole world as the
!onastery, as the practice, as the spiritual te!ple.*
As we discuss again and again in these Dotes, our 7%"@ is our classroo!. 0ather than wait for
the ne$t weeend worshop or silent !editation retreat to NreallyN get our practice on, lets !ae
@4@05 !o!ent an opportunity to e$pand.
%n his great boo, Mastery6see Dotes9, .eorge 7eonard re!inds usE :1ould all of us reclai! lost
hours of our lives by !aing everything3the co!!onplace along with the e$traordinary3a
part of our practice;*
And, 1onfucius re!inds usE :@ven when waling in the co!pany of two other !en, % a! bound
to be able to learn fro! the!. ?he good points of the one % copyM the bad points of the other %
correct in !yself.*
As .enpo says, this is the ti!e for a revolution. ?heres no holding bac.
How can you!ae !ore of the !undane !o!ents a part of your practice;
?he opportunities are li!itless3fro! being !ore !indful as youre washing the dishes or
putting
a soc in the ha!per to when youre driving in traffic on the way to wor. .ot a long co!!ute;
Berhaps you can turn off the radio and focus on breathing deeply. And, if you get
pissy)i!patient
while sitting in traffic, NdefinitelyN loo to alche!ize that energy into so!e !ore positive.
Berhaps
S BhilosophersDotes L Big Mind / Big Heart
:All the practices3sitting,
Big Mind, and so on3are
sillful !eans, all for
the purpose of building
character, consciousness,
and awareness so that
our functioning is truly
co!ing fro! wisdo!
and co!passion.*
+ .enpo 0oshi
:A lot of this boo is
written with the hope of
helping people !ove into
the transcendent and then
beyond the transcendent,
to e!brace it and not be
attached to either the
dualistic or the nondualistic perspective.*
+ .enpo 0oshi
each ti!e an i!pulse to curse the traffic arises you can !entally run through all the people you
have to than for even having the opportunityto be stuc in traffic when it wasnt too long ago
you
wouldve been on a horseQ and the last ti!e % checed they didnt have A1. E9
Aend silent appreciations as you i!agine the person who sold you the car, the people who put it
together, the people who created each piece before they got asse!bled, the people who
wored
with the raw !aterials, the people who !ade the street youre driving on, and, perhaps, you can
give a shout out to the Big .uy in the Ay who !ade A77 ?HA?;8;
Bac to .enpoE :Ao %! about tearing down the !onastery walls and seeing the whole world as
the !onastery, as the practice, as the spiritual te!ple.*
Begs the 2uestionE What can 5GH do to e!body this 64@0589 Big %dea in your life today;
A -5A"HD1?%GDA7 1GMBAD5
:@ach of us has innu!erable voices, or aspects, within us. ?o get a clearer picture of how they
operate, thin of yourself for a !o!ent as a large corporation with !any, !any e!ployees. How
!any; Dobody nows. %ts a little bizarre. We went out and rando!ly hired all these fols for our
co!pany, and we neglected to tell the! what their jobs were. We also neglected to tell the!
their
titles or job descriptions. %f that werent bad enough, we didnt even tell the! who they wor for,
what the na!e of the co!pany is, and who the boss is. ?hen we said, go to wor. Dow what
ind
of co!pany is that;*
1an you picture that;8; 5ies8
As .enpo saysE :A co!pany where nobody nows their job title, job description, what theyre
supposed to be doing, is going to be a co!pany in suffering, in sha!bles.*
And, so is a hu!an being with so !any voices running around all out of control, eh;
@nter the Big Mind process.
.enpo continuesE :Dow what were going to do is interview each e!ployee of the co!pany, not
all of the!, but one at a ti!e, well do a li!ited nu!ber of ey e!ployees. Well interview each
of the!, well get their perspective on what they do, and well clarify their job title and their job
description. Well tell the! this is what we want the! to do for the co!pany because this is what
they were hired to do. @ventually well introduce the! to the 1@G of the co!pany.*
Brilliant.
?hatsthe Big Mind process. .enpo basically leads us through a syste!atic dialogue with
a nu!ber of our :ey e!ployees* to get a sense of who they are, what they do and whats
i!portant to the! while we clarify their roles and create a healthy org chart where everyone
nows who does what and whos in charge8
And, heres what we discover through that processE :My understanding is that every aspect of
the self, every voice, has its own innate wisdo!M that if we would si!ply allow every voice to be
heard, to be appreciated, and to be honored, we as hu!an beings would live a !uch healthier,
happier and joyful lifeM that by denying or suppressing any aspect we are creating a proble!
both
for the self and for others.*
%D?@.0A?@- "@M%D%D@)MAA1H7%D@ 1GMBAAA%GD
:% a! always co!passionate, but so!eti!es in a very fe!inine, gentle way, nurturing and
supportive, and so!eti!es in a very !asculine way, ruthless and decisive. But % always have
in !y arsenal what is necessary to get the job done. % a! totally integrated. ?heres no need to
beco!e integratedM % a! %ntegrated "e!inine)Masculine 1o!passion. Another na!e for !e is
Big Heart.*
= BhilosophersDotes L Big Mind / Big Heart
:%f a voice has been
disowned, that doesnt !ean
it isnt there. %t continues
to function, but covertly,
not in a healthy way.*
+ .enpo 0oshi
:% re!e!ber that clinging
creates suffering, and not
to be attached even to
non attache!ent.*
+ .enpo 0oshi
?hat 2uote is fro! the interview .enpo does with a hypothetical 4oice of 5in)5ang 1o!passion,
also now asE %ntegrated Masculine and "e!inine 1o!passion. 6?he second half of the boo is
basically .enpo waling us through the :e!ployee* interviews3where we get introduced to a
range of :4oices* within our heads. 0@A775 powerful stuff.9
Ao, %ntegrated Masculine and "e!inine 1o!passion. ?his is a NreallyN Big %dea.
% was first introduced to it by -iane Ha!ilton 6one of .enpos senior students and a leading
,en teacher9 at a weeend %ntegral %nstitute worshop in 7os Angeles. Ahe told us a story about
horses to bring the point ho!e.
%!agine a fe!ale horse 6a !are9 giving birth to a little baby horse 6a foal9. Dow, this foal isnt
too healthy. %ts struggling to get up and stand upright3a very i!portant event for a newborn
horse. ?he !o!!a horse is woring and woring to support the little guy and a few other
fe!ale
horses cruise over to help out as well.
Dothing see!s to be helping, though.
?his goes on for awhile when, suddenly, a stallion appears, breas through the !ares, pics
the little foal up in his !outh, carries hi! to the edge of the !eadow and sla!s hi! into the
ground3ending his life.
?hats fe!inine and !asculine co!passion.
Gne is nurturing and supportive. ?he other is ruthless and decisive. BG?H 68889 are essential for
an integratedco!passion.
%n fact, if youre stuc in fe!inine co!passion, !any great teachers lie Be!a 1hodron and
?rungpa 0inpoche and Pen Wilber, will say youve got :%diot 1o!passion.*
%ts inda lie the Maserati thats stuc in first gear. Weve gotta be able to hold BG?H aspects
of
co!passion to have a truly integrated perspective. Mae sense;
%D?@.0A?@- "0@@#"HD1?%GD%D. HHMAD B@%D.
:% include all the aspects of the self, all the dualistic voices and Big Mind, the non#dual, noself,
and % transcend the!. % a! also nown as the Master, or the Hni2ue Aelf. % a! absolutely
uni2ue, there is no one else in the entire world e$actly lie !e. % have no need to prove anything
or to be special since % a! special and uni2ue to begin with.
% a! also nown as the natural self or ordinary !ind. % do not need to put on airs or a faTade.
% a! natural and unassu!ing. % a! unconditionally joyful. My happiness is not dependent on
conditions or circu!stances. % a! one with whatever feeling or e!otion co!es up. % a! the
!ind of .reat &oy and the !ind of .reat Appreciation and .ratitude.*
?hats the 4oice of ?he %ntegrated "ree#"unctioning Hu!an Being.
Me lies.
.0@A? .0A?%?H-@ AD- ABB0@1%A?%GD
:?hats the beautiful thing, thats the secretE to want what you get rather than trying to get what
you want, because that see!s lie a never#ending battle, and a losing battle at that. We see!
to always get what we need, though. Ao when we want what we get, its really lie wanting what
we need.*
?hats the 4oice of .reat .ratitude and Appreciation.
7ove it.
R BhilosophersDotes L Big Mind / Big Heart
:Ao if we loo at progress,
or evolution, or we loo at
acco!plish!ent in our life,
the ey is to be continually
!oving on, e$panding
and growing, clarifying,
developing and !aturing. ?he
opposite would be getting
stuc, staying stuc, so
theres no !aturing, no
developing, no acco!plishing,
no !ove!ent.*
+ .enpo 0oshi
?H@ ?0H@ A@7"
:% a! the ?rue Aelf. %n other words, % a! the one that truly transcends. ?he Don#-ual is still not
truly
transcendent because so!ehow it sees itself as better or greater than the dual, which is still
very dualistic.*
?hats the 4oice of the ?rue Aelf. ?he way .enpo describes the :?rue Aelf* is re!arable and
hes
got a NbrilliantN discussion on not getting :stuc on absolute.*
As he says in the 4oice of the ?rue AelfE :% e!brace desires and seeing and fear and
distinctions.
% e!brace the! all but % a! not bound by the!, %! not attached to the!. % can have a desire,
and drop the desire if its not fulfilledQ % dont get stuc anywhere.*
1AD 5GH %MA.%D@;
:1an you i!agine a world where everybody was free, happy and joyful, where everybody ca!e
fro! a place of generosity and giving freely without any strings attached; 1an you just i!agine
this world; %ts al!ost i!possible to i!agine, it would be such a different place.
Well, thats our wor. ?hats what were here to do. ?hats what this boo is all about. %f enough
of us can get to that level of consciousness, % believe the whole planet, would be transfor!ed.*
?hats the 4oice of .enerosity.
What better way to end this Dote than with that beautiful wisdo!, eh;
Heres to i!agining 6and consciously playing our role in creating89 a beautiful world :where
everybody was free, happy and joyful, where everybody ca!e fro! a place of generosity and
giving freely without any strings attached.*
%f you lied this Dote,
youll probably lieQ
Pen Wilber
?hresholds of the Mind
?he -ha!!apada
Awareness
Mastery
?he Analects of 1onfucius
About the Author of :Big Mind / Big Heart*
.@DBG 0GAH%
-ennis .enpo Merzel 0oshi is a revolutionary in the tradition of the old ,en
Masters who so e!bodied Buddhist teaching that they were able to revitalize and
transfor! it for their own day and age. As Buddhis! !oved fro! %ndia to 1hina
to &apan and other Asian cultures, it found uni2ue e$pression in each culture
that !ade its funda!ental teachings resonate for a new ti!e and place. .enpo
0oshi is woring to trans!it the essence of the Buddhas teachings in a way
that is readily accessible to Westerners and relevant to our everyday life. 6fro!
BigMind.orgwhere you can learn !ore89
About the Author of ?his Dote
B0%AD &GHDAGD
Brian &ohnson is a lover of wisdo! 6aa a :Bhilosopher*9 and a passionate
student of life whos co!!itted to inspiring and e!powering !illions of people
to live their greatest lives as he studies, e!bodies and shares the universal truths
of opti!al living. He harts his job.
Brian &ohnson,
1hief Bhilosopher
U BhilosophersDotes L Big Mind / Big Heart